That concludes 3 days of the 2021 SA Open SC State Championships. Great results all round from all 5 members. Andrew Truong (The Parks SC) Ethan Crook (Starplex SC), Emma-Rose Eckert (Western Aquatic SC (WASC), Jack Jackson (WASC), Jacob Semmens (WASC), and Shelby Gristede Warrnambool SC). SA Open State Championships was planned to be held in August but amid the lockdowns that occurred in August, State Championships have been rescheduled to September.
Friday 3rd of September was day 1 and it was a busy day in the pool for our UniSA Swim club members. The first event was Women's 200m Breaststroke which saw Emma swim a 2:52.20, shaving off 5.44s off her entry time (season-best). Emma is looking to be in good form at this Championships. Next up is Jacob swimming the Men's 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:12.72 just scrapping into the B finals. The top 10 finishers in the prelim heats (morning swims) make it to the A final in the evening, followed by B finals with the next 10 fastest swimmers in the state. Ethan and Jack were up next in event 9, 100m IM. Jack was able to drop 0.72s off his PB with a time of 1:07.95 and qualified for his first-ever State finals. Ethan on the other hand swam 1:00.46 to qualify 5th fastest in the state and having a crack at being crown state champ that night. Emma was up again in the 50m Freestyle where she swam it in 28.37s dropping 1.31s off her season-best time set at MSSA State cup in April. Ethan was up next to close the morning session with his 50m Freestyle where he swam it in 23.55s qualifying 3rd behind Grant Muller (remember his name!! He will be at Relays for Phoenix) and Ethan's teammate and SASI athlete, James Mckechnie. It's a fast field. A special mention to Andrew Stephenson of Marion Masters and Marion Swim Club swimming a time of 24.89s in the 50m Freestyle at age 47 is out of this world!!! Ethan just missed a bronze medal in the Men's 100m IM A finals by 0.1s behind his 2 teammates topping the medals in 1st and 2nd. Ethan was able to shake that race off and focused on his next mission in the Men's 50m Freestyle where he added a bit of time but was able to snag the bronze. Congratulations Ethan on your 1st Bronze medal of the meet.
Day 2 saw Shelby join the others at SA Open State Championships swimming the Women's 100m Backstroke where she touched the wall in 1:10.75 shaving off 0.88s of her PB to qualify 14th fastest in the state and making B finals. Ethan qualified 3rd fastest for A finals in the Men's 100m Freestyle with a time of 52.08 which puts him in a good spot for the night session. Emma dominated her heat by leading the whole field by over a body length from start to finish touching the wall in 1:18.34s shaving off 4.75s from her time at MSSA State cup. It is clear the Emma has been putting in the hard work with her coach Carl at WASC. Jacob finished the morning session with Men's 50m Breaststroke where he swam 33.01 to qualify 15th in SA and made it to B finals. All swimmers on day 2 qualified for finals. Ethan was able to secure another bronze medal in the Men's 100m Freestyle that night in a time of 51.78 dropping his morning time by 0.3s. Some technical skills were discussed between Ethan and his coach Alex prior to the bronze medal swim.
Day 3 is the final day of SA Open State Championship 2021. We see Andrew finally joined the others at Open States. Andrew almost missed his race by being late for marshaling. Andrew only had the Men's 50m Butterfly to swim so it would have been bad if he missed his only race for the weekend... Andrew had a great swim with a PB swim and breaking his own Parks club record with 27.80 qualifying 13th in SA but unable to swim the B finals due to work commitment that he was unable to skip. Ethan qualified 6th in SA with a time of 25.90. Emma swam the Women's 50m Breaststroke in 35.66s qualifying 13th in SA.
Result summary:
Andrew Truong
50m Butterfly: 27.80 (PB and Parks club record) (13th)
Ethan:
100m IM: Heats = 1:00.46, Finals = 59.49 (4th) (PB)
50m Freestyle: Heats = 23.55, Finals = 23.77 (3rd)
100m Freestyle: Heats = 52.08, Finals = 51.78 (3rd) (=PB)
50m Butterfly: Heats = 25.90, Finals = 25.73 (5th) (PB)
Emma:
200m Breaststroke: Heats = 2:52.20 (12th)
50m Freestyle: Heats = 28.37 (21st)
100m Breaststroke: Heats = 1:18.34, Finals = 1:18.43 (13th)
50m Breaststroke: = Heats = 35.66, Finals
Jack:
100m IM: Heats = 1:07.95 (PB), Finals = 1:07.96 (13th)
Jacob:
100m Breaststroke: Heats = 1:12.72, Finals = 1:13.54 (19th)
50m Breaststroke: Heats = 33.01, Finals = 32.99 (14th)
Shelby:
100m Backstroke: Heats = 1:10.75 (PB), Finals = 1:11.98 (14th)
Congratulations to all swimmers from UniSA Swimming Club. September is a big month of competitions. Next weekend (12th of September) is Masters Relays, then the 19th of September is Duel in the Pool. Our Men's relay teams will have some tough competitions as Phoenix Masters have recruited 4 fast boys, Grant Muller, Rian Pate, Brandon Hope, Henry Lambert, and Alexander Coleman.
LET'S GET PUMPED FOR RELAYS!!!! GO UNISA!!!