Well done to our team on their results at the NSW Senior Metropolitan Championships this weekend.

Our team swam 3 new personal best times, with Leo Zhu swimming new PBs in both his 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle, while Daniel swam a new PB in his 50m Freestyle at his first Metropolitan Championships.

Matthew Vicic swam his third fastest 200m Butterfly and Joseph Assi swam his second fastest times ever in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Breaststroke.

Well done to the boys on their swims.

Merrylands is being represented by 4 swimmers at the NSW Senior Metropolitan Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.

Our team will contest 7 events over the 2-day meet and consists of:

Congratulations to these swimmers on qualifying, especially Daniel who has qualified for his first Metropolitan Championships. We wish them all the best of luck!

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!  

Matthew Vicic swam two new personal best times at the NSW Senior Metropolitan Championships last weekend.

Matt took 3.61 seconds off his 200m Butterfly, finishing in 2:34.06. He also took 0.35 seconds off his 100m Backstroke, with a new PB of 1:13.49.

In Matt's other events, he was just 0.22 outside his 100m Butterfly PB and 0.30 outside his 100m Freestyle PB.

Congratulations to Matt on his swims.

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

It was a hot day at Penrith's Sydney International Regatta Centre for the NSW State Open Water Championships.  Matthew Vicic represented the club in the 5k Open Water event.

This was the second time Matthew has competed at this event and he took two and a half minutes off his previous time!

Well done Matthew and we hope you enjoyed your slurpie afterwards!

Congratulations to Matthew Vicic on breaking the 14 Years Boys 100m Butterfly record today.

Matt swam a personal best time of 1:11.58, taking over a second off his time.

The previous record had been held by Brett Turner since the 1977/78 season.  Matthew beat this record by almost 9 seconds!

Well done Matthew!

See Also

• Championship Records

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

Twenty two members have received awards in the 2021 Swimming Australia Junior Excellence Program. This is our club's highest number of recipients since the programs inception in 2006 - a fantastic effort by our swimmers!

The Australian Junior Excellence Program, recognises rewards and encourages junior swimmers who, through their development of aquatic skills and fitness, achieve a high standard of swimming excellence.

Congratulations to the following members who have received awards this year:

Silver

Chloe Ton
Lucas Alvarez
Matthew Vicic
Summer Shrestha

Bronze

Daniel Vicic
Joab Hada
Joseph Assi
Leo Zhu
Lisa Shrestha
Niushka Shrestha
Thayne Bris
Unish Shrestha

Blue

Aisha Abdelraheem
Ameena Abdelraheem
Avani Pradhan
Ceylin Uysal
Chevelle Fehir
Jorja Matthew
Nevah Shrestha
Ren Jie Hum
Ruby Shrestha
Shreya Shrestha

The full list of recipients can be found on the Junior Excellence page on the Swimming Australia website, while all our club's previous recipients can be found in the Development section of our website.

See Also

• Swimming Australia Junior Excellence Program
• Junior Excellence Program - Previous Recipients