Australian Masters Championships - Day 3

Merrylands continued their fantastic run on Day 3 at the Australian Masters Championships with 2 medals, 4 new personal best times and 3 season bests.

Varant kicked off the day with a fantastic 400m Individual Medley in which all strokes improved to take over 20 seconds off his previous best time. Varant earned himself a silver medal in his age group for his performance.

 

The next event was the splash and dash with our swimmers all bringing the speed in the 50m Freestyle. Leanne swam her fastest time in 2 years.

 

Kylee took almost a second off her personal best time, which she had set in 2019, finishing in 8th place.

 

Varant swam his second fastest time, and was 0.05 outside the PB that he set last weekend, while Alison came 6th in her age group.

 

 

In the 200m Backstroke, Kylee continued her strong form and achieved a new personal best time, taking over 2 seconds off her best, which was set 2 years ago.


Alison swam a perfectly split race for a season best and a gold medal.

 
Last up was the 50 Butterfly where Kylee set another personal best, winding back the clock and beating her previous best from 2019!


Varant had a strong start in his 50 Butterfly and while the last 10m was tough, still managed to swim his 3rd fastest time.


Alison swam a season-best time and had a top 10 finish.


Day 4 tomorrow with our team taking to the pool in the 400m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke.

See Also

Australian Masters Championships - Day 2

Day 2 of the Masters Swimming Australia National Championships saw our team win 2 medals, swim 3 PBs and 4 season best times.

Varant Jambazian and Kylee Murray continued their strong momentum from yesterday, and Leanne Tovkach and Alison Johnston commenced their campaign.  

The 200m Breaststroke was the first event of the day, and Varant flew out the gate with an amazing performance, splitting a new personal best at the 100m mark and taking 6 seconds off his 200m time overall to finish 4th in his age group.


Alison opened her meet with the 200m Butterfly and while the piano truly hit at the 175m mark Alison managed to hold on for a Bronze medal.

 

The 100m Freestyle was next and Leanne swam her fastest time in 2 years with her 4th fastest swim ever. An even more impressive feat, as Leanne has been unwell for the past few weeks, but her solid training block prior to this has paid off!

 

Kylee reduced her time from State last weekend and swam her 2nd fastest 100m Freestyle ever, coming in 6th place.

 

Varant continued his run of personal best times taking almost a second off the time he achieved at State Championships last weekend.


Alison swam her fastest 100m Freestyle since 2023 and won a silver medal in a big field in her age group.


In the 100 Backstroke Leanne swam her second fastest time ever, while Kylee swam her fastest time in 6 years.

 


Day 3 tomorrow sees our team competing in the 400m Individual Medley, 50m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly.

See Also

Australian Masters Championships

The Australian Masters Championships will be held in Melbourne from Tuesday 8th to Saturday 12th April 2025.

Merrylands will be represented by a team of 5 swimmers, competing in 44 individual events over the 5-day meet. Our team consists of:

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

Good luck to our swimmers at the meet!

See Also

Metro South West Championships Results

Merrylands team of 11 had fantastic results at the Metro South West Championships on the weekend.  As a team Merrylands achieved 18 new personal best times, 1 Gold Medal, 3 Silver Medals, 6 top-10 Finishes and had a 100% PB rate in the 100m Freestyle.

Damien Chan had amazing results with 6 new personal bests from 3 events with all his 50m splits being new best times. Damien picked up a trio of silver medals in the 100m Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke.

Leo Zhu won a Gold Medal in a tight finish in the 100m Breaststroke, in a new personal best time.  Leo also achieved top 10 finishes in the 50m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley and his first sub-27 second swim in the 50m Freestyle.

Gabriella Assi took over 5 seconds off her 100m Freestyle, an event she had only qualified for a week before.

Joseph Assi achieved a new personal best in his 100m Freestyles and his 50m Breaststroke was close to his personal best.

Laura-Belle Casey earned a ribbon in the 50m Breaststroke coming 5th and also swam her second-fastest 200m Freestyle.

Tomas Dlesk swam a speedy 100m Freestyle and took almost 3 seconds off his time.

Patrick Hannan had a tidy 100m Backstroke and achieved a new personal best time by just 0.01 of a second. 

Coralie Havea continued to improve her racing skills and came away with a new personal best in the 100m Freestyle.

William Johnston achieved new personal bests in the 50m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle and picked up top 10 ribbons for both swims.

Alison Johnston came away with a ribbon with a 4th place in the 50m Freestyle.

Lastly, Jay Shrestha took a whopping 7 seconds off his 100m Breaststroke.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their wonderful results and thank you to Peter, Alison and all the parents for their support over the weekend.

St George Mini Meet

Well done to our team that competed at the St George Mini Meet at Bexley this afternoon.

Our team of 9 swimmers took home 16 medals and swam 17 new personal best times.

Congratulations to:

  • Gabriella Assi - 3 PBs
  • Joseph Assi - 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
  • Damien Chan - 1 Silver, 1 Bronze, 5 PBs
  • Marcus Chan - 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 PBs
  • William Johnston - 1 PB
  • Alison Sakurovs - 3 Gold
  • Jay Shrestha - 1 Silver, 3 PBs
  • Daniel Vicic - 1 Silver, 1 PB
  • Matthew Vicic - 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 PB

Well done to our team on their results!

Metro South West Short Course Championships Results

Merrylands' team of 12 had fantastic results at the Metro South West Short Course Championships over the weekend.

As a team, Merrylands achieved 27 new Personal Best times out of 32 individual swims, with 7 finalist placings and a Bronze medal! 

Damien Chan took home merch for all his swims, with a bronze medal and 3 finalist placings.  Damien amazingly achieved 6 personal best times in his 4 swims, including a 50m Butterfly PB in the 200m IM.  Damien' was unstoppable in his 100m Breaststroke, achieving a bronze medal from Lane 8 and 2 PBs in the one race!

Gabriella Assi had a ripper of a 100m Backstroke and achieved a new PB dropping over 8 seconds.

Joseph Assi smashed his 100m Freestyle time with an almost 3-second PB.  Joseph managed to equal his 50m Breaststroke time and picked up a finalist ribbon in his 100m Breaststroke, the very last event for the team.

Tomas Dlesk put in a top effort for his first-ever Area Championships and first time swimming at Sydney Olympic Park and swam his 2nd fastest 100m Freestyle.

Patrick Hannan achieved huge new personal best times in his 100m Breaststroke and 100m Backstroke with his backstroke splits being executed like a pro!

William Johnston was a pocket rocket and beat his 50m Backstroke PB in his 100m Backstroke and also bettered his 100m Freestyle time.

Alison Johnston picked up 2 finalist ribbons in her 50m sprints, happily dipping back under 30 seconds in the Freestyle.

Jay Shrestha did the double with 2 personal bests in the 100m Breaststroke and his 100m Freestyle was just outside his best.

Samantha Terry was on fire slashing 20 seconds off her 100m Breaststroke and also took a chunk off her 100m Freestyle.

Matthew Vicic started his meet with a classy personal best in his 200m Backstroke.  He then swam a gutsy 100m Butterfly, with a sneaky 50m split PB on the way to a new 100m PB.

Leo Zhu achieved his first sub 27-second swim in his 50m Freestyle with a 26.99.  Leo also achieved a new personal best in his 50m Breaststroke and 100m Backstroke where he also picked up a finalist ribbon.

Lillian was 3 from 3 with new personal bests in her 50m Freestyle, 50m and 100m Breaststroke and was just outside the finalists with an 11th place in the Open 100m Breaststroke.

Also special mention to Coralie who had qualified for this meet but unfortunately was unwell over the weekend and unable to attend.

Thank you to our parents for supporting our swimmers and also to our coaches - especially navigating the stairs all weekend!

Well done to the whole team on their performances!

Australian Masters Championships - Day 1

An excellent start to the 2024 Australian Masters Championships with 2 medals, 4 all-time PBs and 3 season-best times on a long day 1 that finished well after sunset.

Varant Jambazian swam new PBs in all 3 of his events with excellent swims in the 200m Breaststroke, 100m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly.

Alison Johnston took home the club's 2 medals with bronze and a PB in the 100m Backstroke and silver in the 50m Butterfly.

Ian Johnston swam 2 season-best times and his fastest times since 2018 in the 800m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke while Kylee Murray swam her fastest 50m Butterfly this season.

Well done team! Day 2 tomorrow sees our team competing in the 100m Freestyle, 4x50m Freestyle Relay, 200m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle.

See Also

Australian Masters Championships

The Australian Masters Championships will be held in Darwin from Friday 3rd to Tuesday 7th May, 2024.

Merrylands will be represented by a team of 4 swimmers, competing in 41 individual events and 2 relays over the 5-day meet. Our team completed their pre-meet training session today, are ready and raring to go and consists of:

  • Varant Jambazian
  • Ian Johnston
  • Kylee Murray
  • Alison Johnston

Good luck to our swimmers at the meet!