2007/2008 Season Review - Features | Merrylands A.S.C. Inc.

2007/2008 was a historic year for swimming in NSW and for our club with some major changes to District/Area level competition in NSW, excellent representative results for the club and Merrylands Swimming Centre opening for the new season at the unusual time of the end of June.

The 2007/2008 season again began with some hot October weather and stronger attendance at both the weekly Saturday morning races and weekday training sessions.

The club's Learn to Swim program continued to increase in popularity and numbers, with 95 children enrolled in the program for the summer.

In the club competitions, a number of new champions were crowned. Only the Senior Handicap and Relay Competition were defended successfully. Peter Johnston won the Senior Handicap for a record 7th time, while "The Swimmers" won their third straight Relay Competition.

Anthony Ventra won the Champion of Champions Award for the first time. Anthony set 3 club records and also represented the club at the Cumberland, Metropolitan and State Championships.
From the ranks of our novice swimmers, Jessica Grubba was presented with the Jack Smart Encouragement Award after steadily improving over the season.

In the Graded Pointscore, both trophies were presented to first time winners. Timothy Tunks was awarded the Michael Rossek Trophy for the highest placed Junior Boy in the Graded Races Pointscore while Chantel Teakle-Jones received the Ronald Exley Trophy for the highest placed Junior Girl.

During the season, Swimming NSW continued with their project of District/Area rationalisation. This involved re-organising the 8 Metropolitan Districts into 4 Areas and as part of this, the Cumberland District ceased to exist at the beginning of May. The Metro South West Area was formed in it's place.

During the season we had swimmers competing at all levels up to and including State Open Championships with our teams consisting of a mixture of new and experienced swimmers. Some swimmers returned to teams after not competing in previous years, some were rookies, qualifying for their first representative team while others added new events to their roster or qualified for new teams.
Amber Johnson qualified for the State Age Championships for the first time since 2004 while the club was also represented by a relay team at the State Open Short Course Championships for the first time with Steven Nguyen, Anthony Ventra, David Wang and Peter Johnston competing in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
At the Metro South West Short Course Championships, the club had finalists in over 74% of the events we contested with Belinda Sloane and Ethan Burton qualifying for their first Area Championships. The club also won 7 medals with Peter Johnston, David Wang, Brittany Johnson and Rebecca Tuivawa taking home medals. The results made this year's meet the club's best team performance at the championships ever, finishing in 14th place.
Nine of our swimmer's performances over the summer were recognised with selection in the 2008 Metro South West Area Development Squads.

2007/2008 was also the first season that we had swimmers competing in Masters Swimming competitions. Two members registered as Masters Competitors with Peter Johnston winning 4 medals at the NSW State Masters Championships.

Part of the club's winter success can be attributed to the fact that Merrylands Swimming Centre opened at the unusually early date of June 30th, allowing our swimmers to return to training at the centre nearly 3 months earlier than usual. The one off change was due to extended maintenance at both Guildford and Wentworthville swimming centres.

In the Club Championships, 13 Championship records were broken over the season.

Todd Jenkin
	Senior Mens 50m Breaststroke	(Todd Jenkin, 2005/2006)
Leanne Grubba
	Senior Womens 50m Freestyle	(Merren Lee, 1975/1976)
	Senior Womens 200m Freestyle	(Nicole Smith, 1997/1998)
	Senior Womens 50m Breaststroke	(Meaghan Legge, 2004/2005)
	Senior Womens 50m Butterfly	(Michelle Hayes, 1992/1993)
Anthony Ventra
	14yrs Boys 50m Freestyle	(Robert Griffey, 1998/1999)
	14yrs Boys 50m Breaststroke	(Todd Jenkin, 2002/2003)
	14yrs Boys 50m Butterfly	(Steven Nguyen, 2004/2005)
Ethan Burton
	8yrs Boys 50m Backstroke	(Darren Turner, 1974/1975)
Ian Wilson
	Veterans Mens 50m Backstroke	(Ian Wilson, 2006/2007)
	Veterans Mens 50m Breaststroke	(Stephen McFarlane, 2004/2005)
	Veterans Mens 50m Butterfly	(Ronald Griffey, 2001/2002)

2007/2008 saw the running of our annual swimming meet, the Merrylands SwimFest, at Merrylands for the sixth time. The weather was outstanding with the meet held in excellent conditions and a record 1,580 entries. 21 of our swimmers competed at the meet, winning 11 medals. The Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre Swim Team won the club pointscore.

Our Winter Competition was held for the fifth time with increased numbers and those attending enjoying some new events. Peter Johnston won the male competition and Belinda Sloane the female competition.

Four new committee members were appointed at the AGM in May with Janet Sloane (Social Secretary), Peta Tunks, Darren Sloane and Ian Wilson all joining the committee.

See Also

2007/2008 Rankings

2007/2008 Presentation Evening

NSW Metropolitan Championships - Team

NSW Metropolitan Championships - Results

NSW State Age Championships - Team

NSW State Age Championships - Results

Cumberland Open & Age Championships - Team

Cumberland Open & Age Championships - Results

NSW State Masters Championships - Results

NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships - Team

NSW Metropolitan Short Course Championships - Results

NSW State Age Short Course Championships - Team