Top-three finish for TigerSharks

By Gavin Staindl
THE Casey TigerSharks swim team finished third in the state after strong showings at last week’s Victorian Age Championships (Long Course) and this week’s Victorian Open/Swimmer with Disability Championships.
After beating cross-town rivals Haileybury for the first time at the Victorian Age Championships, the TigerSharks pipped their rivals again after the combined scores from the two meets placed them third overall – the best result in the club’s 35-year history.
TigerSharks Coach Ben Hiddlestone was amazed at the performance from both his juniors and open swimmers.
“I am absolutely thrilled. It is beyond what I could have hoped for,” Hiddlestone said.
Hiddlestone, who admits his club is still building, had hopes of a top-three finish in three to five years but will now have to find a new goal after the TigerSharks proved to the state that they can mix it with the best.
Beijing paralympics silver medallist Ellie Cole, 18, was the stand-out for the TigerSharks.
Cole took home four gold medals in the swimmers with a disability 50-metre butterfly, 50-metre backstroke, 100-metre freestyle and her in pet event, the 100-metre backstroke.
Sixteen-year-old Dylan Warren was also impressive and had the swim of his life when he took out his maiden gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle. “I was in lane zero and had stuffed up in the warm-up so I wasn’t expecting too much but it feels pretty good,” Warren said.
Warren, who admitted to feeling “a bit nervous” prior to the race, now has his name on the perpetual shield alongside the 2008 winner – Grant Hackett.
“It is good to see. I look up to him and his work ethic.”
“My coach tells me stories about Hackett and when he trained and he didn’t do well, he’ll get in and do it again … I want to be like him,” Warren said.
Team-mate Aleysha Tokai, who was watching Warren swim as she prepared for her own race, said it was a great swim by Warren.
“At the 400-metre turn he was a length behind the three leaders but then he just powered it home … he looked pretty happy with himself afterwards,” Tokai said.
Tokai also served her team well by coming second in the 100-metre individual medley and finished in the top 10 in two other races. “Coming second in the IM was a bit of a surprise. I didn’t know what to expect and then all of a sudden I was racing a race on my own.”
But once again, the modest Tokai heaped praise on the rest of the team.
“(The overall performance) was out-of-sight,” Tokai said.