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!
It was a big weekend for our team of four representing Merrylands at the NSW Junior Metropolitan Championships at SOPAC this weekend.
This was the first time that all members of the team have competed at this level of competition. While there were nerves, the team performed exceptionally well.
Matt was flying solo on Saturday and swam the 11 Years 100m Freestyle in a personal best time. Matt returned on Sunday for the 11 Years 100m Butterfly and achieved his second fastest time, after having already PB'd in this event a week ago.
Niushka was up next and after having taken 5 seconds off her time to qualify for Metrops in the first place, took another 4 seconds off her time in the 9-10 Years 50m Butterfly. This achievement also means Niushka has qualified for her first State Age Championships, to be held in 4 weeks time.
The 11 Years 50m Freestyle followed with Merrylands being represented by three swimmers. Matt chipped away at his PB, taking another 0.1 off his time. Summer achieved her second fastest official time in this event and Helen took almost a full second off her previous mark, achieving her first time in the 33s.
The final event for our swimmers was the 11 Years 50m Butterfly and there were solid performances after a big weekend. Matt and Helen again swum their second fastest times and Summer broke the 40 barrier for the first time with a PB.
Overall from the 9 swims our team achieved 5 PBs with the other 4 swims their second fastest times ever.
Congratulations to all our swimmers on these wonderful achievements.
Merrylands will be represented by a team of 4 swimmers at the NSW Metropolitan Junior Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on 2-3 March, 2019.
All 4 swimmers are first-time qualifiers for the Championships, with the hard work they have put in at training over the past 12 months paying off in spades.
Our team will compete in the following 9 events:
Matthew Vicic
50m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
50m Butterfly
100m Butterfly
Helen Macpherson
50m Freestyle
50m Butterfly
Summer Shrestha
50m Freestyle
50m Butterfly
Niushka Shrestha
50m Butterfly
Congratulations to all 4 swimmers on qualifying and to their coach Alison, who has coached swimmers to the Metropolitan Championships for the first time.
You can follow the team's progress over the weekend on the Swimming NSW website.
See Also
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!
Our team of 16 swimmers achieved FIFTY ONE personal best times at the Speedo Sprint Heats, held on Saturday 2nd February at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
The meet started with the 50m Freestyle and it was clear from the beginning the hard work the swimmers had been applying to their starts had paid off. Matt and Summer achieved their first State Age qualifying times and the team achieved 14 new personal best times between them.
The next event was the 50m Breaststroke and another 15 personal best times were smashed. Majority of our swimmers were backing up from the 50m Breaststroke Championships held at Club only a few hours earlier and some swimmers swum two Breaststroke PBs in the one day! Unish was a finalist in the event and will contest the Speedo Sprint Finals next month.
50m Backstroke was the third event and another 13 personal best times were achieved, with the team taking off almost 30 seconds between them.
The last event was the 50m Butterfly and our swimmers continued to improve their times, with another 9 personal best times being swum. Matt added another swim to his State program, whilst Helen and Summer added to their Metropolitan program. Niushka achieved her first Metropolitan qualifying time.
It was fantastic to see our swimmers supporting each other and cheering on each other from the grandstand.
Congratulations to all our swimmers on their amazing performances today and thank you to our parents for being such a wonderful support crew.