The Traralgon Swimming Club has just completed a four-meet commitment in the Invitational Carey Gold Cup Challenge. The local club had the distinction last year of being the first and only country club invited to participate in the Challenge, and this year was joined by the strong Warrnambool Club and the four top metropolitan clubs: Melbourne Vic Centre, Nunawading, Carey Aquatic and Southern Bay Trojans.
The competition involved dual and tri-meets fashioned after the American Collegiate system. With ages ranging from 10 & under to Open, only two swimmers from each club competed in each event. The competition was gruelling - being the very best competition available in this state - and the experience will set Traralgon swimmers in good stead for the coming State titles.
Involvement in the Challenge required a cash entry fee, but the Club managed to win back a substantial reward with good results. Head Coach Brian Ford believes it was a worthwhile experience for the development of our swimmers, both junior and senior. "Athletes need to challenge themselves with competition that demands extraordinary effort in order to improve. The Carey Gold Cup provided the best competition available in the State at this time and gave our swimmers a clear perspective on their training requirements if their goals are to be met."
The high level of achievement in the Traralgon Club sees many of its senior swimmers involved in the State's Development Program. Three swimmers were in Warrnambool last weekend for a camp as part of the "Age Development Squad" and the "Emerging Squad". Brenton Ford, Jeremy Saunders and Sam Ashby, as finalists and medallists at the Age National Championships, have been involved in the Development Program since June this year and have attended camps and clinics around the state - including the High Altitude Camp at Thredbo and the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. Melissa Hopley is a member of the "Victorian Age Squad" - swimmers who are 15 years and Under who qualified to swim at National Age, and Abbie Stockdale, Caitie Mitchell, Fiona Mitchell, Jarrod Raun, Tim Blackwood, Ben Geard and Brenton Ford were selected in the "Country Squad" for swimmers who were gold medallists at the 2003 Victorian Country Championships.
As well as the SVI Squads, 8 Traralgon swimmers have been involved in the Edison Mission Energy Gippsland Sports Academy Program. In a program with a total of 14 swimmers from four local clubs, the Traralgon Club has outstanding representation, again indicative of its strength and success. These swimmers have been busy with GSA commitments and will train with the Coach Vince Raleigh and the Monash High Performance Squad in Mount Waverley this weekend and travel to Wagga Wagga for a competition camp in early December.
Meanwhile, Traralgon's junior swimmers are using the weekly local calendar to develop their race skills and speed. As so many Traralgon senior swimmers are committed elsewhere, the junior club members have been doing an excellent job competing against Gippsland's clubs whose focus is participation at the local level. Steady improvement has seen 13 of the team's 41 junior swimmers included in the 7 - 10 Encouragement Team to compete in Melbourne next week. Keely Matthews, 7, is one of the youngest swimmers on that team and will compete in 6 events. Joining Keely are Emmanuel and Jayden Askew, Olivia Brady, Aoife Coughlan, Teagan Ford, Peter Labros, Ross Henning, Cameron Juha, Leah Kenney, Alice Lieshout, Samantha Lynn and Jordan Radosavljevic. Traralgon Coach Mick McNeill will head the 7 - 10 team at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre Competition on the 22nd November.
The Victorian State titles will be held from January 2 - 12. Traralgon expects to field a team of 30 or more swimmers to maintain their position as a top 10 team in the State. From January 16 - 18, the team will travel to Bendigo for the Victorian Country Championships which Traralgon has won for the past four seasons.