Swimmers from all across WA to dive into the Mt Barker pool for the 2021 Country Pennants meet

More than 600 competitors will dive into the Mt Barker Swimming Pool for the 2021 Country Pennants this weekend. Mt Barker Barracudas will be represented by 38 swimmers across two teams from ages eight to 40 and will compete in D and E-grade. Albany Swim Club will have a strong contingent in B-section. Country Pennants is the highlight of the regional swimming calendar and 30 clubs from around WA will be in action over the two days. Mt Barker head coach Norman Bario said 676 swimmers would hit the water and he expected a crowd of around 1500 poolside. “We are very lucky to have a team pull out because we can put a second team in — we can usually only have 26 swimmers, but with two teams we can swim everyone in our club,” Bario said. “It’s been stressful because of the year but I asked the club to host the event because it would be a challenge and I knew we had the people to bring it all together. “It’s also about bringing people into the district that wouldn’t come usually. “Hopefully they see what the Great Southern has to offer and come back in the future.” Roisin Healy and Thomas Dremel Galvez are the two Barracudas captains. “Our swimmers usually go well at Country Pennants — we are a summer club so we train from October through till March and we target three big events: the country champs, regional champs and Country Pennants so this will be our last big event and our swimmers are all as fit as we can get them,” Bario said. “I’m expecting our swimmers to do well in their division. I think we finished second in our division last year so in our home pool we would love to win. “Our D-grade team will go really well and our E-grade has a lot of swimmers coming back to the club but I expect them to equip themselves well. “We would love to win in our pool but if we don’t win I will still be very proud because I know our swimmers will give 100 per cent out there.” Swimming will start at 8.30am on Saturday and Sunday.