TigerSharks swim for Aussies

By Marc McGowan
THREE Casey TigerSharks swimmers will compete for the junior Australian team at the annual 16-and-under Trans Tasman Tri-Series this month.
Australian champions Aleysha Tokai and Josh Beaver and national medallist Craig Watson earned their spots with strong showings at the Australian Age Championships in Sydney in April.
They will join the national squad for three meetings against New Zealand from 5 to 11 July in Melbourne, Wodonga and Canberra. Tokai is nearing the end of a two-week training block under Australian Institute of Sport head coach Shannon Rollason in Canberra that she hopes results in a full scholarship there.
She will return from Canberra in time for the first of the meets on Sunday.
TigerSharks head coach Ben Hiddlestone organised the brief trip after discussing the talented teenager with Rollason at the Australian Age Championships. “It’s a bit of a blind date, really, to see how they like it and she’s enjoying it,” he said. “She sent me an email the other day and she’s having fun just shopping with some of the girls in the Australian team. It’s a good thing for her and that’s what we’re all about. If it doesn’t work out, she’ll come back here and we’ll go to the Olympics – it’s no big deal; it was worth a try.”
Watson is looking in top shape for the international competition, having broken the 16-year-old boys’ Victorian short-course record in the 100m individual medley on the weekend.
Hiddlestone expects both Tokai and Watson to go close to personal-best times, but revealed that Beaver only recently returned to proper training after shoulder troubles.
The TigerSharks’ next meet is the Victorian Open Short Course Championships on 18 and 19 July.