Merrylands' team of nine swimmers had fantastic results at the Metro South West Area Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

Our team contested 29 individual events and ended with 22 new personal best times, 4 finalists and 1 bronze medal.

Joseph achieved 5 new personal best times across his 4 swims, including a new 50m Freestyle PB split in his 100m Freestyle.  Joseph further reduced his 200m Breaststroke time after only just beating it at a meet last weekend.  Joseph also achieved new personal bests in his 50 and 100m Breaststroke, with his first Long Course 38 seconds in the 50m.

Laura-Belle took a break from HSC studies to scoop up a Bronze medal in her 50m Breaststroke in a new personal best time.  Laura-Belle was also a finalist with 7th place in her 100m Breaststroke which was an excellent achievement for an Open event, and was 0.02 outside her best in the 50m Freestyle.

Alison was a finalist in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly, with 6th and 4th respectively.  Her butterfly sprint was her fastest time in over 4 years.  Alison's 100m Freestyle was also her fastest in 2 years.

Jay was just a fraction off his personal best in his 100m Freestyle with only 0.1 seconds outside his mark.

Lisa had a great result in her 100m Backstroke with a 4-second personal best time and was just outside her 100m Freestyle time.

Daniel achieved 3 new Backstroke personal bests in his 2 Backstroke swims with a PB split in the 100m and then reduced it the following day in the 50m event, taking a further 2 seconds off his time.  Daniel also took over 2 seconds off his 100m Freestyle personal best.

Matthew contested 6 events and came away with 5 new personal best times.  Matthew started with a personal best in his 200m Butterfly and continued to fly with personal bests in his 100m and 50m Butterfly.  Matthew was a finalist in the 100m Butterfly and his 50m Butterfly was his first time under 30 secs in a Long Course event.  Matthew also achieved new personal best times in his 50m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke.

Leo had some fast 50s with new personal bests across his 3 swims.  Leo achieved sub 35 seconds in his 50m Breaststroke, sub 28 in his 50m Freestyle and took 0.5 off his 50m Backstroke.

Lillian achieved 2 new personal bests in her 100m Breaststroke, taking a huge 6-second chuck off her existing time. Lillian also took over 9 seconds off her 100m Backstroke later that afternoon.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their wonderful performances!  

Six of our Masters Swimmers headed up the coast for the NSW Masters State Short Course Championships.  This meet was held at the Peninsula Leisure Centre at Woy Woy.

Our team had great results including achieving some all-time personal bests which is a wonderful achievement in Masters Swimming.  Some of our swimmers also wound back the clock with swims the fastest in 4 to 8 years!

Varant flew up the coast after racing at club and demonstrated hard work pays off with all of his swims being new short course personal best times. Varant cracked under 1:20 for the first time in his 100m Freestyle.

Peter picked up some bling with a Silver in the 100m Breaststroke and Bronze medals in the 50m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle.  Peter also earned club bragging rights with a 50m Freestyle win over Tim and Alison.

Kylee achieved a new personal best time in the 50m Backstroke where she also picked up a Bronze medal.  Kylee’s 200m IM was the fastest she has swum since 2016 earning herself a Silver and Kylee’s new personal best in her 200m Backstroke gave her another Bronze medal.

Timothy bagged a Silver and a new personal best time in his 50m Freestyle.  Timothy swam his fastest 200m Freestyle outside of Modern Pentathlon competitions and picked up a Bronze for his effort. 

Alison almost had a clean sweep with 4 Golds and 1 Silver medal. 

Ian swam his fastest 100m Freestyle since 2017 then followed with a Gold in the 200m Individual Medley, which was also his fastest time since 2017. Ian also decided to mix it up with a 50m Breaststroke and 100m Butterfly.  The decision paid off with a Bronze medal in the Butterfly.

Well done to our team on these amazing results!

Day 2 Results

Kylee Murray swam a massive PB in the 100m Freestyle, touching in 1:19.80 and taking 1.38 seconds off her best time to finish in 21st place. Full Results

Ian Wilson swam his equal second-fastest time ever in the 100m Freestyle, finishing in 1:09.81 - his fastest time since 2016. Full Results

Alison Johnston finished 15th in the 100m Freestyle in 1:08.11 - her fastest time since 2021. Full Results

See Also

• World Aquatics Masters Championships - Day 1
• World Aquatics Masters Championships - Merrylands Team
• World Aquatics - Masters
• World Aquatics Masters Championships - YouTube
• 2023 World Aquatics Masters Championships Website
• Start Lists and Results

More fantastic swims from our team on Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 3 medals, 2 personal best times and 6 season-best times.

Alison Johnston added 2 more medals to her tally with gold in the 200m Backstroke in her fastest time in 2 years and a silver in the 100m Butterfly in her fastest time since 2019.

Ian Johnston picked up his second medal of the meet with bronze in the 200m Backstroke - his fastest swim in this event since 2018. Ian also swam his fastest 400m Freestyle since 2019.

Varant Jambazian and Kylee Murray both swam new personal best times in the 400m Freestyle. Varant took 4.68 seconds off his time, while Kylee took 0.52 seconds off the personal best time she set in 2019. Kylee also swam her second-fastest time ever in the 200m Backstroke, after setting her PB at the NSW State Championships earlier this month. She then finished off her meet with her fastest 100m Butterfly since 2020.

Peter Johnston meanwhile swam his fastest 400m Freestyle since 2016.

Congratulations to our team on their swims today! Day 5, the final day of the meet, will see our team compete in the 50m Backstroke, 200m Breaststroke and finish off with the 50m Freestyle. You can follow their progress online or on Meet Mobile.

See Also

• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Day 3
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Day 2
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Results
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Entries, Results and Points
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships

Lots of great swims on Day 3 of the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 1 medal, 4 new personal best times and 6 season-best times.

Alison Johnston picked up our sole medal on Day 3 with bronze in the 50m Butterfly, in her second fastest time this season. Alison also swam her fastest time since 2021 in the 100m Freestyle.

Varant Jambazian swam 2 new personal best times, with a huge 1.66-second PB in his 50m Breaststroke while he shaved 0.33 seconds off his 100m Freestyle time. Varant had only recently broken his 100m Freestyle time at the NSW State Championships just over 2 weeks ago

Leanne Tovkach also swam new PBs in both of her events. Leanne took 0.28 off her 50m Breaststroke time which had stood since 2019. She then took a massive 3.66 seconds off her 100m Freestyle PB from the NSW State Championships. Leanne's finish earned some big cheers from our team as she put her head down at the flags and swam to the wall without a breath in the last 5 metres.

Ian Johnston swam a season-best time in the 100m Freestyle which was also his fastest time since 2018. Ian's 50m Butterfly was just outside his season-best time from the NSW State Championships.

Kylee Murray swam a season-best time in the 400m Individual Medley which was also her second-fastest time ever. Kylee also swam a season-best time in the 50m Butterfly and her fastest swim since 2020.

Lastly, Peter Johnston swam his fastest time since 2018 in the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle.

Well done to our team on their results! Day 4 will see our team in action in the 400m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly. You can follow their progress online or on Meet Mobile.

See Also

• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Day 2
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Results
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Entries, Results and Points
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships

A fantastic start to the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 4 medals, 3 all-time personal best times and 7 season-best times.

Alison Johnston started off the day in style with a gold medal in the 200m Butterfly, finishing in her fastest time this season and her 5th fastest of all time. She also took home silver in the 100m Backstroke in a season-best time and swam a season-best time in the 200m Freestyle.

Ian Johnston won his first individual medal at an Australian Championship with silver in the 100m Backstroke in a season-best time. He also swam his second-fastest time this season in the 200m Freestyle.

Leanne Tovkach swam a new personal best time in the 100m Backstroke, taking 1.32 seconds off her previous time. In the 200m Freestyle, Leanne swam another PB, taking 2.79 seconds off the time she set at the NSW State Championships just over 2 weeks ago. In the 100m Breaststroke, she finished just outside her PB with her fastest time this season.

Kylee Murray swam a new PB in the 100m Backstroke, taking 0.08 seconds off the personal best time she set in 2019. In the 200m Freestyle, Kylee swam her second-fastest time ever, which was also her second-fastest time this season.

Varant Jambazian swam his second-fastest times ever in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle. His PBs in both of those events were from the NSW State Championships just over 2 weeks ago.

Our final swimmer on Day 2, Peter Johnston, swam his fastest time in the 100m Breaststroke since 2018 and his fastest time in the 200m Freestyle since 2017.

Our final medal came in the Mixed 4x50m Medley Relay where our team of Alison, Peter, Kylee and Varant took home the bronze.

A great start to the meet! Day 3 will see our team in action in the 400m Individual Medley, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle. You can follow their progress online or on Meet Mobile.

See Also

• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Results
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships - Entries, Results and Points
• 2023 Australian Masters Championships

The Australian Masters Championships will be held at the Hobart Aquatic Centre from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd April, 2023.

Merrylands will be represented by a team of 6 swimmers, competing in 48 individual events and 2 relays over the 5-day meet. Our team consists of:

• Varant Jambazian
• Ian Johnston
• Peter Johnston
• Kylee Murray
• Alison Johnston
• Leanne Tovkach

Good luck to our swimmers at the meet. You can follow the team's progress online here.

See Also

• 2023 Australian Masters Championships

Our team of 13 swimmers had a massive meet at the Metro South West Long Course Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre over the weekend.

Merrylands’ swimmers achieved 30 new personal best times, 8 finalists, 2 medals, and new qualifying times for State and Metropolitan Championships.

Aisha had a tremendous 100m Freestyle with a strong back end to take 5 seconds off her personal best time.

Ameena had an excellent 100m Backstroke taking 8 seconds off her PB, and almost 2 seconds off her 100m Freestyle PB.

Joseph cracked the 40-second barrier in the 50m Breaststroke for the first time and also achieved new personal bests in the 100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke. Joseph earned top 10 finishes in his 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley.

Laura-Belle smashed her 50s with new personal best times in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle. She also achieved a top 10 ranking in the 50m Freestyle.

Ren achieved personal best times in both his Breaststroke events, including a new personal best in his 50m split in the 100m Breaststroke before further lowering it in the 50m event.

William had great results in his 50m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle, with a textbook head down inside the flags finish for his Freestyle. William achieved PBs and top 10 finishes for both his swims.

Alison jumped in between coaching and picked up the club’s two medals, with Silver in the 50m Butterfly and Bronze in the 50m Freestyle.

Jay had a fantastic swim in his 100m Freestyle, taking another 6 seconds off his time after dropping 16 seconds at club races 2 weeks ago and finishing in the top 10.

Lisa had a wonderful 100m Backstroke in a new personal best time while finishing just outside her PB in the 100m Freestyle.

Daniel had a ripper of a meet and achieved personal best times in all 4 of his events, including massive personal best times in his 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke. Daniel also equalled his 50m Backstroke PB in the 100m Backstroke split. 

Matthew was pretty fly, dropping times in his 50m and 100m Butterfly, picking up a top 10 for his 100m Butterfly in the process. He also achieved new personal best times in his 50m and 200m Freestyle events.

Leo achieved new personal best times in 4 of his events, narrowly missing out on 3^rd place in the 100m Breaststroke. Leo also cracked 30 seconds for the first time for the 50m Freestyle and finished his meet with a new personal best in the 200m Breaststroke.

Lillian was just over her 50m Freestyle time after being unwell the day before.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their fabulous results and thank you to our coaches for preparing them for this meet. Thank you as well to Denise and Danielle for fulfilling our hosting duties and to all our parents for supporting our swimmers.

Five members have qualified for the NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships which will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre over 3 days, starting today.

Congratulations to:

Matthew Vicic
Joseph Assi
Alison Sakurovs
Leo Zhu
Vanessa Ozols

You can follow the team's progress at the championships through the Live Results.

See Also

• 2022 NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships

Merrylands' team has finished the Australian Masters Championships with 22 medals and 24 new personal best times.

Sophia Vicic took home 9 medals from the meet - 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze. Sophia also swam 3 new personal best times. Alison Johnston finished the meet with 7 medals - 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze, with one new PB. Katie Hope claimed 3 medals, with 1 Silver and 2 Bronze, all in new personal best times. Peter Johnston won Bronze in the 200m Breaststroke and swam season-best times in all his events, while Leanne Tovkach finished with Bronze in the 100m Backstroke and 5 new PBs.

Our final medal came in the Women's 4x50m Medley Relay where our team of Sophia, Katie, Alison and Kylee Murray took home the Bronze. Kylee also swam 6 new PBs at the meet, narrowly missing out on a medal after finishing in 4th place, 4 times.

Varant Jambazian swam 4 new PBs at the meet, while Ian Johnston swam 2 new PBs and Steven Nguyen swam season-best times in all his events.

To top it all off, Merrylands finished second in the Life Member's Trophy point score at the meet. The Life Member's Trophy is for Clubs with 5-20 members and rewards performance & participation. It is calculated by taking the number of points gained at the National Championships, divided by the club's membership at end of the previous year.

Medallists

Personal Best Times

Medal Tally

Congratulations to our team on their results! A big thank you also to our coaching team of Peter, Alison and Katie for the work they have done with our squad.

See Also

• 2022 Australian Masters Championships - Day 2
• 2022 Australian Masters Championships - Day 3
• 2022 Australian Masters Championships - Day 4
• 2022 Australian Masters Championships - Results
• 2022 Australian Masters Championships