Five of Swan Hills’ best swimmers competed at the 2011-2012 Swimming WA Open and Age Long Course State Championships held at Challenge Stadium between the 17-21 January. Although the team was small their efforts were massive! The team consisted of Jessica Antill, Holly Barratt, Taylor Campbell, Georgia Marshall and Belinda Spurr. All five swimmers made national qualifying times, there were many PBs across a variety of races and all swimmers competed in multiple finals.
There were some very tight races between Swan Hills swimmers and their competitors with some fierce racing displayed by all of the girls. Taylor Campbell and Georgia Marshall took silver in their age group 200 Backstroke finals, with both girls being touched out by less than half a second, .15 and .25 respectively. Georgia Marshall also took away a bronze medal in her age group 100 Backstroke, only .5 behind the race winner. Holly Barratt competed against one of the world’s fastest swimmers, Therese Alshammar (current world champion 50 freestyle). Holly came away with three medals, gold in the Open Women’s 50 Backstroke, silver in the Open Women’s 50 Butterfly and bronze in the Open Women’s 50 Freestyle.
All five girls will be looking to better their performances at the Age Nationals (Jessica Antill, Taylor Campbell and Georgia Marshall) or the Olympic Trials (Holly Barratt and Belinda Spurr).
Well done to all the girls and we wish them luck at the nationals!
