Just like that, it concluded the final individual interclub series for 2021. The club had a total of 13 swimmers (9 males and 4 females), with 3 swimmers debut for UniSA Swimming Club. Kim Le, Alex Ljamin, and Shania Morgan all represented the UniSA Swimming Club for the first time at Masters with all 3 swimmers having an outstanding meet.
Shania broke records left, right, and centre with PBs all around. 4 State records and 2 National records were broken by the "Lily King" (Queen of Breaststroke) of Masters Swimming South Australia. Shania had recently transferred over to UniSA Swimming Club from Adelaide Masters to seek an opportunity to compete at Uni Nationals in 2022 and train alongside the "Adam Peaty" (King of Breaststroke) of UniSA Swimming Club - Nick Tam. Please introduce yourself to Shania when you see her at the pool and make her feel welcomed.
200m Freestyle saw 6 UniSA Swimming Club members racing it. Andrew, Chelsea, Alvin, Jack, Liam, and Alex. Andrew used this opportunity as a warm-up swim as he was busy submitting the relay entries during the warm-up. Alvin went out hard in the 200 Freestyle with his first 100m split of 58.68 followed by Liam and Jack trying to keep up with Alvin coming in at 1:04.04 and 1:05.36 respectively. Liam was able to split the race up evenly, however, Jack went out too hard and struggled to come home with a 1:19.37 2nd 100 split. Another UniSA Swimming Club member struggled to finish a race strong at Interclub 3...continue reading to find out who it is.
Gary Lai had a good meet with 2 PBs in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke. Gary has been training really well for the past couple of months and the results have definitely shown. Gary also earned himself a State and National record for the Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay with Chelsea, Shania, and Liam. What's a meet without UniSA Swimming Club breaking records??
Alex finished his individual debut with the race of the meet in the 100 Breaststroke. UniSA Swimming Club had 4 representatives in the final heat of the 100m Breaststroke race. Alex in lane 3, Albert in 4, Nick in 5, and Gary in the outside lane in 9. Nick "Peaty" Tam was the favourite to win the race but 2nd was anyone's race... Albert and Alex touched at the 50m turn with only 0.1s between them, 38.64 to 38.74 respectively. Alex was hunting Albert down like Titmus hunting Ledecky down in the last 50m of the 400 free at Toyko 2020 (2021). The whole team was cheering both swimmers on in the last stretch, everyone on the edge of their seat holding their breath to see who will touch first. It was tight the whole race right up to the final touch where Alex finished in a time of 1:22.50 to Albert's 1:22.69. Everyone can't believe what they just witnessed, meanwhile Nick has been waiting st the wall after breaking another National record with a time of 1:08.05. That's a faster time than Andrew's shocking back half of his 100m Butterfly where he split 29.50 and 39.95. There was no race plan besides go out hard and wish for the best on the way home.
Andrew was able to pick himself up after the poor 2nd half of his 100m Butterfly to race his main event in the 50m Butterfly. Andrew was nervous in lane 3 with Alvin in lane 5. Alvin is known for his good starts where he was able to out-touch Andrew in the 25m Butterfly at 2021 MSSA States Short Course. Alvin exploded off the blocks with a reaction time of 0.61s to Andrew's 0.73s. It was neck to neck down the field and it came down to the final 10m. Andrew kept his head down stroking into the wall, whereas, Alvin took a breath in the last 5m which lead to the final result of 28.36 to Andrew and 28.67 to Alvin. Nick has requested a challenge to Andrew in the 50m Butterfly at State Long Course held on October 10th. Special mention to Nick on achieving his 3rd fastest 50m Freestyle time in his swimming career with a time of 24.86.
Relays saw UniSA Swimming Club enter 5 teams and breaking 2 State and National records. Alvin Fu lead the Men's 4x50m Medley team with an individual 50m Backstroke State record (30.00) beating his previous record of 30.02. For those who are unaware, the first swimmer of a relay team is eligible to have their time count as an individual time and set State and National records if applicable.
Well done to everyone who competed today and gave it their all. It has been a tough month leading up to Interclub 3 with lockdown occurring directly after Interclub 2. There's 1 more Interclub series and it'll be by far the best one. Interclub 4 are relays only held on September 12th then State Long Course on October 10th. Hope to see a huge turnout to the next 2 meets.
Here are the teams and order of swimmers:
Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay
Gary Lai
Chelsea Robinson
Shania Morgan
Liam McHugh 1:56.31 (State and National Record)
Elinor Teo
Kim Le
Samantha To
Albert Sztolc 2:13.35
Men's 4x50m Medley Relay
Alvin Fu - (30.00 Backstroke split = State record)
Nick Tam
Andrew Truong
Liam McHugh 1:56.12 (State and National Record)
Albert Sztolc
Alex Ljamin
Jack Jackson
Daniel Pearce 2:23.34
Women's 4x50m Medley Relay
Elinor Teo
Shania Morgan
Chelsea Robinson
Samantha To 2:20.79
Result Summary
Albert Sztolc
- 200m Breastroke: 3:05.02
- 100m Freestyle: 1:03.96
- 100m Breastroke: 1:22.69
Alvin Fu
- 200m Freestyle: 2:06.34 (State record)
- 50m Backstroke: 30.37
- 50m Butterfly: 28.67
Alex Ljamin
- 200m Freestyle: 2:26.75
- 50m Breaststroke: 35.77
- 100m Breastroke: 1:22.50
Andrew Truong
- 200m Freestyle: 2:33.61
- 100m Butterfly: 1:09.45
- 50m Butterfly: 28.36 (PB)
Chelsea Robinson
- 200m Freestyle: 2:28.32
- 50m Freestyle: 29.70
- 50m Butterfly: 32.64
Daniel Pearce
- 50m Freestyle: DQ
- 100m Freestyle: 1:17.56
Elinor Teo
- 50m Freestyle: 32.58
- 50m Backstoke: 39.87
- 100m Freestyle: DNS
- 50m Breaststroke: 43.89
Gary Lai
- 50m Freestyle: 29.79 (PB)
- 50m Butterfly: 32.03 (PB)
- 100m Breastroke: 1:26.06
Jack Jackson
- 200m Freestyle: 2:24.73
- 50m Backstroke: 34.35 (PB)
- 50m Butterfly: 32.49 (PB)
Kim Le
- 200m Freestyle: 3:56.73
- 50m Freestyle: 37.50
- 100m Freestyle: 1:36.32
Liam McHugh
- 400m Backstroke: 5:19.64 (State record)
- 200m Freestyle: 2:12.02
- 100m Freestyle: 1:00.58
Nick Tam
- 50m Freestyle: 24.86
- 50m Breastroke: 30.60 (State Record)
- 100m Breastroke: 1:08.05 (State and National Record)
Samantha To
- 50m Freestyle: 35.22
- 50m Breastroke: 47.02
Shania Morgan
- 400m Breastroke: 6:12.22 (State Record)
- 200m Breastroke: 2:52.12 (State and National Record)
- 50m Breastroke: 35.09 (State Record)
