Congratulations to Matthew Vicic who set a new record in the 200m Individual Medley Championship this morning.
Matthew set a new record of 2:53.05 in the 13yrs 200m Individual Medley, breaking the previous record of 2:55.52 held by Robert Whythe since 1983.
Congratulations to Matt on his swim.
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Summer Shrestha and Matthew Vicic represented Merrylands at the NSW Junior Metropolitan Championships this weekend. Our small team had big results - they competed in 7 individual swims, achieved 5 new personal best times and earned 4 new State qualifying times!
On Day 1 Summer and Matthew both swam in the 12 Years 50m Butterfly where Summer achieved a new personal best time, dropping over a second to achieve her first State qualifying time of the season, while Matthew swam his second fastest 50m Butterfly time.
Summer also contested the 12 Years 50m Breaststroke and earned another State time with a 0.3 second PB.
On Day 2 Matthew had a big morning contesting the 12 Years 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly within an hour and a half. Matt chipped 0.04 off his 100m Freestyle time, after achieving a PB at SwimFest a few weeks earlier. Matt then took over a second off his 50m Backstroke time, earning a State qualifying time in the process. Matt's 100m Butterfly was his 3rd fastest time, having dropped 5 seconds off his PB in the last 4 weeks.
Summer's final race was the 12 Years 50m Freestyle and she took almost a second off her PB to swim under 31 seconds for the first time. This also added to Summer's State qualifying times.
Congratulations to our team!
Summer and Matt with their coach, Alison.
Four swimmers from Merrylands have qualified for the Speedo Sprint Series Finals at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre tomorrow.
This is our largest number of swimmers at the finals in over 30 years.
Our swimmers will represent Metro South West in the following events:
Matthew Vicic
- 12yrs 50m Butterfly
- 12yrs 50m Freestyle
Daniel Vicic
Joseph Assi
Unish Shrestha*
Congratulations to all 4 boys on qualifying for the finals, after finishing in the top 4 at the Speedo Sprint Series Heats earlier this month. Congratulations to Daniel and Joseph in particular who have qualified for the finals for the first time. We wish them the best of luck at the meet.
* Unfortunately Unish Shrestha is unable to attend due to an family event.
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Merrylands' team of 11 swimmers had a fantastic meet at the Metro South West Junior Championships this weekend. Our swimmers achieved a massive 41 personal best times out of 46 individual swims. We also had 21 Finalists, 2 Bronze and 1 Gold medal, and 2 awesome relay swims!
Our swimmers had so many amazing we could not list them all but a few highlights are below:
Joseph Assi took a huge 7 seconds off his 100m Breaststroke time and earned himself a bronze medal in the process. He tipped out Unish Shrestha by 0.01 but Unish won himself a bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly where he took 12 seconds off his time.
Daniel Vicic finished his meet strongly with a 13 second PB and 4th place in his 4th event of the meet, the 100m Backstroke.
Joab Hada took a big 4 seconds off his 50m Breaststroke time and came in under a minute for the first time ever!
Joseph, Unish Daniel and Joab joined forces and competed in the 10&Under Freestyle Relay. The boys did Merrylands proud with a massive effort, taking 8 seconds off their entry time and coming 4th overall.
Lisa Shrestha had a gutsy 100m Butterfly and was determined to finish on 2 stroke breathing. Lisa took a second off her time and came 7th in the process.
Niushka Shrestha fought back in the 100m Butterfly after a tough first 50 for 8th place, with almost 6 seconds off her time.
Nevah Shrestha swam her 100m Backstroke with lovely technique, taking 6 seconds off her time and earning a 6th place finish.
Shreya Shrestha raced strongly to take almost 6 seconds off her 100m Freestyle time in her first Championship event.
Summer Shrestha powered to a 13 second PB in her 100m Breaststroke, with her first 50m split almost her 50m PB time!
Niushka, Nevah, Shreya and Summer combined in the 11-13 Years Freestyle Relay. They took a massive 5 seconds off their entry times. Niushka achieved an official PB as the lead off leg and all the other girls were faster than their official times.
Matthew Vicic had a very impressive 200m Butterfly race, with a smooth and controlled swim. Matt took 16 seconds off his mark and won a gold medal for his effort. This swim also qualified Matt for the Metropolitan and State Championships.
Elie Menhem had a superb 200m Breaststroke swim, taking another 11 seconds off his time after taking 16 seconds off his time 2 weeks earlier. Elie also earned a finalist ribbon which is a great achievement having never qualified for a championship event before this year.
Thank you to our parents, siblings and friends who supported our swimmers. The cheers were heard throughout the venue all the way to the Recorder’s Room! Thank you to our coaches for helping prepare our swimmers for the meet.
Personal Bests: 41
Finalists: 21
Medal Tally
Gold: 1
Bronze: 2
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Merrylands will be represented by a team of 11 swimmers at the Metro South West Junior Area Championships which start at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre today.
Our team is competing in 45 individual events and 2 relays, and consists of:
- Joseph Assi
- Joab Hada
- Elie Menhem
- Lisa Shrestha
- Nevah Shrestha
- Niushka Shrestha
- Shreya Shrestha
- Summer Shrestha
- Unish Shrestha
- Daniel Vicic
- Matthew Vicic
Best of luck to the whole team.
Merrylands swimmers had hot results at the Speedo Sprint Heats held yesterday at Blacktown Aquatic Centre.
Our team achieved 48 new personal best times, 5 finalists and 2 new Metropolitan qualifying times.
The meet commenced with a jam packed warm up but our kids held their own in busy conditions.
Elie Menhem kicked off the meet with a PB in the 50m Butterfly, swimming under 40 seconds for the first time. He also shaved 0.1 off his breaststroke time coming off the back of an awesome 200m Breaststroke that morning.
Ferenique Bris was competing for the first time at this event and she swam a massive 6 second PB in the 50m Butterfly, which may yet become her favourite event! Ferenique also achieved a 4 second PB in the Breaststroke.
Matthew Vicic was our first swimmer of the meet to make it through to the finals, with a PB and a 4th place in the 50m Butterfly. Matt also achieved a 3rd place in the 50m Freestyle adding to his events in the finals. Matt gained another Metropolitan time with a PB in the 50m Backstroke and caused a sibling upset.
Shreya Shrestha hit some massive milestones and came in under 50 seconds for the first time in Butterfly and 60 seconds in Breaststroke!
Summer Shrestha dropped 2 seconds in her Butterfly and achieved a new Metropolitan time in the process. Summer took half a second off her Freestyle time, finishing 7th overall and also PB’d in the Breaststroke, dipping into the 43s.
Thayne Bris and Ren Jie Hum were also competing at the meet for the first time and they should have gone home happy with their performances. Thayne dropped 2 seconds in his Breaststroke and another second in his Backstroke, while Ren achieved a 6 second PB in his Butterfly, 2 seconds in his Freestyle and 3 seconds in his Breaststroke.
Ameena Abdelraheem, having just swam new PBs at her school carnival during the week, took another 3 seconds off in the Butterfly!
Nevah Shrestha achieved 4 from 4 PBs which is an amazing effort considering the conditions on the day. She concentrated on her breathing in the Butterfly and earnt a 5 second PB in the process. Nevah also took at least 1 second off her other 3 swims.
Niushka Shrestha broke the 40 second mark in the Butterfly for the first time, and also lowered her Freestyle time whilst thinking about her breathing patterns, making her coach very proud.
Avani Pradhan worked hard for a huge 5 second PB in the Butterfly, and swam her second fastest time in the Breaststroke after achieving a new PB in the club championships earlier in the day.
After swimming new PBs (including 2 club records) in 3 events over the past 8 days, Lisa Shrestha swam another new PB in her Freestyle, taking almost 1 second off the PB she had just swum at club earlier in the day.
Daniel Vicic was our second finalist of the meet with an amazing swim in the Freestyle. Daniel swam under 40 for the first time and skipped the 39’s straight into a 38! Daniel also PB’d in the 50 Backstroke coming 6th overall.
Joseph Assi took a huge 6 seconds off his Butterfly time. Joseph then swam his second PB for the day in the Breaststroke, finishing 3rd and earning himself a ribbon and a spot in the finals.
Unish Shrestha also broke 40 seconds for Freestyle, narrowly missing out on the finals with a 5th place. He went one better in the Breaststroke, finishing 4th with a new PB, and making it through to the finals for the second year in a row.
Chloe Ton’s first time at Speedo Sprints resulted in some top swims. Chloe achieved a 2 second PB in Freestyle, 5 second PB in Breaststroke and 4 second PB in Backstroke!
It was also Lucas Alvarez, Pare Nader and Ruby Shrestha’s first at the Speedo Sprints.
Lucas backed up from a PB in the Freestyle in the morning to another in the afternoon. Lucas also PB’d in the Breaststroke and had his first time under a minute in Backstroke.
Pare had a gallant effort in the Butterfly with a cap malfunction and had a very gutsy performance just outside her best time. She achieved an official PB in the Freestyle finishing 6th, after having an unofficial PB at school the day before. Pare also achieved a top 10 finish in the Breaststroke and Backstroke.
Ruby PB’d in the Freestyle and took over 2 seconds off her time. Whilst Ruby only competed in one event, it felt like she was in all of them – she cheered on all our swimmers for the whole meet and was a wonderful representative of Merrylands Club.
The parents, siblings and supporters did an amazing job in hot conditions. They supplied the cool drinks and fan support in both meanings of the word! The enthusiasm continued all afternoon as they cheered on our swimmers at the finish. Thank you to our coaches for prepping our swimmers and probably being just as wet as they were!
Congratulations to all our swimmers and support crew.
Our 4 finalists: Daniel, Matt, Joseph and Unish.
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Merrylands was represented by 4 swimmers at the Metro South West Open Water Championships. The championships were held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre on 17th November, 2019.
Matt was the first to compete, swimming in the Boys 11-13 Years JX 2.5k swim. Matt swam a very strong race, improving on his result from last year by over 5 minutes!
Nevah and Summer were next to swim the 2.5k in the Girls event. This was the first time they have swum 2.5k in an Open Water environment and whilst there was some nervous anticipation both had solid swims and should be very proud of themselves!
Brendan swam the 5k event which was 2 laps around the course. This was also Brendan's first time swimming this event and picked up a surprise gold in the "Boys" 26-35 Years age group.
Congratulations also to all the parents, Ruby and coach Alison who managed to up their step count for the week as they supported our swimmers around the course.
Merrylands has a team of 5 swimming at the NSW State Masters Short Course Championships. The championships are being held at Peninsula Leisure Centre, Woy Woy over the 12th and 13th October, 2019.
The team of 5 are competing in 23 events across the weekend. Good luck to Peter, Brendan, Kylee, Alison and Leanne.
The club is also being represented by 3 swimmers at the Swimming NSW Junior Area Representative Meet at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday.
Niushka, Summer and Matt are part of the Metro South West Area team and have been selected in 15 individual events and 3 relays between them.
Good luck to both teams. We know you will make us proud!
Merrylands' team of 3 swimmers performed well at the NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships on the weekend.
Alison Johnston swam her fastest time since 2017 in the 50m Freestyle, finishing in 28.30. Summer Shrestha swam her second fastest time ever in the 100m Breaststroke, just 0.09 outside the PB she swam at the Metro South West Championships 3 weeks ago, while Matthew Vicic swam a new personal best time in the 100m Butterfly, taking 0.06 off the time he swam at the Metro South West Championships.
Well done to Matthew, Summer and Alison on their swims. The results of the championships are available here.
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Merrylands will be represented by a team of 3 swimmers at the NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.
Our team will compete in 3 events and consists of:
Alison Johnston - 50m Freestyle
Summer Shrestha - 100m Breaststroke
Matthew Vicic - 100m Butterfly
Congratulations to all 3 swimmers on qualifying for the championships - especially Summer and Matthew who have qualified for this meet for the first time.