Twenty-two of WA’s community travelled to Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (NZ) to participate in the Tri-Series Meet, an international short course competition against teams from New Zealand and Victoria.
It was an incredible week for the team, combining training and learning opportunities with international racing to provide an experience to help the long term development of athletes, coaches and technical officials involved.
Some highlights pre-competition:
WA athletes and coaches participated in combined activities, including a quiz night and yoga session! This gave the opportunity to meet new people and connect with a like-minded community
Inspired by a demonstration from NZ’s athletes of the Haka, the ceremonial Maori war dance representing the tribe’s pride, strength and unity.
Pre-competition session focused on speed work, incorporating dive starts and relay changeovers which made for some healthy competition!
There were plenty of incredible performances during the competition for the young WA team:
Xavier Collins (Westside Christchurch Aquatic, c: Jon Harrison) collecting four event wins including a sub 1:50 200 Freestyle for the second time in 2023, named as WA’s MVP for the meet
Lucy Porter (Westside Christchurch Aquatic, c: Jon Harrison) unofficially breaking Rachel Harris’ age WA-All Time record in the 200m breaststroke, a record that has stood for more than 30 years! Lucy was also WA’s leading female point scorer for the week.
A winning 4x100m men’s relay team, with anchor Alexander Sillitoe (South Lake Dolphins, c: Stefano Di Bernado) going sub 50.00 seconds to pinch the win.
WA showing its strength in the middle distance freestyle events, going 1 – 2 in the freestyle Skins, 200m and 400m freestyle events, where Tex Cross (Highlanders, c: Ryan Steenkamp) went sub 3:53.00 for the first time in his career.
The WA Team held the expectation of all supporting an incredible sense of team spirit and demonstration of performance behaviours to deliver the best team performance for the week. Match awards were given to athletes whom best embodied these expectations.
Match 1: Xavier Collins
Match 2: Sienna Hepworth (Southside Penhros Wesley, c: Chris Purcell)
Match 3: Delta Cross (Highlanders, c: Ryan Steenkamp)
Match 4: Anouk Potter (Southside Penhros Wesley, c: Chris Purcell)
Match 5: Sam Carmignani (Breakers WA, c: Harry Clark)
WA's emerging Technical Officials, Maricel Van de Nadort (Central Aquatic) and Mhairi Doherty (UWA West Coast), were amongst others officiating the meet. What an incredible experience and opportunity!
Well done to everyone involved in delivering such an amazing experience for the WA team and congratulations to the athletes in encapsulating the WA spirit and doing our state proud!
