THE BEST junior swimmers from across the region gathered in Armidale over the weekend to contest the short course area championships.
Out of more than 1000 entries, the Armidale Alligators had 17 team members vying to beat their times and earn qualification for higher level events.
Mitch Hayden, Lucy Fenwicke, Jack Hendy and Jesse Streeting were all among the individual record breakers while the open boys relay team of Hayden, Hendy, Lachlan Fittler and Jake Minehan smashed both the medley and freestyle relay records.
Alligators’ publicity officer Jodie Hayden, said the broken records reflect how successful the event was for the area.
“It is always a hive of activity and because you have kids from nine years and under racing it is always busy,” she said.
“It is a great bunch of kids from our region.
“They show exceptional sportsmanship.
“Even the bigger kids when they are racing against one another.
“The swimming community is almost like family.”
As well as collecting multiple records, Alligators’ members were among the age champions on the day and picked up medals over a multitude of events.
