7 Medals at Metro South West Short Course Championships

16 September 2008 Peter-Johnston Latest News
Merrylands' team of 10 swimmers won 7 medals and were finalists in 22 events at the inaugural Metro South West Area Open & Age Short Course Championships on the weekend. The club's results made this year's meet the club's most successful Short Course District/Area Championships ever.

Besides the medals and finalist ribbons, 21 new personal best times were swum from 42 events with every swimmer in the team swimming at least one new PB at the two day meet.

David Wang won the club's first medal of the meet when he swam a new personal best time of 1:19.92 on the way to third place in the 15yrs 100m Breaststroke. David took over 1.35 seconds off his old personal best time to win his first medal at the meet since finishing 3rd in the 100m Breaststroke at the 2004 Championships. He went on to win another two bronze medals at the meet after finishing 3rd in the 100m Backstroke in a new PB of 1:13.45 and 3rd in the 100m Freestyle, surpassing his previous best result of two bronze medals at the 2008 Cumberland Open & Age Championships.

Peter Johnston also won his first medals at the meet since 2004. The meet marked a bit of a return to form for Peter after he had struggled for pace at most of the meets throughout the winter season. However he finished the meet with two silver medals, his best ever championships haul, and 4 new personal best times. Peter's first medal was a bit of a surprise as he finished a close 2nd in the Open 100m Breaststroke in a new personal best time of 1:17.12, breaking his PB by 0.9 seconds and finishing just 0.23 seconds in front of third place. His second medal came in the 17yrs & Over 50m Breaststroke, also in a new personal best time of 33.53, 0.52 seconds inside his previous best.

Brittany Johnson was our third medallist of the meet, swimming at her first championship meet since 2006. Brittany overcame a shoulder injury to swim a new personal best time of 32.23 on her way to third place in the 17yrs & Over 50m Butterfly. She then backed up to swim a new PB in the Open 100m Individual Medley. Rebecca Tuivawa won our final medal in our last event of the meet, taking home bronze in the Open 100m Butterfly.

Eight out of ten of our members were a finalist in at least one of their events. Steven Nguyen took over half a second off his PB to finish just outside the medals in 4th place in the 17yrs & Over 50m Butterfly. Ethan Burton's best result was also 4th place in the 9yrs & Under 50m Backstroke.

Amber Johnson's best result came in the 15yrs 100m Backstroke where she finished in 7th while Timothy Tunks took home his first ever finalist ribbons, his best result being 5th in the 9yrs & 50m Freestyle in a new PB.

Swimming in her first Championship Meet, Belinda Sloane swam new personal best times in all three of her events while Simon Johnston swam a new PB in the lead off leg of the 10x50m Freestyle Non-Championship Relay.

Finalist Summary:

Timothy Tunks
9yrs & Under 50m Freestyle (5th)
9yrs & Under 100m Individual Medley (10th)
Ethan Burton
9yrs & Under 50m Backstroke (4th)
9yrs & Under 50m Breaststroke (5th)
9yrs & Under 50m Butterfly (10th)
9yrs & Under 100m Individual Medley (7th)
Rebecca Tuivawa
13yrs 100m Backstroke (9th)
13yrs 100m Breaststroke (7th)
13yrs 100m Butterfly (7th)
13yrs 200m Individual Medley (8th)
Open 100m Breaststroke (7th)
Open 100m Butterfly (3rd)
David Wang
15yrs 100m Freestyle (3rd)
15yrs 100m Backstroke (3rd)
15yrs 100m Breaststroke (3rd)
15yrs 200m Individual Medley (4th)
Open 100m Breaststroke (6th)
Open 100m Individual Medley (6th)
Amber Johnson
15yrs 100m Backstroke (7th)
Steven Nguyen
17yrs & Over 50m Butterfly (4th)
Brittany Johnson
17yrs & Over 50m Butterfly (3rd)
Open 100m Individual Medley (6th)
Peter Johnston
17yrs & Over 50m Freestyle (5th)
17yrs & Over 50m Backstroke (6th)
17yrs & Over 50m Breaststroke (2nd)
17yrs & Over 50m Butterfly (5th)
Open 100m Freestyle (4th)
Open 100m Breaststroke (2nd)
Open 200m Breaststroke (6th)

The swimmers who swam PBs were:

Timothy Tunks
50m Freestyle
Ethan Burton
50m Backstroke
50m Breaststroke
100m Freestyle
Belinda Sloane
100m Freestyle
100m Backstroke
100m Breaststroke
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg) (Unofficial)
Rebecca Tuivawa
200m Individual Medley
David Wang
100m Backstroke
100m Breaststroke
100m Individual Medley
200m Individual Medley
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg) (Unofficial)
Amber Johnson
100m Individual Medley
Steven Nguyen
50m Butterfly
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg) (Unofficial)
Brittany Johnson
50m Butterfly
Open 100m Individual Medley
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg) (Unofficial)
Simon Johnston
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg)
Peter Johnston
50m Freestyle
50m Backstroke
50m Breaststroke
Open 100m Breaststroke
50m Freestyle (Relay Leg) (Unofficial)

Congratulations to all 10 swimmers on their performances. Overall our club finished in 14th position on 543 points, more than double last year's total of 223. Our male team performed exceptionally well, finishing inside the top ten in 8th place, with our female team finishing in 18th.
The full results with splits are now available here.

Medal Tally

Gold 0
Silver 2
Bronze 5

See Also
  • 2008 Metro South West Area Open & Age Short Course Championships - Team

  • 2008 Metro South West Area Open & Age Short Course Championships - Results


    • 2008 Metro South West Short Course Championships Team
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