The 2024 Swimming WA Club Premierships kicked off at HBF Stadium from February 9-10. UWA West Coast Swimming Club won the A Grade shield last year and repeated the feat this year, scoring 618 points.
Southlake Dolphins won the best march pass with their Chinese Luna New Year celebration, complete with a drummer and a mesmerising dragon dance.
Club Premierships feature four Grades from A through to D. Clubs were placed in a Grade based on their performance from the previous year. This event created a fantastic atmosphere as it was about more than individual accolades; it was about rallying together to earn points for the club.
Rob Palfery, Head Coach of UWA West Coast, said, “This is probably my favourite event… such a highly charged atmosphere and you’re probably not expecting kids to swim too fast at a meet this far out from Nationals but everyone steps up and it’s just a great environment for the kids to step up and go fast.”
UWA West Coast owed their victory to Alice Massey and Zara Mariyle Callo, who each earned the team 20 points. Massey dominated the girl's 9-15 100m freestyle, finishing in under a minute at 59.67. She also won the girls 9-15 100m backstroke, touching at 1:07.74. 13-year-old Callo won both the girl's 9-13 100m freestyle and backstroke with impressive times.
On Saturday morning, Riverton Aquanauts Swimming Club won the B Grade competition with 469 points, only 13 points ahead of Highlanders Swimming Club. The club also won the best march pass with an Australian-themed performance. Head Coach Gemma Herrington was ecstatic, jumping with excitement after the announcement.
Rebekah Fraser S15 won the most points for Riverton Aquanauts, taking out first place in the 50m freestyle multi-class and 50m backstroke multi-class, earning a total of 20 points.
On Saturday afternoon, C and D Grade clubs competed, creating even more noise in the stadium. North Coast Swim Club won the C Grade competition with 345 points, a big improvement from their fourth-place finish last year. Armadale Kelmscott Swimming Club won the D Grade competition with 354 points and took out first place in the march pass for C & D Grade with their dragon theme.
