MLC Aquatic 3rd in Overall Team Ranking

Congratulations MLC Aquatic - 3rd Overall at the 2014 Victorian Age and Open Short Course Championships!

2014 STATE AGE SHORT COURSE MEET REPORT
 
Generally, as a club and as individuals we test and assess ourselves by our performances at major competitions. The State Age Short Course Championships is one of these competitions.  MLC Aquatic had 53 swimmers compete.  Between them they swam 123 PB's, 117 top 10 finishes, 60 from the males and 57 from the females.  For the first time since Nick Veliades took up the head coaching position the males outscored and outmedalled the females 849 to 810, males taking 9 Gold, 11 Silver and 6 bronze with the females 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze. In the overall point score the club was 3rd and getting ever closer to the two power houses of Victorian Swimming Nunawading and Melbourne Vic Centre.  

Individual performances of note from the Performance squad were the 2 young guns 15 year old David Schlicht and 14 year old Ryland Brian, entering 9 events each, Ryland finished with a medal count of 5 (3 gold and 2 silver), David finished with 4 (2 gold and 2 silver). Connie McClelland while still recovering from injury signed up for 8 events, taking 2 Bronze for the weekend.  Another big weekend from the Dammersmith sisters, Phoebe competing in  9 events and walking away with 3 bronze and Saskia entering 8 events.

Gold medal performances for the females came from Emily Crawshaw winning the 200 Breaststroke (bronze in the 100 breast), Jemma Schlicht winning the 200 fly, the 50 and 100 free (silver in the 100 fly and 200 free), and Stephanie Whan with gold in her pet events 100 and 200 fly (silver in the 50 and bronze in the 100 free). Accumulating the rest of the medals for the females was sprint specialist Lucy Soden (silver in the 50 and 100 free, bronze in the 100 back), Alanis Olesch-Byrne (silver in the 100 back) and Emily Yang (bronze in the 100 back).

Gold medal performances for the males came from recently returned (from Jnr Pan Pacs) Benno Negri with Gold in the 50, 100, 200 free (silver in the 100 and 200 back). Benno also took down Alex Grahams Victorian Age Record for the 16 yrs 100 free with a blistering time of 49.23. Still recovering from a fractured rib but not letting that stop him Luka Zubcic won gold in the 100 free (silver in the 50 and bronze in the 200). Collecting the other medals was Sam Durrant (3 silver in the 100 and 200 breast and 200 IM), Jesse May (bronze in the 100 breast), Jacob Waller (bronze in the 100 back) , Thomas Wood (bronze in the 1500) and Dante Negri showing his diversity with 2nd in the 50 free and 3rd in the 100 IM.

National squad's winter season focus was a combination skills execution under pressure, thoughtful swimming and racing in the moment rather than what event you are at. The test is whether the training has transferred into racing, so it was a pleasure to see the athletes execute these things during what can sometimes be high pressure racing.

Madeline McCormack, only back in the water for a term (from Marshmead) raced 7 events, most of them in PB times. Emma Malcolm  (also back from Marshmead) came away from the meet with two 4th's and a 5th, all swims being PB times. Having an interrupted season is always unfortunate, nevertheless Christian O'Nians still swam PB's with top 10 finishes in the 50 and 100 free. With a grade 1 tear of her pectoral muscle Julia Silverii showed what inner strength she possess to get 4th in the 100 back and 100 IM. Winston Ta came from way back in the field to get 4 top 10 finishes, impressing both his fellow swimmers and coaches on his ability to stand up and race hard and fight for every metre.

Whilst most of the national development squad competed at the 12 and unders there were some notable performances. Both Celina Pope and Samantha Schlicht after a dedicated and goal driven season swam pbs and improved their ranking considerably making their first ever state finals.  Unfortunately despite finishing 4th in the 100 back Sammy was DQ'ed for her fine underwater work but was able to put it behind her to make and finish 5th in the 200 back final.

Enjoying a well deserved break over the holidays the athletes did a fantastic job all season. Summer time is nearly here which means the long course season is about to start, bringing a new set of goals and motivation.

A big thankyou to all parents for your support of the swimmers and all the time keeping duties that were filled over the weekend.

Regards,
Sam Ashby (on behalf of the coaching staff and MLC Aquatic Committee).

 

   

 Gold for the Men's Open 4x100 Free Relay + Gold for Ryland in the 14yo Boys 100 Back.

  Silver for Sam and Bronze for Jesse in the 16yo 100m Breastroke.