It’s a big step up from state-level competition to the intense contests at the national championships.
But it wasn’t too big for the Noosa Masters Swimming team.
Fresh from the recent state titles in Mackay – where the Noosa team won a swag of medals and broke 13 state and national records – 16 Noosa swimmers headed for the Nationals in Hobart. As snow fell on Mount Wellington, they took to the heated indoor pool along with 403 other competitors from 77 clubs around the nation.
Such a large field made medals more elusive. But Noosa swimmers won 37 individual medals (11 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze) while two relay teams won gold and another two took silver.
Individual gold medallists were Ross Kee, Ian Tucker, Lois Hill, Steph Jones and Jan Croft. Jan, our legendary coach and sentimental favourite, celebrated with five individual gold medals.
Meanwhile, Steph Jones, who’d dominated the state championships in Mackay, produced an encore performance. Steph carved through the water to break two national records and five state records – most of them her own record times set in Mackay.
Special mention goes to the women’s medley relay team. Steph and Jan joined with Helen Malar and Jo Matthews to snatch a national record from the famed Doncaster Dolphins, who touched less than a second behind Noosa.
Ross Kee blasted his way to a remarkable 100m freestyle state record and backed up with gold in the 50m freestyle. Lois Hill swam a smart 100m backstroke for gold and Ian Tucker earned his gold in the toughest event on the program, the 400m individual medley, edging out clubmate Greg Bott. Greg and Ian then combined with Trevor Mathews and Ross Kee to take gold in their 200m freestyle relay.
Other medal winners were Jacky Shields and Anne Besser (silver) and LiQun Hussey (bronze), while Julie Bott, Felicity Hawkins, Linda Hogg and Adele Tucker swam strongly but missed medals in their highly competitive age groups.
At the championships dinner, the Noosa team was presented with the 2022 Vorgee National Endurance Trophy, awarded to Noosa Masters as the champion club in that annual competition for the ninth year in succession. After five days in Hobart, the team returned to Noosa exhausted but elated.
