Ava Macey recently beat some of the best young up-and-coming swimmers from all over NSW and the ACT at the 2017 NSW Achievers Meet, winning gold in the 10 years girls 50 metre breaststroke event.
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To top it off, the 10-year-old also swam a personal best in each of her four races – 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly – at the development meet, held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Saturday, October 7.
“She did really well, it was amazing,” Ava’s mother Amy Macey said.
“She surprised all of us, we weren’t expecting it at all.”
Ava was one of four Moree Amateur Swimming Club members, including Emily (13) and Ben (10) Di Donna and Chloe Elbourne (10), to compete at the meet as part of the Swimming New England North West Regional Development Achievers Squad.
To qualify for the squad, swimmers had to be invited based on a range of selection criteria which involves competing in the Area Championships and achieving a Country Championships time plus 10 per cent.
All four Moree swimmers competed in the four 50m events, and Moree Amateur Swimming Club secretary Tammy Elbourne said each of them did exceptionally well, all achieving personal bests in the majority of their races.
“All four swimmers seeded well in an extremely competitive field with up to 80 swimmers in some events,” she said.
“They all had great times.
“Congratulations especially to Ava, it’s a tremendous achievement. Just to get to that level is a wonderful achievement.”
The Achievers Squad is just one of a number of development programs run by Swimming NSW, which not only involves the annual meet but the opportunity to attend development camps.
Three Moree swimmers – Alex Macey and Joshua and Gabrielle Elbourne – qualified for the Target Squad, the level above the Achievers, earlier this year.
