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

Metro South West Results

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 3rd 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.

22 Medals at Australian Masters 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

Sophia Vicic
   50m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   100m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   200m Freestyle  (Gold)
   50m Backstroke  (Silver)
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   200m Backstroke  (Silver)
   50m Breaststroke  (Silver)
   100m Breaststroke  (Gold)
   100m Individual Medley  (Silver)
Alison Johnston
   25m Freestyle  (Gold)
   50m Freestyle  (Silver)
   100m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   50m Butterfly  (Silver)
   100m Butterfly  (Gold)
   200m Butterfly  (Gold)
Katie Hope
   200m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   50m Breaststroke  (Bronze)
   200m Breaststroke  (Silver)
Peter Johnston
   200m Breaststroke  (Bronze)
Leanne Tovkach
   100m Backstroke  (Bronze)

Personal Best Times

Kylee Murray
   25m Freestyle
   50m Freestyle
   200m Freestyle
   25m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
   25m Butterfly
Varant Jambazian
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   50m Breaststroke
   50m Butterfly
Leanne Tovkach
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke
   25m Breaststroke
   100m Breaststroke
Katie Hope
   200m Freestyle
   50m Breaststroke
   200m Breaststroke
Sophia Vicic
   200m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
Ian Johnston
   100m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
Alison Johnston
   25m Freestyle

Medal Tally

 Gold 5
 Silver 9
 Bronze 8


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

Australian Masters Championships - Day 4

The final day of the Australian Masters Championships saw more excellent results from our team, with 7 medals and 8 new personal best times.

Alison Johnston picked up another 3 medals with Gold in the 200m Butterfly, Bronze in the 100m Freestyle and lastly a Gold in the 25m Freestyle in a new personal best time.

Sophia Vicic also took home another 3 medals, finishing with Gold in the 100m Breaststroke, Silver in the 50m Breaststroke and Bronze in the 100m Freestyle.

Katie Hope was our final medalist of the day, taking out the Bronze in the 50m Breaststroke and breaking her 11-year-old PB in the process.

Varant Jambazian swam another 2 new PBs, breaking his times in both the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle.

Leanne Tovkach swam new PBs in the 100m Freestyle and the 100m Breaststroke.

Kylee Murray also finished off the meet with 2 new PBs, with new personal best times in the 25m Backstroke and 25m Freestyle, while finishing just 0.45 outside her 100m Freestyle PB.

Lastly, Ian Johnston, Peter Johnston and Steven Nguyen all swam season-best times in all their events on the final day.

Congratulations to our whole team on their performances at the meet!

See Also

Australian Masters Championships - Day 3

Day 3 of the Australian Masters Championships saw more great swims from our team, with 5 medals and 5 new personal best times.

Sophia Vicic took home another 3 Silver medals, with 2nd place in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Individual Medley and also in the 200m Backstroke where she finished in a new personal best time.

Alison Johnston picked up our other 2 medals, winning Gold in the 100m Butterfly and Silver in the 50m Butterfly.

Varant Jambazian swam a massive PB in the 50m Butterfly, taking over 28 seconds off his time, while both Ian Johnston and Kylee Murray swam new personal best times in the 200m Backstroke.

Leanne Tovkach also swam a new PB, breaking her 25m Breaststroke time.

Excellent swims as we head into the final day of the meet. Day 4 will see our team compete in the 50m Breaststroke, 200m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 25m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke and 25m Freestyle. You can follow their progress in the Live Results.

See Also

Australian Masters Championships - Day 2

Wow! What a great start to the Australian Masters Championships, with 10 medals and 11 PBs on Day 2.

Sophia Vicic finished the day with 3 medals - one of each colour. Sophia took home Bronze in the 50m Freestyle, Silver in the 100m Backstroke, in a new PB, and Gold in the 200m Freestyle in a new PB.

Alison Johnston finished with 2 Silver medals, with 2nd place in both the 50m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke.

Katie Hope won a Silver in the 200m Breaststroke and a Bronze in the 200m Freestyle - both swims in new personal best times.

Peter Johnston took home a Bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke, with season-best times in all 3 of his events.

Leanne Tovkach took home her first national medal, with Bronze in the 100m Backstroke in a new personal best time, taking over 2 seconds off her previous best. Leanne also took almost 2 seconds off her 50m Freestyle PB.

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 3 new PBs, taking over a second off her 50m Freestyle - a time that had stood since 2016; over a second off her 25m Butterfly PB; and 2 seconds off her 200m Freestyle, breaking her time from 2014 and swimming under 3 minutes for the first time.

Steven Nguyen swam a season-best time of 27.56 in the 50m Freestyle.

Ian Johnston swam a massive PB in the 100m Backstroke, taking 5 seconds off his time from 2015. Ian also swam season-best times in the 50m and 200m Freestyle.

Lastly, Varant Jambazian swam a massive 3 second PB in the 50m Freestyle.

A great start to the meet! Day 3 will see our team in action in the 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke, 25m Breaststroke, 100m Individual Medley 50m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke. You can follow their progress in the Live Results.

See Also

 

Metro South West Open Water Championships

Merrylands was represented by 7 swimmers at the Metro South West Open Water Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre today.

Unish Shrestha and Alison Johnston both took home medals, with Unish finishing 3rd in his age group in the 2.5km event and Alison winning her age group in the 5km event.

The meet was a big learning experience for our team, especially for Unish, Daniel Vicic, Joseph Assi and Joab Hada, who were swimming in their first Open Water competition.

Well done to all our swimmers.

Metro South West Short Course Championships

Merrylands will be represented by its biggest team ever at the 2021 Metro South West Area Open & Age Short Course Championships. The Championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th June, 2021.

Our club will be sending a team of 22 swimmers to the 2-day meet and will compete in 96 individual events.

Good luck to the following members:
Lucas Alvarez
Joseph Assi
Laura-Belle Casey
Joab Hada
Ren Hum
Elie Menhem
Vanessa Ozols
Alison Johnston
Jay Shrestha
Lisa Shrestha
Nevah Shrestha
Niushka Shrestha
Ruby Shrestha
Shreya Shrestha
Summer Shrestha
Unish Shrestha
Chloe Ton
Ethan Ton
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic
Leo Zhu
Lillian Zhu 

The full Timeline will be available on the Metro South West website. Congratulations to our swimmers for qualifying, especially our first-time qualifiers, and good luck to our entire team at the meet.

See Also

McCredie Park Meet

Sixteen swimmers will represent Merrylands at the McCredie Park Anniversary Meet at Guildford Swimming Centre today.

Our team consists of:

Aisha Abdelraheem
Ameena Abdelraheem
Lucas Alvarez
Ren Hum
William Johnston
Vanessa Ozols
Alison Sakurovs
Nevah Shrestha
Niushka Shrestha
Ruby Shrestha
Unish Shrestha
Chloe Ton
Ethan Ton
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic
Leo Zhu

Best of luck everyone!

See Also