100-plus personal bests and big medal haul at country titles

Geraldton Amateur Swimming Club competitors swam away from the recent Country Swimming Championships in Perth in great form. A team of 25 swimmers totalled 359 seconds of personal bests in 163 swims and brought three golds and a haul of other medals back to the Mid West. Mathijs Travasso, turning 14, won the 100m breast stroke, 16-year-old Emily MacPherson won the 400m freestyle, and Spencer Sojan, nine, won the 100m freestyle. Club president James MacPherson said the medal haul and total of more than 100 personal bests the swimmers set was “staggering”. “This was a fantastic meet, with a great tally of personal results for all swimmers,” he said. “It was no mean feat.” As well as the gold medal haul, the club’s junior superfish also added eight silver, nine bronze and three bronze relay medals. The club will be looking to add more medals at the upcoming country pennants meet in Mt Barker this month. MacPherson said it wasn’t yet certain whether the COVID lockdown in Perth and parts of the South West would affect the event. With the Geraldton Aquarena shut for large parts of last year due to lockdown, the club’s members had to improvise to keep in shape. The club introduced dry-land training during the pandemic and managed to keep memberships up and spirits high. A demonstration of swimming’s popularity in the region, the club also hosted the Swimming WA SunSmart Country Championships last year in February, an event that took about two years to plan. It was estimated to have brought in about $1 million to the city through things such as accommodation bookings and meals, with several thousand visitors estimated to have attended. Swimming WA said last year with Geraldton producing swimmers such as Todd Pearson and Jennifer Reilly, both Commonwealth Games gold medallists and Olympians, events such as the championships were important for athlete development. The region is also set to host another upcoming country pennants tournament, with Carnarvon announced as the location for the 2022 edition.