Swimmers are primed

Crunch time, more appropriately ‘splash time’, as the business end of the Wimmera swimming season is rapidly approaching.

This weekend Horsham Sharks host the ‘grand final’ of the swimming season –Wimmera Country Swimming Championships.

Individual swimmers will compete for the title of ‘best in the Wimmera’ in preferred strokes over preferred distances, champions sashes will go to swimmers with the highest points aggregates and teams will be competing for mantle of best swim club in the district.

Swimmers will also be vying for times strong enough to secure them a place in a Wimmera District 12 squad, which travels to Melbourne on March 29 to compete at Victorian Inter District competition.

An Ararat Swim meet last week did not disappoint.

Despite drizzle and temperatures falling to 19 degrees, this dampened neither spirits nor desire of swimmers to perform well, staking their claim for the day’s honours as well as for confidence-boosting performances.

Ararat Rats coach Jo Donnan said the day went well for her team.

“We managed to iron out some of the hiccups we have had in previous meets,” she said.

While the weather was not conducive to fast, there were nonetheless great performances.

Ararat Rats won the Mckenzie Shield for the club with the highest aggregate and the Innez Collum trophy for the fastest male and female 100m breaststrokers went to Deacon Briggs, Horsham, and Ivana Donnan, Ararat, respectively.

Standouts included five individual golds to Jorja Clode, Horsham, an aggregate of 13 individual golds to St Arnaud’s Start family of Heidi, Lachlan, Jordan, and Ebony, and a personal best was a 32-second result by Krys Syrota to win the 200-metre girls 11-12 breaststroke.