Albany Swim Club shine in April State Championship meet in Perth

Albany Swim Club sent six athletes to the 2023 Swimming WA Junior State Championships which were held in Perth in mid-April.

To qualify for this meet, athletes must have competed in nominated events throughout the long course season, achieved AA qualifying times and finished in the top 12 athletes for these events.

Invitations to compete at Junior States were then offered to these qualifying athletes.

Thirty individual swims were completed for Albany with an impressive personal best rate of 93 per cent achieved across the four-day tournament from April 11-14.

Cam Bavcevich shaved off 17.21sec. in his 200m breastroke to finish with a time of 3min. 50.66sec. while team captain Thomas Bavcevich stopped the clock at 5:12.70 in the 400m freestyle, a 8.06 second improvement on his previous best.

Jack Gledson also shone in the 200m breaststroke (3:.50.33) category with a 25.87 second improvement.

Kalarney Williams put together a terrific swim in the 400m freestyle (6:21.87) with a 22.74sec. improvement while Malachy Williams came in with a time of 3:2.01 to achieve a personal best with an 8.17sec. improvement.

Jason Wenbourne made his mark in the 200m individual medley (3:09.35) to better his previous time by 8.17sec.

Malachy Williams earned a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke, achieving a top-10 finish in six of his eight events. Gledson finished in the top 10 in one of his three swims.

Gledson and Malachy Williams both achieved a 100 per cent personal best rate across all of their races along with Cam Bavcevich.

Seth Lawson and Koos De Jonge qualified for the meet but did not attend.

Coach Nola Osborne praised the high level of talent on display from the Albany team across the meet.

“All six members of Team Albany performed strongly at the Junior Long Course State Championships over the course of the four days,” she said.

“They swam exceptionally well to return with a personal best rate of 93.3 per cent and can now claim another State champion in two events.

“Malachy Williams was superb in the pool and secured two bronze medals, one for his 200m freestyle and another for his 100m backstroke.

“It was the first State meet for brothers Kalarney and Malachy Williams.

“Kalarney and Malachy have only been swimming with ASC for the past six months and have shown fierce determination to succeed over this short period.

“All members of Team Albany were outstanding at executing their race plans, which helped them achieve the personal best times and placings they did.

“Team captain Tommy Bavcevich showed great leadership all week and took 8.06sec. off his 400m freestyle entry time on day one.

“This was backed up with some massive PB’s from the rest of the team with Jack Gledson saving his best till last and taking 25.87 seconds off his 200m breaststroke entry time. To have eight athletes qualify for this event from our club is an awesome achievement and is something these young athletes can be very proud of.

“We now switch into our short course season and are looking forward to our home meet, the Albany Short Course, which will be held at ALAC on July 1-2.”