On the first Friday of the year a small squad of Devos, Juniors & mostly Inters arrived at Challenge Stadium for the 2013 SWA Invitational
Being victims of our own success, the competition rules meant that the Arena Swim Club were limited in swimmer availability and thus we had only 12 swimmers to make the start (competitive swimmers that had not yet achieved their “AA” Qualifying times were only eligible to enter)
But what a start it was !! – our 9 years & under relay team nailed event number 1 the 4x50m freestyle relay by half a pool claiming the gold medal !
In event 2, our two 11 years & under teams claimed silver & bronze behind a Newman team who averaged 35 secs per leg. The Newman four also engaged in some friendly banter declaring they would do the same in the 11’s medley relay later in the day
As for the medley relay the 9 years & under team again won with ease and the 11 years & under’s let their actions do the talking by taking gold ahead of Newman – with Arena also finishing 4th.
Throughout the day, the Arena swimmers entered 24 events finishing on the podium 10 times & finishing overall top 6 in 20 – top effort !!!
All of our swimmers said that they’d like to enter next year but I fear they might already be too good J
Onwards & Upwards !
– report and photo by Adam Collier