Swimmers in the fast lane
PREPARE for the new wave of first-class swimmers.
Geelong Swimming Club head coach John Beckworth made the prediction after a swag of impressive results at the recent Victorian Short Course championships
Beckworth believes the performances are a sign the club’s focus on a rebuild was starting to come to fruition.
Geelong finished eighth in the combined team scores after not finishing in the top 10 for three years.
He attributed the success from the hard work his younger athletes have put in and their commitment to upholding team standards.
“We have a very competitive squad, so they are really working well together,” Beckworth said.
“It’s the best environment to develop a strong squad, to have them actually training against each other every day.”
Five athletes — Luka Mathe, Nicole Briscoe, Madison Cooper, Max Piroch and Dylan Logan — won medals in the two most recent short course championships at MSAC.
Briscoe picked up three bronze medals, reward for the extra training she had been doing, Beckworth said.
“Nicole is an allrounder, she’s good at all strokes,” he said. “The minimum training sessions our athletes do a week is five in winter, Nicole does seven or eight.”
The focus for Beckworth switches to a big summer of competition for his athletes that includes the Victorian Long Course and Open Championships, the Australian Championships in Sydney and Commonwealth Games trials in Gold Coast.
The Gold Coast trials are a goal for a number of his athletes.
“Max (Piroch) made finals last year, so his next step is to win a medal,” he said
“Nicole and Madison, I think, have got really good chances at taking the next step in qualification.”