NSW Metropolitan Results

Our team of 5 swimmers had a scorcher at the NSW Metropolitan Championships held at SOPAC this weekend.

While it was hot outside our swimmers were burning up the pool with great swims and results.  Our swimmers achieved 6 new personal best times.

It was Joab Hada's first time competing at this meet and he had a terrific swim in the 50m Freestyle.  Joab was only 0.1 shy of the personal best time he achieved 3 weeks earlier.

Matthew Vicic dropped time in both his events.  Matt dipped under 32 seconds for the first time in the 50m Butterfly and also achieved a personal best in his 50m Freestyle.

Summer Shrestha had 4 events at these Championships and saved the best for Day 2. Summer achieved a personal best in the 100m Freestyle.  In her last event of the meet Summer dropped time in her 50m Freestyle to achieve a Senior State Age qualifying time.

Unish Shrestha and Joseph Assi finished off our campaign with fantastic results in the 50m Breaststroke.  It was the first time for both of them at this meet and both of them dropped over a second in this event.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their results.

See Also

NSW Metropolitan Championships

Five members will represent the club at the NSW Junior Metropolitan Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.

Our team consists of:

Summer Shrestha
Matthew Vicic
Joab Hada
Unish Shrestha
Joseph Assi

For Joseph, Joab and Unish, this is the first time they have qualified for these championships

Congratulations all our team members on qualifying and we wish them the best of luck.

Swimming NSW are live streaming the championships and they can be viewed below.

Metro South West Senior Championships

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.

Speedo Sprint Series Finals

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

  • 9yrs 50m Freestyle

Joseph Assi

  • 9yrs 50m Breaststroke

Unish Shrestha*

  • 9yrs 50m Breaststroke

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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Metro South West Results

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

See Also

Metro South West Junior Championships

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.

Speedo Sprint Results

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.

See Also

Metro South West Championships

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!

Speedo Sprint Series Finals

Unish Shrestha will represent Merrylands as part of the Metro South West team for the Speedo Sprint Series Finals at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday, 9th March 2019.

Unish has qualified for the 50m Breaststroke and will be competing against the top 4 swimmers from each Area from across the state at the meet. This is the first time Unish has qualified for the finals and is our club's first qualifier since 2017. Congratulations to Unish on qualifying and we wish him the best of luck at the meet.

You can follow Unish's progress over the weekend at http://nsw.swimming.org.au/.

See Also

Metro South West Junior Championships Results

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