Finalists at the Victorian Metropolitan All-Junior Championships, back, from left, Casey Tiger Sharks Jyssica Keen, Jemma Phillips, McKenzie Cunningham, Ty Dobrunz and Dylan Warren, and front, Arnon Lodder, Fletcher Cunningham, Olivia Raiti, Ben Lodder and Jake Duggan. By Marc McGowan
THE Casey Tiger Sharks’ rise continued on the weekend when they won seven medals at the Victorian Metropolitan All-Junior Championships at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Eighteen Tiger Sharks qualified for the semi-final stage of the event from their district last month and 10 of the competitors went a step further by reaching the finals on Sunday.
The medallists were seven-year-old Jake Duggan (two gold and one bronze), nine-year-old Arnon Lodder (silver) and 12-year-olds McKenzie Cunningham (silver and bronze) and Jemma Phillips (silver).
Casey coach Anthony Coulson, who is in charge of the development and junior squads at the club, was very pleased with the results.
“It was an outstanding performance. It was fantastic to see the amount of swimmers we had represented there, particularly on the Sunday when the actual finals were held,” he said.
“It was a good learning experience for the younger guys who don’t necessarily compete at state.”
Coulson was also impressed with the improvement several of the swimmers made between last month’s district eliminations and the weekend finals.
“I was really happy with the personal bests they did and some of them pulled out some fantastic times even faster than the competition they went in prior to this,” he said.
The older children will now take aim at September’s Victorian Shortcourse Championships, while the likes of Jake and Arnon will focus on continuing to develop as swimmers.
“Jake is unreal. He’s got a racing spirit in him and you can definitely see that,” Coulson said.
“The young guys will work on improving their skill and move up the rankings in the squads.”
