With their biggest competitor pool to date, Mudgee Indoor Swimming Club had an abundance of success at the NSW Country Championships over the weekend with multiple high placings, including one athlete securing a spot at Nationals.
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The team of 12 made their way to Homebush on February 21 to compete against the best swimmers in the state, excluding those from metropolitan Sydney areas.
Although one of the smallest clubs in attendance, their results showed anything but with 25 personal bests (pbs) achieved in total, including Nate Atkinson who took 6pbs and four top ten ribbons and Edith Keightley who achieved two top ten ribbons and two pbs.
But, one of the most outstanding results on the day for the Mudgee squad belongs to Charlotte Wilson who not only came 14th in the butterfly finals, but also took two silver medals to qualify for Nationals.
"She had four top ten results plus her two silver medals in the 100 metre freestyle and 200 metre backstroke. She also came fourth in the 50 metre freestyle, the top four was separated by 0.04 of a second so she was really close," a Mudgee Indoor Swimming Club committee member said.
"In the 50 and 100 metre freestyle, she got National qualifying times for both. They were for under 13s which is actually a year ahead, she's only 12."
Charlotte's reactions on the day reflected the meaning of the achievement, with not only Wilson expressing joy, but the team as a unit as well.
"She's very excited, they [swimmers] put in a lot of work in the pool so it's great to see results," the committee member said.
"She was very proud. It was her first time getting on the podium at the Country Championships, she was very happy with that.
Even though swimming is seen as an individual event, they are a really good team and whether they're in a relay or an individual event, they all cheer each other on and the families all support each other which is really lovely.
- Mudgee Indoor Swimming Club committee member
"The most impressive bit for Mudgee Indoor is that unlike a lot of the other towns, we don't have the ability to train in the water all year round, so half of our year is spent doing land based training.
"It's a great achievement to have lots of kids from lots of different age groups and compete at the Country Championships being a smaller club and not having the all year round in the water training."
While there are still a few weeks for swimmers to qualify, at this stage Charlotte is the only Mudgee swimmer to be attending Nationals at Perth on April 10 and 11.
Jay-Anna Sleeman
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
