Congratulations to all the swimmers who have been competing over the last two months. Three major meets have been swum since the GPS season concluded and a group of Newington swimmers have achieved great results. The 2019 Australian National Age Championships were held in South Australia from 15-22 April 2019. In total, seven Newington Swimmers competed. The NSW CIS Championships were held at Sydney Olympic Park on 2-3 May with 18 boys representing GPS. The NSW All Schools Championships were also held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Monday 13 May. Needless to say, it is an amazing achievement for each individual to first qualify for any of these three top-end meets.

Australian National Age Championships

Seven swimmers represented their local clubs at the 2019 Australian National Age Championships in Adelaide during the first week of the school holidays.

• Christopher Mina (10/PR) (200m Butterfly, 400m IM, 200m IM, 100m Butterfly)
• Harrison Loeffler (9/ME) (100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle)
• Lachlan Sheehy (12/JN) (200m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle)
• Charles Dillon (11/FL) (200m Breaststroke, 100m Breaststroke)
• Thomas Baird (10/FL) (50m Freestyle)
• Karl Kovarik (10/LE) (100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle)
• William Gray (10/KL) (400m Freestyle)

It is important to note that within each of these events qualifying times set are based on accepting the top 30 swimmers within all of Australia!

A number of the swimmers have commented on the differences between racing at Nationals and competing at the GPS meets. ‘Sitting in the marshalling area at GPS and Nationals is very similar but also very different, shared Will Gray, ‘the combination of nerves and excitement creates an intensity that I’ve never experienced before. At GPS carnivals there is a level of excitement and eagerness to race, but Nationals is a new level.’

Christopher Mina offered up a different perspective, perhaps due to his previous experience in racing, ‘the marshalling area always feels the same as I like to think of each meet as the same as all the previous ones, just with a different name.’

Many of the boys listed above swam personal best times at the Nationals and are working hard to ensure the Newington Swim Team continues its success in 2020.

Charlie Dillon, Harrison Loeffler, Christopher Mina x 3, Lachlan Sheehy x 2 all achieved times which ranked them in the top 25 swimmers in Australia in their respective events.

Harrison Loeffler summarised his participation very positively ‘I was happy with my results at Nationals as I swam personal best times in two of my events and I swam close to my personal best in the 50m Butterfly.’

Banner Photo by Jason McCawley/SPA Images