Merrylands swimmers had hot results at the Speedo Sprint Heats held yesterday at Blacktown Aquatic Centre.

Our team achieved 48 new personal best times, 5 finalists and 2 new Metropolitan qualifying times.

The meet commenced with a jam packed warm up but our kids held their own in busy conditions.

Elie Menhem kicked off the meet with a PB in the 50m Butterfly, swimming under 40 seconds for the first time. He also shaved 0.1 off his breaststroke time coming off the back of an awesome 200m Breaststroke that morning.

Ferenique Bris was competing for the first time at this event and she swam a massive 6 second PB in the 50m Butterfly, which may yet become her favourite event! Ferenique also achieved a 4 second PB in the Breaststroke.

Matthew Vicic was our first swimmer of the meet to make it through to the finals, with a PB and a 4th place in the 50m Butterfly. Matt also achieved a 3rd place in the 50m Freestyle adding to his events in the finals. Matt gained another Metropolitan time with a PB in the 50m Backstroke and caused a sibling upset.

Shreya Shrestha hit some massive milestones and came in under 50 seconds for the first time in Butterfly and 60 seconds in Breaststroke!

Summer Shrestha dropped 2 seconds in her Butterfly and achieved a new Metropolitan time in the process. Summer took half a second off her Freestyle time, finishing 7th overall and also PB’d in the Breaststroke, dipping into the 43s.

Thayne Bris and Ren Jie Hum were also competing at the meet for the first time and they should have gone home happy with their performances. Thayne dropped 2 seconds in his Breaststroke and another second in his Backstroke, while Ren achieved a 6 second PB in his Butterfly, 2 seconds in his Freestyle and 3 seconds in his Breaststroke.

Ameena Abdelraheem, having just swam new PBs at her school carnival during the week, took another 3 seconds off in the Butterfly!

Nevah Shrestha achieved 4 from 4 PBs which is an amazing effort considering the conditions on the day. She concentrated on her breathing in the Butterfly and earnt a 5 second PB in the process. Nevah also took at least 1 second off her other 3 swims.

Niushka Shrestha broke the 40 second mark in the Butterfly for the first time, and also lowered her Freestyle time whilst thinking about her breathing patterns, making her coach very proud.

Avani Pradhan worked hard for a huge 5 second PB in the Butterfly, and swam her second fastest time in the Breaststroke after achieving a new PB in the club championships earlier in the day.

After swimming new PBs (including 2 club records) in 3 events over the past 8 days, Lisa Shrestha swam another new PB in her Freestyle, taking almost 1 second off the PB she had just swum at club earlier in the day.

Daniel Vicic was our second finalist of the meet with an amazing swim in the Freestyle. Daniel swam under 40 for the first time and skipped the 39’s straight into a 38! Daniel also PB’d in the 50 Backstroke coming 6th overall.

Joseph Assi took a huge 6 seconds off his Butterfly time. Joseph then swam his second PB for the day in the Breaststroke, finishing 3rd and earning himself a ribbon and a spot in the finals.

Unish Shrestha also broke 40 seconds for Freestyle, narrowly missing out on the finals with a 5th place. He went one better in the Breaststroke, finishing 4th with a new PB, and making it through to the finals for the second year in a row.

Chloe Ton’s first time at Speedo Sprints resulted in some top swims. Chloe achieved a 2 second PB in Freestyle, 5 second PB in Breaststroke and 4 second PB in Backstroke!
It was also Lucas Alvarez, Pare Nader and Ruby Shrestha’s first at the Speedo Sprints.

Lucas backed up from a PB in the Freestyle in the morning to another in the afternoon. Lucas also PB’d in the Breaststroke and had his first time under a minute in Backstroke.

Pare had a gallant effort in the Butterfly with a cap malfunction and had a very gutsy performance just outside her best time. She achieved an official PB in the Freestyle finishing 6th, after having an unofficial PB at school the day before. Pare also achieved a top 10 finish in the Breaststroke and Backstroke.

Ruby PB’d in the Freestyle and took over 2 seconds off her time. Whilst Ruby only competed in one event, it felt like she was in all of them – she cheered on all our swimmers for the whole meet and was a wonderful representative of Merrylands Club.

The parents, siblings and supporters did an amazing job in hot conditions. They supplied the cool drinks and fan support in both meanings of the word! The enthusiasm continued all afternoon as they cheered on our swimmers at the finish. Thank you to our coaches for prepping our swimmers and probably being just as wet as they were!

Congratulations to all our swimmers and support crew.


Our 4 finalists: Daniel, Matt, Joseph and Unish.

See Also

Speedo Sprint Series Heats TeamMerrylands swimmers had hot results at the Speedo Sprint Heats held yesterday at Blacktown Aquatic Centre.
Speedo Sprint Series Heats Team
Merrylands swimmers had hot results at the Speedo Sprint Heats held yesterday at Blacktown Aquatic Centre.