2022 National Age Swimming Championships
Outstanding Results from Moreton Bay Swimmers
Over the recent Easter Holidays, eight athletes represented Moreton Bay College, at the 2022 National Age Swimming Championships. Held over eight days, and with over 1500 athletes competing, the Australian Championships are considered the peak swimming competition for athletes aged 18 years and under.
Competing in a total of 10 individual events, Francesca Chitukudza went into the National Championships knowing recovery between events was going to be critical. After several finals’ appearances, and a close fourth place finish in the 400m Individual Medley, Francesca was very happy to have claimed a bronze medal in her main event, the Girls 15 years 200m Butterfly.
Relays are a highlight of every National Swimming Championship, as the best in Australia can represent their Clubs, in a team event. The Girls 15/16 years 4x50m Medley Relay was always going to be a close race, given the calibre of entrants and preliminary entry times indicating there was to be only 0.5sec separating first to sixth place. Moreton Bay swimmers Amani Alobaidli, Kyrah Percy, Francesca Chitukudza and Grace Gerreyn touched the wall in third place to claim the bronze medal in a very close and exciting finish.
Moreton Bay Swimming finished an agonising fourth place in both the Girls 4x50m Freestyle and the Girls 4x100m Freestyle events. Amani Alobaidli, Mila Stribling, Francesca Chitukudza and Grace Gerreyn narrowly missed on out on both bronze medals, by as little as 0.30secs, whilst only just staying in front of a very competitive Knox Pymble College.
This year also saw the introduction of State relays, where athletes were selected to represent Queensland, racing against the other states, in a series of relay events. Congratulations to Francesca Chitukudza and Amani Alobaidli for their nomination on to QLD relay teams.
Statistically, MBS achieved some incredible milestones;
- 47 races swum by MBS athletes.
- 31 of these races resulted in a Personal Best Time.
- 25 of these races resulted in an Australian Top 20 finish.
- 18 of these races resulted in an Australian Top 10 finish.
MBS athletes can be very proud of their results, given the numerous disruptions to preparations, including floods, lock-downs, COVID and the extension to the QGSSSA competition season. Despite these obvious constraints, our athletes have demonstrated incredible resilience and determination to succeed.
National Age athletes are now on a well-deserved 3 week break, after which they will return to the pool for the upcoming Short Course Season.
