LODDON WHITE DOLPHIN SWIMMING CLUB

JUNIOR GALA 2003

Saturday's sunny afternoon added to the warm, humid atmosphere and excited buzz at Hobart pool where 92 youngsters, all under 10 and members of Loddon White Dolphin Swimming Club, took part in the Club's annual Galas.

A full house of proud parents watched 22 six year olds produce some top-rate swimming in their first ever Gala. Daniel Hayes' strong stroke took first place in the boys' 6-year-old backstroke pipping Robert Thurtell into second place, James Rose third and Oliver Williams fourth. Robert Thurtell achieved his deserved first place in the closely contested 6-year-old boys' freestyle, with Charles Lees second, Oliver Williams third and Daniel Hayes fourth.

Amy Scott produced more strong backstroke to win the 6-year-old girls' final with Gaby Horsman mirroring the girls' heats with a close second followed by Hannah Limbach third and Julia Brackenbury fourth. Hannah and Amy reversed their places in the girls' freestyle with Hannah taking first, Amy second, Amba Cowling third and Gaby Horsman fourth place. Good heat times were gained by Matthew Houchin, Thomas Burgess, Daniel Gower, Edward Larner, Bethany Whitehead, Holly Roe, Charlotte Utting, Katie Bailey, Georgia Chenery, Olivia Larner, Marie Taylor, and Chloe Barnes.

Some noisy and exciting racing made up for the small drop in 7-year-old Gala entries. Ross Davis quickly gained the lead to win the 7-year-old boys' backstroke, with Matthew Andrews and Matthew Willson producing good swims to come second and third. Matthew Andrews pulled away to win the boys freestyle with Matthew Willson second.

Megan Yaxley took a comfortable double first in both 7-year-old girls' breast-stroke and freestyle. Second and third freestyle places were closely fought with exciting swimming from Naomi Church and Rachel Wright. Naomi touched just ahead of the unlucky Rachel for second and third places followed by Jennifer Wright fourth. Girls' backstroke saw Rachel Wright win first place with Chione Hardy second, and Chanice Jasinski third touching just ahead of Naomi Church fourth. Good swimming and times also from Charlotte Harvey, Bethany Cleghorn, Victoria Roe, Laura Wright, Lauren Kenworthy, and Imogen Lawson.

Parents packed the poolside amid nervous anticipation for the opening of the 8-year-old Gala swum under ASA rules. A well-matched girls' backstroke race saw Tamzin Steggles come in first over Faith Jennison second, Libby Rose third with Lucy Price fourth. Faith went on to take the lead in girls' breast-stoke reversing the backstroke roles with Tamzin second and Libby Rose third. Laura Reynolds and Jasmine Smith secured first and second places respectively with fine demonstrations of butterfly and Lily Thompson took first place amid much cheering in front-crawl, while Jennifer Seaman and Jasmine Smith fought out second and third places with Laura Reynolds fourth.

Henry Hardy secured his double first in 8 year-old-boys breast-stroke and, following an early lead, backstroke. Jonathan Lovitt took second in backstroke with third and fourth places closely contested by Harry Horsman and Oliver Payne respectively. Harry Horsman secured a second in front-crawl to Jonathan Lovitt's first. Good heat displays were shown by Anastasia Meyer, Jennifer Seaman, Lauren Clarke, Nicole Coombs, Laura Shilling, Hannah Ellis, Eleanor Chick, Daisy Norman Claire Drake, and Allison Caston.

The 9-year-old Gala continued under ASA rules opening with the boys' backstroke heats. Gareth Bush and Thomas Frost were equally matched in the boys' 9-year-old backstroke finals with Gareth pulling away to take the first in the exciting last length followed by Thomas second, Matthew Day a close third and Sonny Smith fourth. Both boys' butterfly and breast-stroke produced good technical displays with Max Wheatman first, Francis Ball second, Stephen White third and Robert Warner-Fiske fourth in butterfly and Christopher Trask taking the lead to win breast-stroke followed by Andrew Potter second. After an equal first length, boys front-crawl saw a comfortable win for Matthew Moore, Max Wheatman taking second with Simon Richards third and Sonny Smith fourth.

Ellen Nelson took the lead in the second length of girls' 9-year-old backstroke and continued with a strong stroke to take first place with Katrina Clarke second and Jessie Sweeney third. Girls' front-crawl was an exciting race, Pierny Munton, another double first winner, taking lead in the third length and eventually first place, closely followed by Ellen Nelson second. Georgina Rhead and Victoria Starling took third and fourth places. Pierny won her second first place in butterfly just touching before Georgina Rhead second and followed by Kirsty Clarke third. Corinne Bailey gave an excellant demonstration of breast-stroke to win the girls breast-stroke. Strong swimming and good times from Luke Nelson, Thomas Watts, Nadine Jasinski, Amy Houchin, Chelsea Davison, and Peter Dix.

Pam Stone, Club Chairman and Chief Coach presented special awards to children for outstanding achievements during the year including - Progress and Effort - Charlotte Harvey, Good Effort (6yrs) - Amba Cowling, Stones for Positive Attitude Laura Wright, Good Effort (6yrs) - Charles Lees, Ian Evans - Allison Caston, Tenacity - Daniel Gower, Very Good Effort (9yrs) - Andrew Potter, Michael Hogarth Pleasure to Teach - Eleanor Chick, Very Good Effort (8 yrs) - Faith Jennison, Good Effort (8 yrs) - Lucy Price, Barber Best Improved Boy-Max Wheatman, Best Attendance (boy) Oliver Godfrey, Most Improved Girl - Jessie Sweeney.

Pam ended the afternoon with congratulations to all the swimmers on the sportsmanship and high standards seen during some thrilling races and thanked parents and friends for, as always, their superb support.

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