Merrylands will be sending a team of 13 swimmers to the Speedo Sprint Series Heats which will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre tomorrow.
Our team will compete in 46 individual events at the meet and consists of:
Aisha Abdelraheem
Gabriella Assi
Joseph Assi
Cameron Evans
Patrick Hannan
William Johnston
Anastasia Krga
Nikolai Krga
Jay Shrestha
Lisa Shrestha
Daniel Vicic
Leo Zhu
Lillian Zhu
Good luck to our team at the meet, especially those swimming at their first Speedo Sprint Series!
Three new championship records were set at club races on Saturday with Kylee Murray breaking 2 records and Matthew Vicic breaking 1.
Kylee set a new record of 36.68 in the Veterans 50m Freestyle breaking the previous record of 37.09 by 0.41 seconds which she had held since 2017. Kylee then backed up for the Veterans 200m Freestyle where she also broke her own record. Kylee took a massive 3.8 seconds off the record of 3:10.40 which she had set in 2020.
Meanwhile, Matthew set a new record time in the 15yrs 200m Freestyle, breaking the old record of 2:24.72 which had been held by Robert Griffey since 1999. Matthew took a huge 3.06 seconds off the time to touch in 2:21.66.
Well done to Kylee and Matt on their swims!
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Congratulations to Lillian Zhu, Joseph Assi and Leo Zhu who all set new records in the 50m Breaststroke Championships this morning.
Lillian set a new record in the 9yrs 50m Breaststroke in a new personal best time of 50.84. Lillian took 1.27 seconds off the record set by Lisa Shrestha in 2020.
Joseph swam a new record time of 40.83 in the 12yrs 50m Breaststroke, breaking the record held by Mitchell Emery since 2002. Joseph took 0.76 off the old record.
Lastly, Leo took 1.31 seconds off the 13yrs 50m Breaststroke record, finishing in 37.48. This record had been held by Anthony Ventra since 2006.
Congratulations to Lillian, Joseph and Leo on their swims.
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There will be no training sessions on Thursday 26th January due to the Australia Day holiday.
Enjoy your day. 🦘
The 2023 Merrylands SwimFest Swim Meet will be held at Merrylands Swimming Centre on Saturday, 18th February, 2023.
Entries are now open, and will close on Saturday, 4th February, 2023. This is our club's carnival so all club members are expected to attend.
For more information visit the Merrylands SwimFest section of our website.
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Our last training session for 2022 will be held on Thursday, 22nd December, while our last week of club races will be held on Saturday, 24th December.
Club Races start at 7am as usual, and will include Novelty Events after the regular races.
Training will resume on Tuesday, 3rd January, 2023, with Club Races resuming on Saturday, 7th January.
Our Christmas Party will be held on Saturday, 24th December in conjunction with the Club Races from 7am. All squad members are encouraged to attend the club races and novelty events. We would love to see you there. Enter online here.
Are going to be away at all in December or January?
If you will be away, then please complete the form below to indicate your last day of training and your first day back.
Training Break Form
The Committee and Coaching Staff hope you have enjoyed the first few months back at Merrylands. Have a Merry Christmas and keep training hard as school carnivals and the Merrylands SwimFest approaches.
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Our team had fantastic results at the New South Wales Junior Metropolitan Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.
Leo Zhu contested 7 events at his first Metrops and achieved 100% new personal best times. Leo was just outside the top 10 with 11th place in his 100m Breaststroke, took a massive chunk off his 50m Backstroke to win his heat from lane 0, and achieved 6th place in the 200m Breaststroke, earning himself his first Metropolitan finalist ribbon.
Joseph Assi raced 3 events and achieved 2 new personal best times. Joseph gained another Junior State Age qualifying time with his personal best in the 100m Breaststroke. Joseph also was a Metropolitan finalist with a top-10 finish in the 200m Breaststroke taking 2 seconds off his time in the process.
Well done boys and thank you to Alison for all her hard work with the team.
Varant Jambazian will represent Merrylands at the NSW State Masters Long Distance Championships at Birrong Leisure & Aquatic Centre today.
Varant is competing in the 400m Breaststroke and 400m Freestyle.
We wish him the best of luck at the meet.
Three members have qualified for the NSW Junior Metropolitan Championships which will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this weekend.
Congratulations to:
Joseph Assi
Leo Zhu
Ren Hum
Best of luck at the meet boys!
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Merrylands successfully reclaimed the Inter-Club Cup for 2022, after last winning it in 2016. It was exciting to be able to win the meet with some very tight racing between the clubs. It was also so pleasing to see the friendly rivalry and support the clubs gave each other. There were so many highlights throughout the day and all teams were always going to be winners.
Our team achieved 90 new personal best times and won the point score by 68 points but there were countless achievements throughout the day. Our swimmers aged from 6 to 70 supported each other throughout the meet with lots of cheering for each race. Thirteen swimmers competed at their first carnival for the club - congratulations Cameron, Aiden, Patrick, Pavla, Coralie, Anna, Emma, Hannah, Jude, Leah, Anastasia, Nikolai and Samantha. Some of these swimmers had never raced in events longer than 25m before but were willing to give the 50m a crack to earn points for the club. Some had their first attempt at 50m Butterfly and were even rewarded with a re-swim for their efforts, taking it in their stride and sharing a warm dry towel while waiting for their re-swim.
All age groups contributed to the point score and there was a great feeling of team spirit as everyone worked together. Some of our older swimmers who "don't do breaststroke" or "don't like backstroke" stepped up, (with some light prompting), to ensure we were represented in every event. Some of these swimmers even surprised themselves with their results!
Thank you to our Club Captains Matthew and Darla for organising our swimmers and looking after our younger members. Our captains also gave many their first experience of a carnival "tattoo" of event numbers, worn like a badge of honour. Some may still have remnants on their arm at training on Monday.
With the arrival of the ice cream van, our swimmers fought the temptation until the end of the meet and celebrated the sweet taste of victory at the end of the meet with a well-deserved choc-top.
Congratulations to all our swimmers on their amazing results, and thank you to everyone who helped organise and run the meet. Go Whales!
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