Whales Challenge

The Whales Challenge is a 3 meet intra-club series.

For the Whales Challenge, members are divided up into two teams and compete for their team. The Teams are named after two of the club's former State Champions, who later in their swimming careers went on to represent Australia.

Swimmers must wear their club cap in their team colour while competing to get points for their team.

Entries are submitted as usual for a normal Saturday morning. Teams will be posted on the club notice board.

Maroon "Turner" Team

The Maroon "Turner" Team is named after Darren Turner. In 1977, Darren became Merrylands' first State Champion when he won the Boys 10yrs & Under 100m Backstroke at the NSW State Winter Championships. He also finished with Bronze in the 100m Freestyle at the same meet. During his time at the club, Darren set 21 club championship records, and also won the 50m Backstroke at the NSW Shell Age Series.

After leaving Merrylands, Darren went on to become one of the world's best open water swimmers, winning the 1989 Australian Marathon Swimming Championships, and representing Australia on the 1989 Australian Marathon Swimming Team Tour of the USA.

White "Emery" Team

The White "Emery" Team is named after Mitchell Emery. Mitchell won the 10yrs 100m Breaststroke at the 2001 NSW State Age Short Course Championships and also finished with silver in the 50m Breaststroke. Mitchell also won the 50m Breaststroke at the Shell Age Series, and set 11 club championship records.

Mitchell started playing Water Polo while at the club, and went on to become one of Australia's top Water Polo players, representing Australia at the 2015 FINA World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

2023/2024 Scoreboard

Score after Round #2: 16/12/2023

White 1 vs 1 Maroon

Points
Round White Maroon Winner
Round 1 - 28/10/2023 1,043 1,247 Maroon
Round 2 - 16/12/2023 1,263 1,177 White
Round 3 - 16/03/2024

2023/2024 Teams

Maroon "Turner" Team

Abdelraheem, Ameena (C)
Assi, Darla
Assi, Joseph
Brancatisano, Grace
Chan, Damien
Chan, Johnson
Darwich, Harper
Davis, Kyran
Edwards, Margaret
Farshad, Alireza
Hannan, Luke
Hum, Ren Jie
Jambazian, Christian
Jambazian, Stefan
Jambazian, Varant
Johnston, Anna
Johnston, Ian
Johnston, Leah
Johnston, Peter
Johnston, William
Krga, Nikolai
Mackie, Connor
Mansour, Gabriel
Massoud, Ishaq
Okorovik, Max
Oliver, Timothy
Palise, Ella
Palise, Lily
Shrestha, Lisa
Shrestha, Unish
Sokullu, Tansel
Terry, Samantha
Tovkach, Leanne
Urbonas, Nojus
Vicic, Daniel
Vicic, Sophia
Wilson, Ian
Youssef, Emily
Zhao, Titus
Zhu, Le
Zhu, Leo

White "Emery" Team

Abdelraheem, Aisha
Assi, Gabriella
Brancatisano, Daniel
Casey, Laura-Belle
Chan, Marcus
Darwich, Hudson
Dlesk, Tomas
Hannan, Lara
Hannan, Patrick
Havea, Coralie
Jambazian, Sevana
Jambazian, Talia
Johnston, Alison
Johnston, Eden
Johnston, Jude
Johnston, Patricia
Krga, Anastasia
Mackie, Caleb
Mackie, Harrison
Mansour, Zena
Massoud, Zakriya
Murray, Kylee
Okorovik, Nina
Opano, Eevi
Palise, Liam
Shrestha, Jay
Shrestha, Niushka
Terry, Lucas
Urbonas, Jokubas
Vicic, Matthew (C)
Vozenilkova, Petra
Wood, Glenda
Zhu, Lillian