Bendigo East swimmers shine at championships

The club sent three athletes across to South Australia to compete against the country's elite, with BESC's swimmers wrapping up the event with medals and personal bests.

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Isabella Symons, 23, was no stranger to national level competition and put on a stellar performance.

First up was the 100m butterfly where Symons finished 47th overall which included a 1:03.02 (seed time) and 1:05.40 (preliminary).

BESC coach John Jordan said Symons continued to show strength in the water after an interrupted lead up to the championships.

"She had swam at this level before and overall was reasonably happy with how she finished," he said.

"Her times were roughly the same as what she swam this time last year which was a great effort after an interrupted training block leading up to the event."

Fellow member Charlie Whitsed had an outstanding week in the pool in what was his first ever trip to an event of this scale.

The 18-year-old secured a personal best on debut within the 50m breaststroke.

Posting times of 29.84 (seed time) followed by a 29.62 (preliminary), Whitsed recorded a personal best on the back of recovering from an injury.

Coach Jordan said Whitsed had performed well given it was his first time competing at the national level tournament.

"Our swimmers were up against the best in the country with the top finishes making it through to the national squads for both the world championships and Commonwealth Games," he said.

"Charlie's preparation had been slightly hindered after enduring an injury in a school football game.

"However, he put in the hard work, went over and swam very well in the toughest competition he's ever raced in.

"Overall a really great effort."

Cameron Jordan, 20, scored two bronze medals and recorded three personal bests in three different breaststroke events.

First up was the 200m breaststroke where he posted a time of 2:17.98 (preliminary) and 2:17.02 (finals) to finish 10th overall, and third fastest within his division while also recording a personal best.

In the 100m breaststroke he finished 9th overall with times of 1:02.29 (preliminary) and 1:01.74 (finals) to finish third in the 18-20 bracket while setting a personal best.

Finally in the 50m breaststroke Jordan recorded another personal best with times of 28.22 (preliminary) and 28.41 (finals) to finish 10th overall.

"He's really happy with the results and the hard work has certainly paid off for Cameron," Jordan said.

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