2011 Country Inter District

 

It was “Gold! Gold! Gold!” for the Gippsland D21 team at Country Inter-District and once again swimmers showed the enormous depth of talent that Gippsland has produced when they were declared winners for the 19th consecutive year.

 

Brayden Waltham (Traralgon) and Stephanie Morgan (Traralgon) captained the team of 53 swimmers selected from various Gippsland Clubs and team coach Brian Ford (Traralgon) was not disappointed with the team’s performance.

 

The hunt for gold started early with Ben Geard (Traralgon) hitting the wall first in the 17/o 50m Free (24:76).  Ten year old Alex Tsebelis (Traralgon) kept it rolling for the boys when he too won gold in the 10/u 50m Back (37:24).  Melina De Cort (Warragul) scored the first gold for the girls in a personal best time in 10/u 50m Back (39:23).

 

Jack Law (Morwell) kept the gold flowing with a win in 11-12yo 100m Breast (1:24:28) as did Fabienne Shoutens (Traralgon) in 11-12yo 100m Breast (1:26:46).

 

Lily Collins (EGWD) led from start to finish in 15-16yo 100m Free to win comfortably (59:32).  Brayden Waltham (Traralgon) showed his experience touching out Geelong in a very tight finish to win gold in 17/o 50m Back (28:08) with Stephanie Morgan doing the same in another close finish in 17/0 50m Back (34:11).

 

Alex Tsebelis (Traralgon) put in another solid performance in 10/u 50m Breast (43:98) to win gold.  Bowen Gough (SGB) was just too strong for his opponents winning gold in 11-12yo Fly (1:11:92) as was Erin Roberts who also won gold in 11-12yo Fly (1:12:66)  Trent Morrow (Traralgon) worked hard in the 13-14yo 100m Free (57:55) to touch first as did Georgia Tsebelis (Traralgon) in 13-14yo 100m Free (1:00:53) also taking gold.

 

A very close finish in 15-16yo 100m Back (1:03:03) saw Matt Norwood (Traralgon) add yet another gold to the growing tally.  Nicole Moon (Traralgon) gave an outstanding performance in 15-16yo Back (1:08:28) and was rewarded with a 3 sec PB and a National QT - congratulations Nicole!!

 

Alex Tsebelis (Traralgon) made it 3 from 3 when he won gold in 10/u 50m Fly (34:81) and Melina De Cort (Warragul) proved too strong for the girls winning comfortably 10/u 50m Fly (38:19). Ben Geard (Traralgon) won his second gold in 17/o 50m Breast (30:88) whilst Kate Sommerfield (Warragul) outclassed her opponents winning 17/o 50m Breast (33:78).

 

Bowen Gough (SGB) touched first again in 11-12yo 100m Free (1:05:33) as did Erin Roberts (Traralgon) in 11-12yo 100m Free (1:06:57).  Georgia Tsebelis (Traralgon) swam strongly in 13-14yo 100m Back (1:10:10) winning gold whilst Lily Collins (EGWD) won by more than 6 seconds in 15-16yo 100m Breast (1:15:92).

 

Stephanie Morgan (Traralgon) put her head down and went for it in 17/o 50m Fly touching first in 30:19.  Alex Tsebelis (Traralgon) rounded off his day nicely winning his 4th gold medal in 10/u 50m Free (32:91) and Ellodie Reid (Traralgon) recorded a great time in 10/u 50m Free (33:61) to win gold. 

 

Erin Roberts (Traralgon) gave it everything she had in 11-12yo 100m Back (1:11:11) finishing equal first!   Phillip Blunt (Traralgon) worked hard in 15-16yo 100m Fly (1:01:38) and was rewarded with gold.

 

Lily Collins (EGWD) ripped it up in 15-16m Fly (1:07:64) and came away with a gold medal and a National QT – well done Lily!!

 

Other great performances included Tayla Da Ros winning silver in 13-14yo 100m Fly (1:08:50) and earning herself a National QT – Congratulations Tayla!  Beau Van Agtmaal (SGB) swam a scorching lead off in the 15-16 200m Free Relay (25:91) and scored a National QT – well done Beau!!

 

Many more swimmers contributed to the final overall point score:

 

Silver  – Mitch Young (Traralgon) 15-16yo 100m Free(57:67); William Lee (Sale) 13-14yo 100 Back  (1:07:56); Jacob Mulqueen (Morwell) 15-16yo 100m Breast (1:13:96); Brayden Waltham 17/o 50m Fly (26:72); Bowen Gough (SGB) 11-12yo 100m Back (1:15:17).

 

Bronze – Stephanie Morgan (Traralgon) 17/0 50m Free (29:10); Ellie Spencer (Sale) 10/u Breast (50:16); Brayden Haney (Traralgon) 13-14yo 100m Breast (1:17:57)

 

Gippsland also showed it’s dominance in relay events – with 21 out of the 24 relay teams winning gold!

 

A big thank you must go to Team Coach Brian Ford and Team Managers Veronica Roberts (Traralgon) and Paul Mulqueen (Morwell) for all their help and assistance on the day.   And of course a huge thank you to the swimmers themselves who represented Gippsland so well both in and out of the water.