No Frills Report

Team Steel did not just impress on poolside, the JO1, JO2, JO3 and Regional swimmers performed in the pool as well. With 30 gold, 23 silver and 18 bronze you could tell Team Steel swimmers had the home advantage and received the loudest cheering from their swimmers. The coaches have created a fantastic team atmosphere for all our swimmers, which does not just allow the swimmers to race well but gives them a great team they can rely and count on.
Some of the stand out performances were Tahlia Mulleague’s gold in the 200 Fly 13 years old with a new PB, and Emily Lambert doing exactly the same in the 11 years old. Neve Burgin took the silver in that race. Holly Steade and Megan Helm each powered to a 200 Freestyle Gold as did Ella Roberts in the 100 Breaststroke. The Regional Squad boys did a great job as well, Luis Dimelow taking the gold in the 100 Butterfly, James Ryall the silver in the 100 Breaststroke and Seth Blundell took multiple golds and a very impressive 6 personal bests over the two days. We also had quite a few 9/10 year olds competing. For many it was the first time racing in a long course event. But seeing some of their swims it is clear that their hard work and training is paying off. Jacob Haslingdon and Annabel Cooke impressed over the sprint events, taking a bronze medal each In the 50 Freestyle and Butterfly respectively. Isla Heathcote pulled out two fantastic performances over the 100m Freestyle and 200 IM finishing in 2nd place over both events. In the older age groups Erin Tankard and Alexandra Tartakovski proved their speed in the back end with an empathic gold in the 100 Freestyle and 200 Backstroke respectively. Team Steel really showed their strength and depth at this meet, taking all the places on the podium on four occasions. The 100 Backstroke; Isla Caudwell, Alexandra Tartakovski and Chloe Cooke taking the medals in the 200IM; Emily Lambert, Isla Caudwell and Chloe Cooke on the podium and in the 100 Breaststroke; Amber Finlay, Emily Lambert and Isla Caudwell finishing in the medals and over double the distance, 200 Breaststroke, all three swimmers took the same medals again. A real Breaststroke dominance for the Team Steel girls at No Frills.
Hopefully the youngsters of Team Steel can replicate these fantastic performances or even rise above them at Team Steel’s next home gala, the Summer Meet in July, and we hope to see many of our amazing volunteers there as well.