Junior Excellence Awards

Eighteen swimmers have received awards in the 2022 Swimming Australia Junior Excellence Program while representing Merrylands.

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

Joseph Assi
Lucas Alvarez
Daniel Vicic

Bronze

Aisha Abdelraheem
Leo Zhu
Joab Hada
Lisa Shrestha

Blue

Lindsey Matthew
Jay Shrestha
Ameena Abdelraheem
Jhanvi Jayasinghe
Ren Jie Hum
Ruby Shrestha
Lillian Zhu

All our club's previous recipients can be found in the Development section of our website.

See Also

Metro South West Short Course Championships Results

Merrylands' team of 15 swimmers had fantastic results at the Metro South West Short Course Championships over the weekend.

The team raced 39 individual events and achieved a whopping 35 new personal best times! We had 12 finalists, 2 Bronze medals and 2 Metropolitan Qualifying times.

Aisha swam the 100m Freestyle just outside her personal best time after a game of soccer!

Ameena achieved 2 new personal best times. She took over 3 seconds off her 100m Freestyle for her first sub 1:15 swim and also took over 6 seconds off her 100m Backstroke time.

Joseph took a massive 12 seconds off his 200m Individual Medley. He achieved a Metropolitan qualifying time and gained a finalist ribbon with his new personal best in the 100m Breaststroke. Joseph also achieved 2 personal bests in his 100m Backstroke, with his 50m split being a PB.

Laura-Belle took a chunk off her 50m Freestyle with a new official personal best. Laura-Belle returned on Sunday with a netball injury, but that did not stop her from cracking the 40 second barrier in the 50m Breaststroke for the first time, and earning herself a 4th place ribbon in the process.

Joab achieved 4 new personal best times in 3 swims, with a new PB in the 100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle and a double in the 100m Backstroke where his 50m Backstroke split was also a PB.

Ren contested the 100m Breaststroke where he took a huge 6 seconds off his time.

Peter achieved a season best in the 50m Breaststroke and also finished in the top 10.

Vanessa was a finalist in her 4 swims, with a personal best and Bronze medal in the 50m Backstroke.

Alison was a finalist in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly.

Jay achieved a double personal best in his 100m Breaststroke, with a new personal best in the 50m split. Jay also earned himself a finalist ribbon for the swim, coming in 7th.

Lisa had a fantastic swim in the 100m Backstroke with a fast finish to take 6 seconds off her time.

Daniel earned himself a ribbon and a new personal best time in his 100m Freestyle and finished with a solid 200m Individual Medley swim.

Matthew celebrated his birthday with 9 personal best times in 6 swims, including taking a whopping 10 seconds off his 100m Breaststroke, breaking 30 seconds in the 50m Butterfly and breaking the 60-second barrier in the 100m Freestyle in his last event of the meet.

Leo achieved 5 new personal best times in 3 swims, including a finalist and Metropolitan qualifying time in the 100m Breaststroke, and almost 6 seconds off his 100m Backstroke.

Lillian took a huge chunk off her 100m Freestyle time to be in the top 10 and picked up some nice Bronze bling and a new PB in the 100m Breaststroke, where she also PB’d at the 50m split.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their performances and thank you to Alison and Peter for preparing them for this meet.

22 Medals at Australian Masters Championships

Merrylands' team has finished the Australian Masters Championships with 22 medals and 24 new personal best times.

Sophia Vicic took home 9 medals from the meet - 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze. Sophia also swam 3 new personal best times. Alison Johnston finished the meet with 7 medals - 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze, with one new PB. Katie Hope claimed 3 medals, with 1 Silver and 2 Bronze, all in new personal best times. Peter Johnston won Bronze in the 200m Breaststroke and swam season-best times in all his events, while Leanne Tovkach finished with Bronze in the 100m Backstroke and 5 new PBs.

Our final medal came in the Women's 4x50m Medley Relay where our team of Sophia, Katie, Alison and Kylee Murray took home the Bronze. Kylee also swam 6 new PBs at the meet, narrowly missing out on a medal after finishing in 4th place, 4 times.

Varant Jambazian swam 4 new PBs at the meet, while Ian Johnston swam 2 new PBs and Steven Nguyen swam season-best times in all his events.

To top it all off, Merrylands finished second in the Life Member's Trophy point score at the meet. The Life Member's Trophy is for Clubs with 5-20 members and rewards performance & participation. It is calculated by taking the number of points gained at the National Championships, divided by the club's membership at end of the previous year.

Medallists

Sophia Vicic
   50m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   100m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   200m Freestyle  (Gold)
   50m Backstroke  (Silver)
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   200m Backstroke  (Silver)
   50m Breaststroke  (Silver)
   100m Breaststroke  (Gold)
   100m Individual Medley  (Silver)
Alison Johnston
   25m Freestyle  (Gold)
   50m Freestyle  (Silver)
   100m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   50m Butterfly  (Silver)
   100m Butterfly  (Gold)
   200m Butterfly  (Gold)
Katie Hope
   200m Freestyle  (Bronze)
   50m Breaststroke  (Bronze)
   200m Breaststroke  (Silver)
Peter Johnston
   200m Breaststroke  (Bronze)
Leanne Tovkach
   100m Backstroke  (Bronze)

Personal Best Times

Kylee Murray
   25m Freestyle
   50m Freestyle
   200m Freestyle
   25m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
   25m Butterfly
Varant Jambazian
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   50m Breaststroke
   50m Butterfly
Leanne Tovkach
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke
   25m Breaststroke
   100m Breaststroke
Katie Hope
   200m Freestyle
   50m Breaststroke
   200m Breaststroke
Sophia Vicic
   200m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
Ian Johnston
   100m Backstroke
   200m Backstroke
Alison Johnston
   25m Freestyle

Medal Tally

 Gold 5
 Silver 9
 Bronze 8


Congratulations to our team on their results! A big thank you also to our coaching team of Peter, Alison and Katie for the work they have done with our squad.

See Also

Australian Masters Championships - Day 4

The final day of the Australian Masters Championships saw more excellent results from our team, with 7 medals and 8 new personal best times.

Alison Johnston picked up another 3 medals with Gold in the 200m Butterfly, Bronze in the 100m Freestyle and lastly a Gold in the 25m Freestyle in a new personal best time.

Sophia Vicic also took home another 3 medals, finishing with Gold in the 100m Breaststroke, Silver in the 50m Breaststroke and Bronze in the 100m Freestyle.

Katie Hope was our final medalist of the day, taking out the Bronze in the 50m Breaststroke and breaking her 11-year-old PB in the process.

Varant Jambazian swam another 2 new PBs, breaking his times in both the 50m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle.

Leanne Tovkach swam new PBs in the 100m Freestyle and the 100m Breaststroke.

Kylee Murray also finished off the meet with 2 new PBs, with new personal best times in the 25m Backstroke and 25m Freestyle, while finishing just 0.45 outside her 100m Freestyle PB.

Lastly, Ian Johnston, Peter Johnston and Steven Nguyen all swam season-best times in all their events on the final day.

Congratulations to our whole team on their performances at the meet!

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Australian Masters Championships - Day 3

Day 3 of the Australian Masters Championships saw more great swims from our team, with 5 medals and 5 new personal best times.

Sophia Vicic took home another 3 Silver medals, with 2nd place in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Individual Medley and also in the 200m Backstroke where she finished in a new personal best time.

Alison Johnston picked up our other 2 medals, winning Gold in the 100m Butterfly and Silver in the 50m Butterfly.

Varant Jambazian swam a massive PB in the 50m Butterfly, taking over 28 seconds off his time, while both Ian Johnston and Kylee Murray swam new personal best times in the 200m Backstroke.

Leanne Tovkach also swam a new PB, breaking her 25m Breaststroke time.

Excellent swims as we head into the final day of the meet. Day 4 will see our team compete in the 50m Breaststroke, 200m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 25m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke and 25m Freestyle. You can follow their progress in the Live Results.

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Australian Masters Championships - Day 2

Wow! What a great start to the Australian Masters Championships, with 10 medals and 11 PBs on Day 2.

Sophia Vicic finished the day with 3 medals - one of each colour. Sophia took home Bronze in the 50m Freestyle, Silver in the 100m Backstroke, in a new PB, and Gold in the 200m Freestyle in a new PB.

Alison Johnston finished with 2 Silver medals, with 2nd place in both the 50m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke.

Katie Hope won a Silver in the 200m Breaststroke and a Bronze in the 200m Freestyle - both swims in new personal best times.

Peter Johnston took home a Bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke, with season-best times in all 3 of his events.

Leanne Tovkach took home her first national medal, with Bronze in the 100m Backstroke in a new personal best time, taking over 2 seconds off her previous best. Leanne also took almost 2 seconds off her 50m Freestyle PB.

Our final medal came in the Women's 4x50m Medley Relay where our team of Sophia, Katie, Alison and Kylee Murray took home the Bronze.

Kylee also swam 3 new PBs, taking over a second off her 50m Freestyle - a time that had stood since 2016; over a second off her 25m Butterfly PB; and 2 seconds off her 200m Freestyle, breaking her time from 2014 and swimming under 3 minutes for the first time.

Steven Nguyen swam a season-best time of 27.56 in the 50m Freestyle.

Ian Johnston swam a massive PB in the 100m Backstroke, taking 5 seconds off his time from 2015. Ian also swam season-best times in the 50m and 200m Freestyle.

Lastly, Varant Jambazian swam a massive 3 second PB in the 50m Freestyle.

A great start to the meet! Day 3 will see our team in action in the 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke, 25m Breaststroke, 100m Individual Medley 50m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke. You can follow their progress in the Live Results.

See Also

 

Australian Masters Championships

The Australian Masters Championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd April, 2022.

Merrylands will be represented by a team of 9 swimmers, competing in 71 individual events over the 4 day meet. Our team consists of:

  • Katie Hope
  • Varant Jambazian
  • Ian Johnston
  • Peter Johnston
  • Kylee Murray
  • Steven Nguyen
  • Alison Johnston
  • Leanne Tovkach
  • Sophia Vicic

Good luck to our swimmers at the meet. You can follow the team's progress on the Live Results page.

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Beach Education Day

When: Saturday, 23rd April

Time9:30am for 10am start
(education session won’t take any longer than 2 hours)

Location: North Narrabeen Surf Lifesaving Club (2 Malcolm Street, Narrabeen 2101). Please note that there are 3 Clubs on this stretch of beach so is important that they put NORTH NARRABEEN into maps

Meeting point: Easiest to meet at the patrol tent on the beach(located at the red and yellow flags)

Parking: Paid parking in the council car park. Council Rangers patrol this area regularly so please ensure cars pay for a ticket. There is free unlimited street parking in surrounding streets, however, these can be hard to come by on sunny days 

What to bring: Normal beach/ swimming attire (swimmers, towel, sunscreen, water). If the surf is big and dangerous the kids will be able to have a leisurely swim in the Narrabeen Lake or beach pool.

Aim of the day: To better understand beach & surf conditions and to learn practical knowledge to give you confidents to enter open water events and to learn beach safety.

All club members to wear club T-shirt

Bring Towel, goggles, water bottle

If you have any questions, contact Denise Assi.