PEEL swimmers were among Stingray Swimming Club swimmers who competed at the four-day 2009 Hancock Family Medical Foundation State Open and Junior Short Course Championships at Challenge Stadium recently.
Mandurah Catholic College student and medallist Shania Eliassen (12) produced new personal times.
Her stand-out event was the 100m butterfly, which she won by a body length, with a new 3.54-second faster personal time. She also broke the WA Country record in the 50m butterfly, but the time cannot be recognised because she now swims with a metropolitan club.
Swimming WA had raised entry criteria for the championships by lowering the qualifying times needed to enter the competition.
The change was made to raise the standard of WA swimming.
Other top club performances included medallist Alexa De Klerk (14), who had new best times in her events and won a silver medal in an exciting 50m backstroke final.
Rockingham’s Bianca Russell (12) also swam strongly when she joined the girls in the U12 200m Freestyle Relay team.
The team was placed a respectable ninth.
Bianca lead the U12 Medley Relay team, producing a new personal best in her 50m backstroke leg.
Zach Bevan (11) also swam well, produced seven new personal best times, including a 3.90-sec reduction in his 200m backstroke time, and Poppy Maxwell (11) who produced five new personal best times, including an exciting 6.18 sec PB in the 100 fly.
Mandurah’s Tazmah Timms (11), a student at Frederick Irwin, also swam strongly, producing a new personal best in her 50m backstroke event, and Chloe Gwynne (10) cut 1.90sec off her time in the 100m breaststroke.