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!  

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.

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

• Swimming Metro South West
• 2021 Metro South West Short Course Championships

Our Senior swimmers kicked off their season with some great results at the Metro South West Senior Long Course Championships.  These Championships were held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on the 7^th and 8^th of November.

Laura-Belle had some fabulous results, achieving personal best times in 3 out of 4 of her swims.  Laura-Belle took off over 3 seconds in the Open 50m Butterfly, achieving her first sub 40 time!

Michael had just completed his HSC physics exam the day before the meet.  The force (mass x acceleration) was with him and Michael achieved a personal best in the Open 50m Freestyle.

Elie showed gutsy efforts in his swims after returning from a break and several injuries.  Elie saved his best performance for the last of the day with a personal best in the Open 50m Freestyle.

It was Vanessa’s first-time swimming at these Championships and she had some wonderful results, with personal best times in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke.  Vanessa was a finalist in her 4 events.

Summer added to her Metropolitan events with a personal best in the 100m Freestyle. Summer also achieved personal best times in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke, and was a finalist in this event.

Brendan contested a massive 9 events during the meet.  Brendan was a finalist in four events, including a top 10 finish in the Men’s Open 200m Individual Medley.

Alison’s highlight was the Women’s Open 50m Freestyle, coming 9^th out of 130 swimmers.  Alison also picked up 2 silver medals, 1 bronze and 4 other top 10 finishes.

Congratulations to all our swimmers and thank you to Peter and Alison for their coaching.

Merrylands will send a team of 7 swimmers to the Metro South West Senior Championships this weekend.

The Championships are being held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th November.

Our team is competing in 39 individual events over the weekend, and consists of:

Laura-Belle Casey
Michael Evans
Brendan Kirkpatrick
Elie Menhem
Vanessa Ozols
Alison Sakurovs
Summer Shrestha

Following the session on Saturday, Metro South West are holding a Junior Qualifying Meet. We will have 6 swimmers competing at this meet in 8 events.

Our team consists of:

Joseph Assi
Joab Hada
Niushka Shrestha
Unish Shrestha
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic

Good luck to all our swimmers at both meets.

Our team of four swimmers achieved excellent results at the Metro South West Long Course Championships over the weekend.

The meet kicked off with the Open 50 Breaststroke.  Brendan was the first to swim and achieved a solid season best time.  The girls were up next and Laura-Belle took a massive 2.5 second chunk off her previous time and Sophia was right on her entry time.

The Open 50 Butterfly followed with Brendan having another top swim, getting under the 31 second mark.

Laura-Belle had a cracker of a swim in the 14 Year Girls 100m Freestyle taking over 5 seconds off her previous best time.

The Open 50 Backstroke was a PB-a-thon for the girls with Sophia, Laura-Belle and Alison all reducing their times.

The last event for Saturday was the Open 50m Freestyle. Brendan took a second off his entry time to dip under 29 seconds. Laura-Belle achieved another PB to keep Sophia on her toes, who followed with a solid time.  Alison was a finalist in the event, coming 8^th overall.

There was no signs of fatigue on Day 2 as our swimmers continued to excel. Brendan achieved a Season Best in the Open 100 Backstroke, earning himself a ribbon in the process.  He then raced to the other end of the pool to back straight up for a gutsy 50 Butterfly, which was within a second of the time set the day before.

Alison earned the first medal of the meet, picking up a Bronze in the 17/Over 50m Butterfly.

The second medal of the meet was from Alison in lane 1 of the Open 100m Freestyle, picking another bronze.  Not to miss out on the “skins” action, Alison made her way to the other end to back up with a 50m Backstroke straight after.  The ribbon was appreciated, the lactic was not.

Brendan dipped under the 29 mark again in the Men’s 17/Over 50m Freestyle to pick up another ribbon and beat his time from the previous day.  A gold was won by Alison in the Women’s event, with the time also faster than the previous day.

The 17/Over 50m Breaststroke was next, with Brendan coming 4^th and 0.1 outside the time he swam the previous day.  Alison also came 4^th in the Women’s event.

Laura-Belle finished the meet off with a bang in the 14 Year Girls 100m Breaststroke. Laura-Belle took a huge 7 seconds off her previous mark and achieved a top 10 finish in the process.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their wonderful performances!

Medal Tally

Gold - 1
Bronze - 2
Top 10 - 8

Merrylands will send a team of 4 swimmers to the Metro South West Senior Long Course Championships.  The Championships are being held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on the 2nd and 3rd November, 2019.

Our team is competing in 22 individual events over the weekend.

Good luck to Laura-Belle, Brendan, Alison and Sophia!

Merrylands has 13 swimmers competing at the 2019 Metro South West Area Short Course Championships. The Championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June, 2019.

Our team consists of:

Joseph Assi
Laurabelle Casey
Brendan Kirkpatrick
Steven Nguyen
Alison Sakurovs
Nevah Shrestha
Niushka Shrestha
Shreya Shrestha
Summer Shrestha
Unish Shrestha
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic
Sophia Vicic

Good luck to all our swimmers at the meet and may the whale be with you!

Our team of 13 swimmers had another fantastic meet at the Metro South West Junior Championships, held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on the 16th February, 2019.

Whilst the timeline was long due to the new format, the swimmers maintained their energy and the supporters maintained their cheer!

Throughout the meet our team had many highlights including new personal best times, finalist ribbons, medals and more Metropolitan and State qualifiers.  Other highlights included the amazing cheer squad which could be heard from our insider in the recorders office, the weet-bix slice, gutsy swims with goggle malfunctions, our swimmers killer starts, our team of timekeepers and the wonderful support of swimmers gave each other throughout the long day.

Overall our team achieved 43 new personal best times over both 50m and 100m distances. Our swimmers were finalists in 20 events and also picked up some bling throughout the day!

Congratulations to all our swimmers on these great results!

Silver
Unish Shrestha - 8 Years 50m Breaststroke

Bronze
Matthew Vicic - 11 Years 50m Butterfly
Summer Shrestha - 11 Years 50m Freestyle

Finalists
Joab Hada - 9 Years 50m Breaststroke, 9 Years 100m Backstroke, 9 Years 50m Backstroke, 9 Years 50m Freestyle
Summer Shrestha - 11 Years 50m Breaststroke, 11 Years 50m Backstroke
Laura-Belle Casey - 13 Years 50m Breaststroke, 13 Years 100m Breaststroke
Matthew Vicic - 11 Years 100m Freestyle, 11 Years 100m Butterfly. 11 Years 50m Backstroke, 11 Years 50m Freestyle
Unish Shrestha - 8 Years 50m Butterfly, 8 Years 50m Backstroke, 8 Years 50m Freestyle
Helen Macpherson - 11 Years 50m Backstroke, 11 Years 50m Freestyle
Nevah Shrestha - 10 Years 50m Backstroke
Niushka Shrestha - 10 Years 50m Freestyle, 10 Years 100m Butterfly

Good luck to our team of 13 swimmers who are representing Merrylands at the Metro South West Junior Championships on Saturday, 16th February.

The championships are being held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

Our team consists of:

Laura Belle Casey
Abraham El-Chami
Bilal El-Chami
Joab Hada
Helen Macpherson
Elie Menhem
Lisa Shrestha
Nevah Shrestha
Niushka Shrestha
Summer Shrestha
Unish Shrestha
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic

Our team will compete in 67 individual events at this meet.  Good luck to the team and may the whale be with you all!