It’s the last event of the MSSA Winter Series at the South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre and it’s the longest one! Long swims mean a long day, but we’ll keep this blog short. Albert, Jack, Jackson, Kimberley, Liam, and Shelby braved the unusually chilly November day to get some solid swims in at the Long Distance Meet, which is the only opportunity to get 1500m and 800m swims in during the Pool Series.
The morning began with the 1500m swims, and it took everyone a minute to get their heads around the rolling starts. As soon as one swimmer finished in any lane, the next swimmer would start right after, so everyone really was swimming their own race and needed to make sure they knew how to pace themselves. Albert kicked things off with a 22:14.11 (1:29 / 100m) which was slightly quicker than he was aiming for. Though he wasn’t as exhausted as he expected afterwards, so he knows he’s got more in him. Despite nursing a shoulder injury, Jack was next and managed an impressive 21:10.00 (1:25 / 100m). He felt a bit crook afterwards and is keen to go quicker after he’s given his shoulder some hard-earned rest. Finally, Liam turned up to absolutely smash the 1500m out of the park (or pool) with a State Record of 18:27.16! What a mega swim 👏👑👏 To put that into perspective, Liam’s covering 50m in 37 seconds… and he’s doing it 30 times in a row!
Next up were the shorter – but no less impressive – 800m swims! Kimberley is a keen backstroker, so she took the opportunity to do as much as she could with an imposing 12:44.22. She certainly didn’t waste any time by finishing it off with a quick 1:29.63 final 100m! After that Jackson went and did one of the ultimate tests of endurance: 800m Butterfly. Yes, you read that right, he did 16 laps of non-stop Butterfly. His efforts were enough to bag him State Records for the 400m and 800m Butterfly! Jackson said he felt like he dropped off after the first 300m, but his consistency was respectable for the last 500m (1:42.17 / 1:43.23 / 1:44.36 / 1:42.79 / 1:41.60).
Finally, were the 400m swims! Kimberley and Jackson showed some serious willpower to get on with a second swim of the meet, and Shelby showed outstanding team spirit by sacrificing the lunch break of her AUSTSWIM course to compete in the 400m Backstroke. While she could have used a bit more warmup, she snuck in under the 6 minutes with a great time of 5:54.04! Kimberley also competed in the 400m Backstroke and maintained a much quicker pace than her 800m swim to come in on 6:02.16! Lastly, Jackson managed a brilliant 4:46.93 for his 400m Freestyle. It’s only 16 seconds off the state record, but you have to remember that he had just endured an 800m Butterfly, so hats off to Jackson for smashing out an impressive 400m Freestyle!
This was the last event before we kick-off the Summer Series ☀️ Fingers crossed for some warmer weather, see you at Woodside! Yewwww 🏄
All Results:
Jack Jackson
1500m Freestyle: 21:10.00
Liam McHugh,
1500m Freestyle: 18:27.16
Albert Sztolc
1500m Freestyle: 22:14.11
Kimberley Vidura
800m Backstroke: 12:44.22
400m Backstroke: 6:02.16
Jackson Brooks
800m Butterfly: 13:16.23
400m Freestyle: 4:46.93
Shelby Gristede
400m Backstroke: 5:54.04