World Aquatics Masters Championships

Merrylands will be represented by 4 swimmers at the 2023 World Aquatics Masters Championships in Kyushu, Japan from 2-11 August.

The swimming events at the Championships will be held in Fukuoka from 5-11 August, with the Open Water on 2-3 August.

Our team of Kylee Murray, Steven Nguyen, Alison Johnston and Ian Wison will contest 18 events at the championships. This is Kylee and Ian's first time at the World Championships, while for Steven and Alison, this is their 3rd World Championships. The team will swim in the following events:

Open Water Swimming

Day 2 - Thursday, 3rd August
3km Open Water (Seaside Momochi Beach Park) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 11am AEST) Wave 3

Swimming

Day 1 - Saturday, 5th August
800m Freestyle (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 1:04pm AEST) Heat 11, Lane 2
     
Day 2 - Sunday, 6th August
100m Freestyle (Marine Messe) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 1:13pm AEST) Heat 26, Lane 5
100m Freestyle (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Kylee Murray (approx 1:24pm AEST) Heat 24, Lane 3
Alison Johnston (approx 2:05pm AEST) Heat 46, Lane 1
     
Day 3 - Monday, 7th August
200m Freestyle (Marine Messe) Start List
Kylee Murray (approx 2:09pm AEST) Heat 20, Lane 7
200m Freestyle (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 2:16pm AEST) Heat 18, Lane 6
50m Butterfly (Marine Messe) Start List
Alison Johnston (approx 4:23pm AEST) Heat 38, Lane 3
50m Butterfly (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Steven Nguyen (approx 5:02pm AEST) Heat 68, Lane 9
     
Day 4 - Tuesday, 8th August
50m Freestyle (Marine Messe) Start List
Steven Nguyen (approx 12:36pm AEST) Heat 113, Lane 9
50m Freestyle (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Kylee Murray (approx 11:35am AEST) Heat 50, Lane 0
Alison Johnston (approx 12:30pm AEST) Heat 97, Lane 6
100m Butterfly (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Alison Johnston (approx 4:13pm AEST) Heat 15, Lane 5
     
Day 6 - Thursday, 10th August
100m Backstroke (Marine Messe) Start List
Kylee Murray (approx 4:48pm AEST) Heat 12, Lane 8
100m Backstroke (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 4:47pm AEST) Heat 13, Lane 8
200m Butterfly (Marine Messe) Start List
Alison Johnston (approx 6:33pm AEST) Heat 10, Lane 4
     
Day 7 - Friday, 11th August
400m Freestyle (Marine Messe) Start List
Ian Wilson (approx 12:36pm AEST) Heat 7, Lane 6
400m Freestyle (Fukuoka Nishi Civic Pool) Start List
Kylee Murray (approx 1:10pm AEST) Heat 9, Lane 5


World Aquatics will be broadcasting a live stream of the meet on their website.

Good luck to our team at the Championships.

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Junior Excellence Awards

Fourteen swimmers have received awards in the 2023 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
Leo Zhu
Lillian Zhu

Bronze

Aisha Abdelraheem
Ren Jie Hum
Jay Shrestha
Daniel Vicic

Blue

Patrick Hannan
Coralie Havea
Jhanvi Jayasinghe
Lisa Shrestha
Ruby Shrestha
Samantha Terry

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

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Swimming NSW Meet Levy

Updated 19th July, 2023

Swimming NSW has now made the decision to make all club nights and club championships exempt from the Meet Levy for the first year of the fee’s implementation. This will be reviewed as Swimming NSW continue to assess both the impact and benefits of the Meet Levy.

This means that next summer's club races will no longer be impacted. Meets such as the Merrylands SwimFest and Inter-Club Cup, Area meets and other meets will still incur the Meet Levy which will still increase the cost of participation and provide no benefit to the meet organisers.

Original article:

Swimming NSW have announced they are introducing a new Meet Levy that will increase the cost of entries for Club Races and other swimming meets by $1.50 per event.

This levy will significantly increase the cost of participation by at least $100 per swimmer per season. The money collected will go straight to Swimming NSW and provide no tangible benefit to our members.

We encourage all members to read the information here and raise their objections directly with Swimming NSW CEO Kirsten Thomson.

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Metro South West Short Course Results

Our team of 12 swimmers had great results at the Metro South West Area Short Course Championships last weekend.  We achieved 30 personal bests across all strokes, 9 finalists and a silver and bronze medal.

Aisha came running in from winning her soccer game to still have legs to achieve a new personal best in her 100m Freestyle.

Ameena achieved a seasonal best in her 100 Freestyle and was right on her 100m Backstroke time.

Gabby blitzed her events, swimming 4 new PBs in 2 events, with both her 100m times and 50m splits breaking her best times.

Joseph had cracking performances in all 5 of his events, with PBs in all his events.  This included a new personal best in his 50m Butterfly split in the 200m Individual Medley.  He dropped a total of 11 seconds in the medley before backing up for a gutsy 200m Breaststroke afterwards in a new personal best time.

Laura-Belle swam a fast 50m Breaststroke with her morning swim just outside her personal best.  She then returned for the 17 & Over 50m Breaststroke where she smashed her personal best and earned herself a Bronze medal.

Peter swam season-best times in his sprints and picked up a finalist ribbon in his 50m Breaststroke.

William swam 2 events and achieved 4 personal bests in the process and a finalist ribbon in his 100m Backstroke.

Alison swam season best times in the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly and picked up ribbons for both. 

Daniel had an amazing swim in his 100m Backstroke to come 4th in a new personal best time.  He backed up with a fast 50m Backstroke dropping over 2 seconds off his time.  Daniel then pushed through a cap incident in his 100m Freestyle to gain another personal best time.

Matthew showed his hard training paying off with new personal best times in his 200m Butterfly, Backstroke and Freestyle events. He also showed speed cracking 27 seconds for the first time in the 50m Freestyle and swimming under 33 seconds in the 50m Backstroke.  Matt also picked up ribbons in his 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke.

Leo concentrated on his shorter events for this meet and achieved new personal best times in the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke and also picked up a Silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke with a time just a fraction outside his personal best.

Lillian had super races with 3 personal bests times in 2 swims.  Lillian achieved 2 new PBs in her 100m Backstroke, with a PB at the 50m Split as well as the 100m. Her third PB came in the 100m Freestyle.  Lillian also was a finalist in both of her events.

Congratulations to all our swimmers on their performances.  Thank you to our parents and supporters who were there for a long weekend of racing and thank you to our coaches for preparing our swimmers.

Bowling Night

Members are invited to join us for our Bowling and Arcade Games night on Saturday, 1st July at Kicks Tenpin & Arcade in Parramatta.

What: Bowling, Arcade Games, Pizza & Drinks
Where: Kicks Tenpin & Arcade, 1 Eels Place, Parramatta
When: Saturday, 1st July - 5:15pm for 5:30pm start
Cost: $25 for Adults; $15 for Children under 10yrs
Price Includes: Bowling, Arcade Games, Pizza & Drinks (alcoholic drinks not included)
Register and Pay: Via Swim Central by 30th June

So break out your bowling shoes and register today!

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Metro South West Short Course Championships

Merrylands will be represented by a team of 12 swimmers at the Metro South West Short Course Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.

Our team is competing in 37 individual events over the 2-day meet, and consists of:

Aisha Abdelraheem
Ameena Abdelraheem
Gabriella Assi
Joseph Assi
Laura-Belle Casey
Peter Johnston
William Johnston
Alison Johnston
Daniel Vicic
Matthew Vicic
Leo Zhu
Lillian Zhu

Congratulations to all our swimmers on qualifying and good luck to them at the meet.

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10 Medals at Australian Masters Championships

Merrylands' team has finished the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 10 medals, 13 personal best times and 23 season-best times.

Alison Johnston won 6 medals at the meet, taking home 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. Alison also swam 6 season-best times. Ian Johnston took home 2 medals - 1 silver and 1 bronze. He also swam 6 season-best times. Our final individual medallist, Peter Johnston, won a silver medal in the 200m Breaststroke and swam season-best times in all 7 of his events.

Our final medal came in the Mixed 4x50m Medley Relay where our team of Kylee Murray, Peter, Alison and Varant Jambazian took home the Bronze. Kylee also swam two new personal best times and 3 season-best times, while Varant swam 4 new PBs.

Leanne Tovkach swam 5 new personal best times at the championships, along with one season-best time.

Medallists

Alison Johnston
   50m Freestyle  (Silver)
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   200m Backstroke  (Gold)
   50m Butterfly  (Bronze)
   100m Butterfly  (Silver)
   200m Butterfly  (Gold)
Ian Johnston
   100m Backstroke  (Silver)
   200m Backstroke  (Bronze)
Peter Johnston
   200m Breaststroke  (Silver)

Personal Best Times

Varant Jambazian
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   400m Freestyle
   50m Breaststroke
   200m Breaststroke
   50m Backstroke
Leanne Tovkach
   50m Freestyle
   100m Freestyle
   200m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke
   50m Breaststroke
Kylee Murray
   400m Freestyle
   100m Backstroke

Medal Tally

 Gold 2
 Silver 5
 Bronze 3


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

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Australian Masters Championships - Day 5

Our team finished the meet in style on Day 5 of the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 2 medals, 4 new personal best times and 4 season-best times.

Alison Johnston added another silver medal to her count with second place in the 50m Freestyle.

Peter Johnston picked up his first medal of the meet with silver in the 200m Breaststroke in his fastest time since 2018. He also swam his fastest 50m Freestyle since 2019.

Varant Jambazian swam three new personal best times, all of which he had only set in the last couple of months. In the 50m Backstroke, Varant took a massive 8.74 seconds off his time from March. In the 200m Breaststroke, he took 5.03 seconds off his time from the NSW State Championships earlier this month and in the 50m Freestyle, he took 0.29 seconds off the time he had also set at State.

Ian Johnston finished the meet with two excellent swims, swimming his fastest times since 2018 in the 50m Backstroke and 50m Freestyle.

Finally, Leanne Tovkach finished the meet with a new personal best time in the 50m Freestyle, taking 0.52 off her PB from 2021.

Congratulations to our team on their performances over the 5 days of the championships!

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Australian Masters Championships - Day 4

More fantastic swims from our team on Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Masters Championships with 3 medals, 2 personal best times and 6 season-best times.

Alison Johnston added 2 more medals to her tally with gold in the 200m Backstroke in her fastest time in 2 years and a silver in the 100m Butterfly in her fastest time since 2019.

Ian Johnston picked up his second medal of the meet with bronze in the 200m Backstroke - his fastest swim in this event since 2018. Ian also swam his fastest 400m Freestyle since 2019.

Varant Jambazian and Kylee Murray both swam new personal best times in the 400m Freestyle. Varant took 4.68 seconds off his time, while Kylee took 0.52 seconds off the personal best time she set in 2019. Kylee also swam her second-fastest time ever in the 200m Backstroke, after setting her PB at the NSW State Championships earlier this month. She then finished off her meet with her fastest 100m Butterfly since 2020.

Peter Johnston meanwhile swam his fastest 400m Freestyle since 2016.

Congratulations to our team on their swims today! Day 5, the final day of the meet, will see our team compete in the 50m Backstroke, 200m Breaststroke and finish off with the 50m Freestyle. You can follow their progress online or on Meet Mobile.

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