Left to right: Christopher Evans, Robert Evans & Brodie Hedges

It truly was a week of highs for Peel Aquatic Club swimmers at the Energy Australia 2012 Swimming Championships held in Adelaide. Three of Peels senior squad had qualified and made the journey to experience the Olympic Trials for the first time. All three athletes were eager to impress even though they know they were ranked outsiders.  The trio faced a quality field that included National Champions and Olympians. In total 74 athletes from WA all went across to compete. First up was 17 year old swimmer Robert Evans. The 100m breaststroke was always going to be a battle between Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger which has intrigued swimming lovers for years.  In the prelims Evans was in heat 7 of 10 and ranked 28th overall.  Evans flew off the blocks and pushed himself all the way to the wall in a blistering season’s best time of 1:04.67. He produced a staggering 0.86 second PB which was enough to place him as first reserve in the semi finals. He also crushed the WA Country All Time record set by Jarrod Church when he was 17 yrs old and also the 18yrs old record set in 1999 which has been in existence for over 13 years.Evans then used his 50m freestyle event as a warm up for what would be a very challenging 50m Breaststroke ahead. Evans had been placed in the same heat as Brenton Rickard and Max Ireland. Evans kept his nerve and impressed in the heat stopping the clock at 29.12 finishing fourth place behind Brenton Rickard who came in 1st on 28.23 and Max Ireland who clocked 28.29.

Above: Robert Evans with James "The Missile" Magnussen

Peel Swimmer Robert Evans had secured his place through to his 1st semi-final the men's 50m breaststroke and this time he would be up against Commonwealth Games silver medallist Christian Springer. During the semi Sprenger was too slick for the field posting a 27.66. Evans looked smooth throughout the race after an excellent start and touched in 6th just missing out on qualifying for
the final. Evans had a fantastic experience racing against both Rickard and Springer especially at his first Open Nationals. During this 50m experience Evans broke the WA Country All Time for the 17 yrs age record by 1.49 sec (which he was the current holder), smashed the 18 yrs by 1.28 seconds held since 12/02/2000 and the Open by 0.30 record 19/05/2000 both belonging to Jarrad Church.

Above: Brodie, Chris & Rob with Michael Klim

Fellow WA competitor and team mate Brodie Hedges competed in the men's 100m butterfly heat, producing a fantastic result for his first swim as a 17 year old. Hedges finished his fly in a time of 57.75 securing his place in the record books by breaking 3 WA Country All Time records; the 17 year olds held since 2003 by Richard Kerr, the 18 yr old and open both recorded by Craig Tucker in January 2001.
Hedges went on to record two personal bests in the 50m Breaststroke and Backstroke.

Above: Chris Evans with Eamon Sullivan

Rising star Western Australian teenager Christopher Evans the youngest of the trio at 15 years notched up an impressive time for his 50m breaststroke stopping the clock at 31.01, setting a new personal best by 0.54 and smashing the WA Country All Time Record by 0.24 seconds that had be held for 19 years by Luke Youard on 06/03/1993. Christopher in now ranked second in Australia for the 15 years boys 50m Breaststroke.

With a star-studded field it has been a fantastic adventure for the trio and definitely an experience they will not be forgetting for a long time.

Written by Zoe Evans

Front Row (Left-Right):
Poppy Maxwell, Melissa Palmer, Katelyn Crock, Gracie Underdown

Middle Row (Left-Right):
Josh Mclelland, Tazmah-Lee Timms

Back Row (Left-Right):
Dana Miller, Joe Stimson, Chris Evans, Brodie Hedges, Rob Evans

WA OPEN AND AGE LC CHAMPIONSHIPS
(17TH - 21ST JANUARY 2012)

The 2012 SWA Open and Age LC Championships was the largest
in recent history and provided five thrilling days of entertainment.
The event held at Challenge Stadium attracted Australian superstars
Geoff Huegill, Matt Abood, Andrew Abood, Eamon Sullivan, Mich Patterson
as well as Sweden’s Olympic medallist Therese Alshammar, and other
international swimmers from Japan as part of their preparation in the lead
up for the 2012 Australian Olympic trials to be held in March.

This years Championship combined for the first time the Age and Open
events attracting over 700 competitors,With high calibre swimmers exhilarating
racing took place in front of a packed venue. Peel Aquatic Club raising stars
held their own when they went up against some of the best swimmers in Australia.
The team of 10 swimmers bought home a staggering 13 State Age and 7 Open medals
across all strokes and distances and breaking a total of 56 records during the
course of the meet.

Robert Evans destroyed a total of 34 records. His hottest contested records
being the Men’s Open 50m Breaststroke WA All Time and Residential where Metro
Swimmer Tommy Sucipto claimed the records in the 17/18 yrs age group final,
Robert produced a remarkable swim with a convincing win in the Open final
claiming the records as his own. During the same race he also snatched the
18 years Residential record taking a total of 1.54 seconds off his entered time.
In the 100m Breast he won the Country records for the 17 to Open that had remained
undefeated since 14/1/1999 a 13 year record. In the 50m &100m Free he captured
the 17 to Open records by slicing 0.73 & 0.94 respectively off the 17/4/2004 records.

Brodie Hedges cracked 10 records, producing an outstanding time of 57.62 for
his 100m Butterfly claiming the 16 to Open Country Records by a staggering
1.80 seconds, the oldest record held since 13/1/2001. In his 100m Freestyle he shaved
0.12 off the Previous records that stood from 17/4/2004 to claim the WA Country All Time
and Residential.

Josh McClelland smashed 3 records the 14 years WA Country All Time and Country
Residential 100m Breaststroke by 1.54 seconds that has stood since 13/1/1996 and the
Country Residential 100 Free by 0.60.

Christopher Evans claimed Gold in the 50m Breast and won Bronze in the 15 years
100m Breaststroke. Poppy Maxwell (13), Melissa Palmer (14), Dana Miller (16) and
Joe Stimson (17) all made it throughto a number of age finals across a medley of strokes.
Youngsters Katelyn Crock and Gracie Underdown both 13 had their first experience of the
State Age and Open Championships producing excellent swims.

The final event of the meet was the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay. Peel was the 7th
fastest time and ranked outsiders. Joe Stimson led off on backstroke followed by
Robert Evans on Breast, Brodie Hedges on Fly and Josh McClelland on Free. The team put
on an outstanding performance and came home winning Bronze smashing 15.53 seconds off the
Country Records and gaining an Open National Qualifying time for the 2012 Australian Olympic trials.
The swimmers are now in training for both the National Age and Open Championships with a
total of 15 Age and 10 Open times being achieved. 

Written By Zoe Evans