The meet was preceded by an Ovens and Murray Swimming swim clinic hosted by Wodonga Swim Club with coaching by Melbourne Vicentre coach and former South African Olympian Craig Jackson, with the assistance of a number of high profile swimmers including Rio Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton.
An early morning start saw the girls scoffing bacon and egg rolls before a bit of land training conducted by the athletes and combined freestyle session led by Craig with Mack in the pool demonstrating drills and scrutinising the participants’ technique.
Zoe even scored a free tow during one of the drills, holding Mack’s ankle for half a pool length with no apparent inconvenience to Mack at all.
The swimmers then divided for form stroke sessions with Zoe choosing the breaststroke session led by breaststroke swimmer Daniel Cave and Imogen opting for the butterfly session led by Craig, featuring freestyle and individual medley specialist Koti Ngawati.
A 1pm start for the meet commenced for our swimmers with the 50m Freestyle and some happy Corowa girls chalked up very satisfactory results.
Zoe’s maiden effort resulted in a blistering freestyle time for a 10-year-old while Imogen didn’t only achieve a personal best (PB) but achieved a time goal she had been chasing all season.
More PBs for Imogen and a very respectable 100 free time from Zoe finished the long day with a pair of very tired but satisfied swimmers.
Next Sunday, February 17 is the Corowa Pennant meet to be held at Yarrawonga Pool. In correction to last week’s report the postponed All Junior heats will not be held at this meet, but at the Ovens and Murray individual championship meet on February 23, also at Yarrawonga.
Many thanks go out to Wodonga Swim Club, Vicentre and the athletes who generously gave their precious time to mentor young regional swimmers at grassroots level.