Fifteen swimmers from Alice Springs Swimming Club have returned from the Northern Territory Championships with forty eight medals including fifteen gold, a high percentage of personal best times and sixth place out of seventeen teams, including nine from interstate.
Harrison Knott 12 was named Champion Distance Swimmer, which is awarded to the male or female athlete achieving the strongest performance, in any 200m, 400m, 800m or 1500m event, after a sensational 800m freestyle swim in the time of 10:15.18, taking 20.43 seconds off his PB in the process. Harrison also just missed out on Overall Points Champion, evidenced by his nine gold medals from twelve events, and almost broke five minutes in the 400m freestyle 5:01.21.
Quiet achiever Thomas Markham hit the pool kicking and did not rest. Winning eight medals from nine events, six of them silver, Thomas showed massive improvements over the four days, including sixteen seconds in the 100m backstroke, fifteen seconds 200m IM and twelve seconds 200m freestyle swimming 3:21.00 seconds, demonstrating he has the ability to mix it with his Territorian and interstate competitors.
Anthony Knott won seven medals including two gold in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley. An all-rounder, Anthony’s best swim was the 200m freestyle where he was six seconds in front of the next swimmer taking out first in 2:38.37, a four second PB.
Bahzi Nicholas finished with seven silver medals from eight events and PB’s in almost every race. A stunning first meet, Bahzi’s highlight was an eighteen second improvement in the 200m IM 3:15.96 seconds and breaking the three minute mark in the 200m freestyle.
Hannah Markham took home the clean sweep in breaststroke. This included the open women’s 200m breaststroke where Hannah finished 6th overall but 1st in her age group in 3:21.17 an eighteen second PB. Hannah followed this up with clear wins and two gold medals in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events.
Specializing in backstroke and breaststroke, JJ Siah’s gold medal came in her favoured 50m breaststroke race 42.90, plus silver in the 100m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke. JJ PB’d in almost every race and had solid finishes which made all the difference in her finals.
Malachai Waterford powered through the championships reducing his 50m butterfly time by nearly six seconds bringing home gold in 39.44. Malachai also backed this up with silver in the 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
Competing in his first championships, Paddy Van der Geest-Hester won silver in all four of his events. This included the 200m 100m and 50m freestyle where he broke the thirty second barrier 29.32 with a 3.56 second PB.
Ben Bloomer showed his all-round potential with silver in the 200m individual medley 3:09.94 with a PB of fifteen seconds. Ben also took home gold and silver in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
Mikayla Jones improvement continues and she was rewarded with three medals: gold, silver and bronze. Mikayla took out 1st in the 50m butterfly 34.16 taking almost four seconds off her time. Mikayla’s highlight was her 50m freestyle swim of 31.70 giving her confidence in the final where she won silver.
Daniel Rando’s silver came in the 50m breaststroke final 43.12 improving by over six seconds in the process. Daniel was on the fringe and unlucky not to medal in more events.
Aaron Graves improves with every meet and showed he is becoming a serious contender in breaststroke. Aaron won bronze in the 100m breaststroke 1:37.80 improving by over ten seconds.
In her first big away meet, Megan Graves 10 won silver in the 100m backstroke and bronze 50m freestyle. Megan also swam a competitive 45.43 in the 50m backstroke to just miss a medal.
Annalise Jones 11 showed determination in all her races, especially backstroke, and will be one to watch in the future.
Recently returning to swimming, Tom Stockwell brought home bronze in the 100m breaststroke 1:30.07 and was unlucky not to medal in the 50m breaststroke.
Coach Emily Knott said she was proud of the team and all their hard work had paid off.
To top off the weekend, Alice Springs also placed in all relay events: Girls 9-12 200m freestyle relay final and 200m medley relay final 3rd 2:21.92 Hannah Markham, Bahzi Nicholas, JJ Siah, Mikayla Jones; Boys 9-12 200m freestyle relay final 2nd 2:16.73 Harrison Knott, Anthony Knott, Daniel Rando, Malachai Waterford; Boys 9-12 200m medley relay final 3rd 2:40.89 Daniel Rando, Ben Bloomer Harrison Knott, Anthony Knott.