Interclub 4 - Club relays!!!
The most anticipated event in the swimming calendar for 2021 Masters Swimming SA. UniSA Swimming club entered 25 swimmers with 5 debut swimmers; Jackson Brooks, Rebecca Milton, Arina Gvozdeva, Erin Barrera, and Jamie Ford. We also like to welcome Kimberley Vidura onto the team. Most of us have raced against Kimberley in previous meets and know how strong she is in the water. It's a pleasure to have Kimberley on the team!!! UniSA Swimming club saw 25 swimmers compete in 28 teams in 18 relay events. It was a big day, to say the least with 15 swimmers swimming 5 events.
There were lots of races and lots of swimming highlights that I can't fit all in this blog. Plenty of state and national records were broken by multiple swimmers in the club.
The day started with Alvin, Nick, Andrew, and Ethan battling it out in the Men's 4x100 Freestyle against Phoenix's Rian, Henry, Brandon, and Grant whom we knew will be a tough team to take down. Nevertheless, UniSA Swimming Club is up for the challenge and we enjoyed being pushed to our limits on Sunday. Our Men's team would face the Phoenix boys all day and be out-touched by less than a second in most of our races. There wasn't much room for error. There were some great races to watch from our "Awesome Foursome" team against the Phoenix boys.
Next up we had our Women's 4x100 Freestyle team who are now state and national record holders. Eli started the girls off with a flying start with a 33.21 for her 50m split and finishing up with 1:11.32 for the 100m. Eli's previous 100m Freestyle short course time was 1:16.26, breaking her PB and setting a new 100 freestyle club record. Coach Andrew set the race plan for Eli not to go out too strong and reserve some for the next even immediately after where Eli was up against her coach in the butterfly leg of the Mixed 4x50 Medley relay. Eli came out clutch by backing up her 5s PB in the 100 Freestyle with a 35.16 for her 50 butterfly leg. Eli had some last-minute private coaching from Club Captain Alvin with her Breaststroke pullout and now making her an all-rounder swimmer. Eli just needs to work on her dives. Eli also swam an incredible 50m Freestyle with a time of 31.46 which is a 2s improvement to SC State Cup in April.
Albert had a quick short meet before heading off to a family function. Albert was hit with swim after swim after swim with minimal rest but he kept his head high (down when swimming though...insert lame swimming joke) and battled through and provided great results. Albert swam a 34.16 for his breaststroke leg in the Mixed 4x50 Medley relay, then to back it up immediately with a 12.82 for his 25m Freestyle then finishing the day off with a 1:02.83 for the 100m Freestyle, all within a span of 20mins.
Fleur Woodhouse had some impressive swims and huge PBs in the 25m Freestyle. As the day continued, the faster Fleur got. Fleur started the day with a 25.63 for 25 Freestyle in the Female 4x25 Freestyle relay, then finish up the day with 23.73 for the Mixed 4x25 Medley relay. Fleur's PB at states was 28.18. Fleur has dropped almost 4.5s off her previous time. It just shows how much work and effort Fleur has put in at training since April. Fleur has come a long way to get stronger, fitter, and faster. Well done Fleur!!!
One of our debut swimmers shocked the team at her speed. Jamie Ford is one of the lifeguards at Pridham Hall and she had a flying start in the Women's 4x50 Medley relay with a cracking backstroke leg in a time of 33.58 to put UniSA in the lead. Jamie also anchored the Women's 4x50 Freestyle relay in a time of 31.55. It was hard to gauge Jamie's speed leading up to the competition as Jamie haven't attended many training sessions with the club. We are keen to see what Jamie can do at LC State Cup on October 10th. Watch this space!!!
Arina came out of a 6-year retirement from Norwood swimming club and returned to the main pool to see what she can do. Arina had a busy schedule like most of the swimmers with 5 events replacing Jordie Parker (withdrew due to having her COVID-19 Vaccination 2 days prior to Relay day).
Rebecca Milton debut with the Women's 4x100 Freestyle to claim state and national record. Bec backed her record-breaking swim with a speedy 50m Freestyle in the Women's 4x50 Freestyle relay cracking out a 35.38. Rebecca saw several familiar faces among the club including Kimberley Vidura who had a very busy start to the day. Coach Andrew stitched Kimberley up with 4 races close together, event 5 (25m Freestyle), 6 (100m Backstroke), 8 (50m Butterfly), and 11 (100m Butterfly) all after each other.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the Women's 4x100 Medley relay team? Arguably the 4 best young up-and-coming female swimmers in Masters Swimming SA. We had Shelby leading off the Backstroke leg in a time of 1:13.61, backed up by Shania Morgan (Breaststroke queen) with a time of 1:15.14, Kimberley Vidura was next on the blocks swimming the tough 100m Butterfly in a time of 1:13.46, the amazing Chelsea Robinson was left with the task to bring the girls home strong and that she did with a 1:00.61 in the 100m Freestyle. The previous national record was 5:10.31 and our beautiful girls smashed that record out of the pool with a final time of 4:42.82. Our girls broke the national record by almost half a minute!! What a swim to watch!!
Coach Andrew didn't do justice for Erin Barrera, putting her in 2x25m Freestyle, 2x25m Butterfly, and 1x50m Freestyle race. Erin had much more potential in swimming those short distances and it showed in the pool. Erin started the day off with a national record-breaking swim in the Women's 4x25m Freestyle relay anchoring the team in 13.98 for the final leg of the relay. 14.96 was achieved in the 25m Butterfly. Erin Barrera is someone to watch at the upcoming LC State Cup meet. Keep an eye out for her.
Jackson Brooks was a last-minute entry due to Liam McHugh being unable to swim as a FIFO worker and had to travel to his work site this weekend. Thank you Jackson for stepping up to the challenge. Jackson started his debut Master's swim with the Men's 4x50m Freestyle relay cracking out a 25.73 to come 2nd by half a body to the Phoenix boys. Both teams went under the 1:37.84 national record. It was a race to watch. Jackson killed it in the Men's 4x100 Medley relay in the butterfly leg, whipping out a 1:03.99 to claim a state and national record alongside Western Aquatic Swim Club (WASC) teammates, Jacob and Jack. Jackson backed up that swim with a 57.93 in the Mixed 4x100 Freestyle to claim yet another state record.
It was a great effort by all UniSA Swimming Club members achieving an overall score of 522 points to finish 3rd the Relays and top 5 overall across all 4 Interclub series meet with 1617 points. This is such an incredible achievement for all UniSA Swimming Club Masters' members.
Result Summary: Event 1: Men's 4x100m Freestyle
Alvin Fu, Nick Tam, Andrew Truong, Ethan Crook = 3:37.21 (2nd - under State and National record)
Event 2: Women's 4x100m Freestyle
Eli Teo, Bec Milton, Arina Gvozdeva, Jamie Ford = 4:51.58 (State and National record)
Event 3: Mixed 4x50 Medley
Alvin Fu, Shania Morgan, Andrew Truong, Chelsea Robinson = 1:59.09 (State and National record)
Samantha To, Albert Sztolc, Eli Teo, Jay Laginestra = 2:18.44
Event 4: Men's 4x25m Medley
Jack Jackson, Jacob Semmens, Gary Lai, Albert Sztolc = 57.45
Event 5: Women's 4x25m Freestyle
Kimberley Vidura, Shania Morgan, Shelby Gristede, Erin Barrera = 54.64 (State and National record)
Fleur Woodhouse, Arina Gvozdeva, Bec Milton, Jamie Ford = 1:09.66
Event 6: Mixed 4x100m Medley
Kimberley Vidura, Chelsea Robinson, Andrew Truong, Albert Sztolc = 4:46.75 (State record)
Event 7: Men's 4x50m Freestyle
Ethan Crook, Alvin Fu, Jackson Brooks, Nick Tam = 1:37.75 (2nd - Under State and National record)
Ivan Choong, Kim Le, Alex Ljamin, Jay Laginestra = 2:02.95
Event 8: Women's 4x50m Medley
Allana Sagubo, Shania Morgan, Kimberley Vidura, Chelsea Robsinson = 2:09.48 (State and National record)
Jamie Ford, Eli Teo, Arina Gvozdeva, Bec Milton = 2:24.91
Event 9: Mixed 4x25m Freestyle
Erin Barrera, Ivan Choong, Samantha To, Jay Laginestra = 56.28
Alex Ljamin, Fleur Woodhouse, Kim Le, Allana Sagubo = 1:06.90
Event 10: Men's 4x100m Medley
Ivan Choong, Jacob Semmens, Jackson Brooks, Jack Jackson = 4:37.69 (State and National record)
Event 11: Women's 4x100m Medley
Shelby Gristede, Shania Morgan, Kimberley Vidura, Chelsea Robinson = 4:42.82 (State and National record)
Event 12: Mixed 4x50m Freestyle
Ethan Crook, Nick Tam, Allana Sagubo, Erin Barrera = 1:51.64 (State and National record)
Jack Jackson, Kim Le, Arina Gvozdeva, Samantha To = 2:11.18
Event 13: Men's 4x25m Freestyle
Nick Tam, Alvin Fu, Andrew Truong, Ethan Crook = 44.97 (2nd - Under State and National record)
Gary Lai, Alex Ljamin, Jay Laginestra, Jacob Semmens = 51.83
Event 14: Women's 4x25m Medley
Shelby Gristede, Samantha To, Erin Barrera, Jamie Ford = 1:05.51
Event 15: Mixed 4x100m Freestyle
Jacob Semmens, Chelsea Robinson, Shelby Gristede, Jackson Brooks = 4:04.25 (State Record)
Event 16: Men's 4x50m Medley
Alvin Fu, Nick Tam, Andrew Truong, Ethan Crook = 1:49.75
Ivan Choong, Jay Laginestra, Gary Lai, Jack Jackson = 2:09.42
Event 17: Women's 4x50m Freestyle
Allana Sagubo, Samantha To, Shania Morgan, Kimberley Vidura = 2:05.85 (State and National record)
Arina Gvozdeva, Bec Milton, Eli Teo, Jamie Ford = 2:10.99
Event 18: Mixed 4x25m Medley
Allana Sagubo, Gary Lai, Jackson Brooks, Shelby Gristede = 58.67 (State and National record)
Jack Jackson, Alex Ljamin, Erin Barrera, Fleur Woodhouse = 1:10.59
