Warragul’s awesome foursome
Warragul Swimming Club took another step forward in Victorian swimming recently, with four athletes qualifying to contest the Australian Age Swimming Championship to be held in Adelaide in April next year.
Contesting Gippsland Swimming’s first long course meet of the season in perfect conditions in their home pool at Warragul, the clubs under 14 boys 4x50 metre medley team recorded a national qualifying time of 2:02:66 to book a place in the national championships in April next year.
The swim, completed by Callum HalloranLavelle (backstroke leg), Anton Risch (breaststroke), Ben Francis (butterfly) and Riley Griffin (freestyle), also smashed the previous Gippsland record of 2:04:11, held by the Traralgon club since 2013.
A Melbourne swimming official with previous ties to Gippsland believes it may be the first time a Gippsland relay team has qualified for the national event.
Riley Griffin capped a good meet to also gain a boy’s 14-year-old national time in the 100m freestyle, swimming a time of 57.09.
It is believed to be the first time Warragul swimmers have qualified for nationals in 16 years, with Riley believed to be the first athlete in club history to contest as an individual in the freestyle.
With the launch of the new touchpads sponsored by Drouin and District Community Bank, 290 swimmers from across Gippsland contested the long course event.
The club believes the new touchpads will help attract other major events on the swimming calendar.
With time remaining to set qualification times for the nationals, the Warragul club is hopeful it may have more athletes qualify for the championships.
The club thanked its sponsors for their continued support.