Two local swimmers have secured their place at the Australian Age Championships being hosted at the Gold Coast this week.
Teagan McGowan and Scarlett Clarke, along with Performance Coach Brian Stehr, will be attending the National Age Championships representing their local swim club Good Shepherd Aquatics.
Teagan and Scarlett have shown great resilience and flexibility throughout the 20-21 Season, quickly adapting to the challenges that emerged in 2020 and swimming with determination to achieve National Qualifying times for 2021 Australian Age Championships.
The Australian Age Championships were under threat last week when the Commonwealth declared the Greater Brisbane COVID-19 Hotspot.
Luckily the Lockdown served its purpose and ended in time for Easter. There was relief, and plenty of excitement amongst the swimming community when Swimming Australia announced that the Australian Age Championships would go ahead as scheduled on the Gold Coast, 5 to 12 April – and our GS Aquatics Swim Stars are ready to race.
Teagan, age 15, has been swimming at the Good Shepherd Swim Centre since she was nine.
Teagan currently swims in the Diamond Swim School’s National Squad with Coach Brian Stehr and has been racing as a Member of Good Shepherd Aquatics Swim Club since 2015.
Teagan highest achievement to date is winning a Gold medal at School Nationals in Tasmania and breaking a QLD State Record in Brisbane for 50m Backstroke, which she still holds.
Teagan has been training hard for Nationals and says she’s looking forward to racing on the Gold Coast. Her pet event is the 100m Backstroke, and her personal goal for National Age Champs is to make the Finals this Saturday.
When asked what her biggest challenges were regarding training and competing under COVID-19 conditions, Teagan said “When we couldn’t train at the pool it was hard to keep motivated and I missed racing.“
It was her Friends, her Coach Brian and her love of fitness, and enjoyment racing that kept her motivated to train.
Scarlett, age 14, has been swimming at the GS Swim Centre with Diamond Swim School for 10 years, and now swims with their National Squad.
Scarlett enjoys swimming with her friends and competing on weekends; and joined GS Aquatics in 2016. Scarlett’s highest achievements to date has been setting a 100m Butterfly record at Gympie Aquatic Centre and breaking her own record in the 200m IM at the Hervey Bay pool during the Gympie and Hervey bay meets.
A highlight of Scarlett’s season so far has been making it to finals for the 200m Breaststroke during the Queensland Championships in December and qualifying for five events at the Nationals.
Scarlett said, “I am really excited to compete at such a high level.“
When asked what her biggest challenges were regarding training and competing under COVID-19 conditions, Scarlett said “One of the biggest challenges I faced was not being able to train at the GS pool. Instead I trained in a friend’s freezing 20 m pool (it was June) and in the ocean, which I have never done before.“
“I want to become the best swimmer I can possibly be and that means putting in the effort and training.“
Her pet event is the 200m IM. Scarlett’s personal goal for National Age Champs is to improve her rankings for every race, achieve some personal best times and enjoy the experience.
When asked what she likes about racing, Scarlett said “racing makes me push myself, and I really like the rush of winning a race.“
