Isabella Symons won three medals, while all of her Bendigo East Swimming Club team-mates recorded personal bests at the 2013 Victorian Age Championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A group of 15 Bendigo East swimmers helped the club to 19th place overall at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, with Symons the standout.
The 13-year-old won a silver medal and two bronze, while also notching six new personal bests at the meet.
Symons shaved more than three seconds off her preliminary time to claim second place in the 200m butterfly final in a personal best of 2:30.53.
The young star also lowered her fastest times to take bronze medals in the 100m butterfly (1:06.41) and 100m backstroke (1:09.56) – where she qualified fifth, but rose to the occasion in the final.
Symons also swam well in the 200m individual medley final to finish fifth.
Cameron Jordan, 11, raced almost five seconds faster in the 200m boys’ breast-stroke final than his preliminary heat to almost claim a bronze medal.
Jordan touched the wall in fourth position in 3:06.06 – his personal best – less than two seconds behind third.
His older sister Kate was fifth in the 200m butterfly, ninth in the 200m breast-stroke and 10th in the 100m breast-stroke finals in the 15-and-under girls’ division.
Sixteen-year-old Jacob Waller qualified for five finals at the meet and swam best times in each.
Waller, who struggled with injury and illness during the winter, performed best in the 100m breast-stroke where he finished fifth in 1:11.53.
Bendigo East head coach Tony Rodda was pleased with the swimmers’ efforts at the championships and is looking ahead to some good results at the state country titles over the Australia Day long weekend.
“The results the swimmers obtained over the state week was terrific from the club’s perspective,” Rodda said.
“They’ve put in a lot of work and with the club having the Bendigo East pool open through winter it’s really starting to pay dividends because of the training we’ve been able to have throughout the period.
“James Coughlin, who only started swimming at a later age competed really well (personal bests in the 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke).
“Bryce Garland only had one swim (50m freestyle) but he swum a small PB in that.
“Jarrod and Matthew Slot swam very well (three and two personal bests respectively).
“Matthew’s stepped up to the senior group this year, he’s training very well and his times are reflecting that.
“We’ve got quite a number of swimmers going down to Sale for the country championships. It looks really good going forward.”
Before that, though, several Bendigo East swimmers – including Isabella Symons, Kate Jordan and Kiara Verbeek – will compete at the Victorian Open next weekend.