Rays heading for nationals

Rockingham Stingrays’ Open Water team is gearing up to take on Australia’s best at the national championships at Champion Lakes this weekend.

Picture by Steve Powell: Rockingham Stingrays Amy Pearson, 16, Bianca Russell, 14, Zachary Bevan, 13, Madeleine Hills, 14, Chloe Gwynne, 13

Amy Pearson, 16, has swum with the Stingrays since a young age and has continually set a high standard of performance both in pool and open water events.

The State championships, held in Perth earlier this year, were a highlight for Pearson, where she gained a national qualifying time.

Pearson was recently invited to amaster class for elite open water swimmers, which has been an opportunity to gain further training before the competition.

Bianca Russell, 14, competed last year at nationals and successfully achieved a Youth Performance Squad Silver rating from Swimming Australia because of her top 10 placing at the event.

Russell has performed at a high level in both age and open categories, but she said her goal this year is simple: ‘‘To swim fast and make the Swimming WA Open Water team.’’

Although a newcomer to open water swimming, Madeleine Hills, 14, has qualified above her age category.

Hills has also performed consistently in the 800m and 1500m pool distance events at the recent State championships.

Zachary Bevan, 13, also competed last year at the nationals.

Bevan prefers the open water events held in rivers and lakes and is looking forward to competing at Champion Lakes.

The young athlete has an impressive track record both in the pool and the open water, and recently marked a State time of 1 hour and 3 minutes in his targeted event.

Chloe Gwynne, 13, is the youngest member of the team.

A natural long-distance swimmer, Gwynne only got into open water swimming recently, but successfully qualified for nationals in her first 5km swim.

Chloe is excited to be competing against Australia’s best open water swimmers, and hopes to set a new personal best time in the event.