Although neither of them made the podium, Nash Wilkes and Claire Van Kampen still see their recent campaigns at National-level swimming carnivals as positive experiences.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nash competed at the Australian Age Championships in Adelaide on April 15, 17 and 18, while Claire competed in Adelaide at the Australian Open Swimming Championships the week before.
Both swimmers are 17 and train under YMCA swimming coaches Peter Sanders and Adel Gregory at the Forster Aquatic Centre.
For Nash, who lives at Rainbow Flat and is currently completing Year 12 via distance education through Camden Haven High School, his results at the meet fell just short of the goal he'd set himself.
Hoping for a finals' berth, he narrowly missed a place in the top ten in the 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
"I didn't swim my best race," he admitted.
Going over to the meet ranked fourth in the 100m breaststroke, he was obviously disappointed at first, but with a week to reflect and reset, he's ready to move on to the next challenge.
This comes in the way of the NSW All Schools Secondary Swimming Championships on May 13, where he goes into the event with the confidence of having claimed a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke in 2018.
"I want to do a PB," he said.
Claire is also looking forward to the all schools carnival after claiming a bronze there in the 200m backstroke last year.
While she missed out on the finals by one spot in Adelaide, she still walked away pleased with her performance after doing a personal best in the 100m backstroke and her second fastest time ever in the 200m backstroke.
"I was really happy with how I went," she said.
The Manning Point swimmer is in her final year of high school at Taree High and has been doing exceptionally well in the ocean as well as the pool.
On Easter Sunday she placed second in the female division of the Rock to Rock Ocean Swim at Elizabeth Beach, and the weekend before she became the first woman to win the Club to Club - a 3.9km ocean swim from Cape Hawke surf club to Forster surf club - beating around 90 competitors in the process.
You may also like:
For coach Peter Sanders, he's pleased with the progress both swimmers are making despite the difficult age they're at.
"It's very normal for kids to plateau at this age so we've got to find ways to get them through it," he said.
"We've got to improve their times with good skills and good technique."
But while so much of swimming at this level is about training hard and constantly trying to improve, neither Nash or Claire are putting too much pressure on themselves.
Nash and Claire have no trouble with motivation.
- Peter Sanders
Asked whether they had aspirations to represent Australia at the Olympics, they both preferred to focus on more immediate goals.
"Obviously it's every swimmers long-term goal, but it's hard to tell at this age," Claire admitted.
This is the kind of attitude Mr Sanders would prefer them to have too.
"The bottom line is we want them to be the best athletes they can possibly be and hopefully the best people they can possibly be," he said.
Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Great Lakes Advocate newsletter here.