Merrylands' team has finished the 2025 Australian Masters Championships with 4 medals, 20 personal best times and 16 season-best times and also winning the Life Member's trophy point score.
Varant Jambazian took home a silver medal and swam 11 personal best times. Kylee Murray swam 8 new personal best times and 5 season-best times. Leanne Tovkach swam 1 personal best time and 6 season-best times. Alison Johnston won 3 medals at the meet, taking home 1 of each colour. Alison also swam 5 season-best times.
As a team, our club finished 1st in the Life Member's trophy point score (awarded to the highest average point scoring club with 5 to 20 members) and finished 39th overall out of 118 clubs.
Personal Best Times
| Varant Jambazian |
| |
100m Freestyle |
| |
200m Freestyle |
| |
400m Freestyle |
| |
800m Freestyle |
| |
50m Breaststroke |
| |
100m Breaststroke (200m split) |
| |
100m Breaststroke |
| |
200m Breaststroke |
| |
50m Backstroke |
| |
200m Individual Medley |
| |
400m Individual Medley |
| Kylee Murray |
| |
50m Freestyle |
| |
200m Freestyle |
| |
400m Freestyle (800m split) |
| |
400m Freestyle |
| |
800m Freestyle |
| |
50m Backstroke |
| |
200m Backstroke |
| |
50m Butterfly |
| Leanne Tovkach |
| |
100m Breaststroke |
Medallists
| Alison Johnston |
| |
100m Freestyle |
(Silver) |
| |
200m Backstroke |
(Gold) |
| |
200m Butterfly |
(Bronze) |
| Varant Jambazian |
| |
400m Individual Medley |
(Bronze) |
Medal Tally
Congratulations to our team on their results!
We are so proud of our swimmers' performances, both in the pool and the amazing attitude our team had throughout the week, lifting each other and staying focused.
Thank you to Alison for coaching the team over the last 6 months and peaking our swimmers at the right time. Thank you to Peter Johnston for his work with this team over the last few years.
Enjoy your rest Whales, and onto Brisbane 2026!
See Also
Merrylands finished on a high for the last day of competition at the Australian Masters Championships as the team finished the day with 4 personal best times and 5 season best times. For Varant and Kylee this was their 5th day of competition and the 4th for Leanne and Alison.
The 200m Freestyle was the first event and Leanne had a speedy start and achieved a season best time. Leanne was just outside her all-time personal best and has goals to further reduce her time in the new season.
Kylee had a gutsy swim and made the hard decision to remove her goggles at the 100m mark. Kylee hung on her back 100m to achieve an all-time personal best and cracked the 3-minute barrier for the first time. Kylee came 7th in her age group.
Varant's strong kick powered him home for another personal best time, taking 4 seconds off his previous best and celebrating his heat win with a fist pump. The crowd was impressed with his efforts as he finished in 7th place.
Alison achieved a season best time for her 200m, beating her state time from last weekend and coming 6th.
The 100m Butterfly was next and Kylee put in a strong effort and ended up being just half a second outside her all-time personal best set 9 years ago. Kylee came 4th in her event, her highest ranking of the meet.
Alison was 0.1 outside her time from State last week and also finished 4th.
In the 50m Breaststroke, Leanne swam her final event of the meet and achieved her 3rd fastest swim ever. This was a fantastic result after a big week for Leanne, having missed training for the weeks before the meet due to being unwell.
Varant reduced his best time again, taking 0.2 off his best set a year ago and came 6th.
The final event was the 200m Individual Medley. Kylee had a strong swim, and was happy to swim her last lap of fly for the meet! Kylee swam her fastest time in 2 years in this event.
Varant was our last swimmer to compete and finished with a bang. While the first 3 laps matched his splits from his best, he reduced his Freestyle leg by a chunk and had an overall 3-second personal best, finishing in 5th.
Well done to our team on their performances on the final day and across the whole meet.
See Also
Our team continued to shine on Day 4 of the Australian Masters Championships with 6 new personal best times and 2 season bests.
In the 400m Freestyle, Kylee swam her second PB of the meet in this event, having swam a new personal best time for the 400m split of the 800m Freestyle on the first day of competition and came 7th in her age group.
Varant achieved another personal best time, taking over 8 seconds off his previous best and finishing in 5th place.
Alison swam her fastest time in 4 years and came 6th.
The 50m Backstroke was up next and Leanne achieved a season best time after a big morning touring the MCG!
Kylee achieved a new personal best, beating her time from last year.
Varant continued his big improvements in his backstroke over the last twelve months with a new best and a 10th place finish.
Last up was the 100m Breaststroke where Leanne achieved a new personal best time, taking 6 seconds off her previous best.
Varant swam his second 100m Breaststroke PB of the meet, taking more time off his 100m split from the 200m Breaststroke from Day 2 to finish 7th in his age group.
Day 5 tomorrow - the last day of competition - has the 200m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 50m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley.
See Also
Merrylands continued their fantastic run on Day 3 at the Australian Masters Championships with 2 medals, 4 new personal best times and 3 season bests.
Varant kicked off the day with a fantastic 400m Individual Medley in which all strokes improved to take over 20 seconds off his previous best time. Varant earned himself a silver medal in his age group for his performance.
The next event was the splash and dash with our swimmers all bringing the speed in the 50m Freestyle. Leanne swam her fastest time in 2 years.
Kylee took almost a second off her personal best time, which she had set in 2019, finishing in 8th place.
Varant swam his second fastest time, and was 0.05 outside the PB that he set last weekend, while Alison came 6th in her age group.
In the 200m Backstroke, Kylee continued her strong form and achieved a new personal best time, taking over 2 seconds off her best, which was set 2 years ago.
Alison swam a perfectly split race for a season best and a gold medal.
Last up was the 50 Butterfly where Kylee set another personal best, winding back the clock and beating her previous best from 2019!
Varant had a strong start in his 50 Butterfly and while the last 10m was tough, still managed to swim his 3rd fastest time.
Alison swam a season-best time and had a top 10 finish.
Day 4 tomorrow with our team taking to the pool in the 400m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke.
See Also
Day 2 of the Masters Swimming Australia National Championships saw our team win 2 medals, swim 3 PBs and 4 season best times.
Varant Jambazian and Kylee Murray continued their strong momentum from yesterday, and Leanne Tovkach and Alison Johnston commenced their campaign.
The 200m Breaststroke was the first event of the day, and Varant flew out the gate with an amazing performance, splitting a new personal best at the 100m mark and taking 6 seconds off his 200m time overall to finish 4th in his age group.
Alison opened her meet with the 200m Butterfly and while the piano truly hit at the 175m mark Alison managed to hold on for a Bronze medal.
The 100m Freestyle was next and Leanne swam her fastest time in 2 years with her 4th fastest swim ever. An even more impressive feat, as Leanne has been unwell for the past few weeks, but her solid training block prior to this has paid off!
Kylee reduced her time from State last weekend and swam her 2nd fastest 100m Freestyle ever, coming in 6th place.
Varant continued his run of personal best times taking almost a second off the time he achieved at State Championships last weekend.
Alison swam her fastest 100m Freestyle since 2023 and won a silver medal in a big field in her age group.
In the 100 Backstroke Leanne swam her second fastest time ever, while Kylee swam her fastest time in 6 years.
Day 3 tomorrow sees our team competing in the 400m Individual Medley, 50m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly.
See Also