The Eastern Suburbs Swimming Association provides a carnival each spring which allows local club swimmers the ability to compete in NSW Swimming carnival events. The meet runs over three weekends, occurring fortnightly in October and November, and consists of the events which make up the State and National competitions. Thus, giving local swimmers the opportunity to quality for larger carnivals. 

Last season was our club’s first ever time taking part in these District championships where we sent three swimmers. On Saturday, 20th November, we sent 14 swimmers to represent our club. It was a huge increase in participation, and our swimmers swam very well. There were many personal best performances and countless smiles.

Cello Georgouras took home the honours as our club’s highest point scorer. He made the final eight in each of the three events swum in a competitive age group. Cello was heard saying, “I’m having such a great day. I’ve had 3 PB’s in only 4 hours!” It is a testament to the determination and hard work he is putting in at training. Well done, Cello.

In the most competitive age group of the day, 12 years girls, Taylor Hambly showed some solid form. With a personal best in the day’s first event, 50 butterfly, her long day started well. Our only swimmer game enough to tackle every event on the day, Taylor performed excellently across the board, only when she could detach herself from Joshua, of course.

The most fun part of these carnivals is the relay events. We had two groups of boys who have come together in training and showed what they were made of on the day. Our 11&12 year old boys team made of Bazza Horrey, Jack Ayoub, Chris DeRito, Thomas Mullins, and Joshua Romeo took home 6th place in the Freestyle Relay and 7th place in the Medley Relay. With impressive individual swims as well, the boys should be proud of their efforts.

Our somewhat controversial 10 & under boys team was a story in itself. As our oldest 10 & Under was 8, we stood against some formidable competition. Unfortunately, due to a program blunder, the event organizers would not allow our 7 year olds, Nicholas Gannon and Anthony Romeo, to swim individual events. So we slotted them into the relay teams, with Patrick Mullins, Daniel Romeo, and Jonathon Henderson, and came in just out of the final 8 with two 9th place relay finishes. 

Another standout story was in the 8 year boys division, where Jonathon Henderson took home our club’s highest finishing position. Scoring a second place finish in the 50 metre butterfly, Jonathon earned a silver medal. John O’s busy schedule included a victorious basketball game, a winning soccer match, and two swimming carnivals on the day. It’s a wonder how he had enough energy to receive his holy communion that same evening. Way to go Jonathon, keep up the great work.

Our coaches had a stab at an event each, with Chad just getting under the 30 second mark in the fly, and John Guthrie just missing the final eight in the highly competitive 50 Free.