2024 NSW SENIOR STATE SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, August 23 – Sunday, August 25
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC)
• SCM (25 m)
• Results

The 2024 New South Wales Senior State Short Course Championships concluded today at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

This competition was a chance for rising young stars to make a name for themselves in the short course format, with age records at stake in both the women’s and men’s events.

Highlights of Day 1

Day 1 of the three-day event was dedicated to “The Christopher Montana Show”, in which the 14-year-old caused chaos at the start of both of his events.

Montana of Trinity Grammar Swimming Club came first to win the boys’ 200m individual medley, clocking a time of 2:05.83, beating the field by just over half a second.

Montana achieved the best time of his young career with 26.32/31.44/36.87/31.20, beating the 2:11.30 that the teenager had set just earlier this month.

Thanks to his performance, Montana is now the ninth fastest 14-year-old boy in Australia.

Later in the session, Montana, coached by Calum Timms, tried out the 14-year-old boys’ 100-metre breaststroke event.

Montana posted his fastest time yet of 1:02.20 and crossed the finish line almost a second ahead of the rest. He started in 28.88 and finished the race in 33.32, beating his previous personal best of 1:06.38 by almost 4 seconds.

With his performance on the winner’s podium, Montana smashed the previous Australian age record in this individual breaststroke competition. The previous record was held by the Olympic champion with 1:03.25 Zac Stubblety-Cook entered the books in 2013.

Highlights of Day 2

Montana was back in action on day two, picking up multiple medals on her way to making Australian age group swimming history.

Montana competed in the boys’ 200-meter breaststroke and stopped the clock at an impressive time of 2:18.66, well surpassing his previous personal best of 2:27.19 and the only time in the field under 2:23.

His result makes him the sixth fastest 14-year-old Australian boy of all time.

Montana then competed in the 50-meter breaststroke and raced to the finish line with a fast 28.60 meters, beating his previous personal best by over a second and setting a new age record.

The previous mark was 29.18 Joshua Collett in 2018. This means that Montana is the first 14-year-old Australian to ever break the 29-second mark.

Remarkable, runner-up Hudson Hegarty was not far behind Collett’s mark, reaching 29.32 and thus silver behind Montana.

Finally, on the second day, Montana was the best swimmer in the 14-year-old boys’ 100-meter butterfly, clocking a time of 56.53, making him one of two swimmers in the 56 range.

He was joined by Ethan Haegebert who scored in 56.82, while Joshua Kang rounded out the top 3 with 57.11.

The trio each set new personal bests. Coming into this competition, Montana had never been under the minute barrier, with his previous personal best being 1:00.22 set earlier this month. This powerful performance improved his personal best by over 3 seconds.

15 years old Luke Dunn was another multi-event winner on day two. The Knox Pymble athlete set a new personal best in the 100m butterfly with a time of 54.14.

With his performance, Dunn became the second best 15-year-old Australian, behind only age group record holder Jayden Hadler, who achieved 52.12 in 2008.

Dunn also ran the 50m more than a second faster with a time of 24.44 seconds, making him the fourth fastest 15-year-old Australian of all time.

Finally, Dunn achieved his personal best in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 55.59, easily beating his previous personal best of 59.01.

Highlights of Day 3

Montana was the fastest boy swimmer in the 14-year-old 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:05.01, setting an eye-catching personal best by over 7 seconds.

He also took part in the 50-meter backstroke, where he won the silver medal in 26.63 behind Haegebaert, who effortlessly crossed the finish line first.

Haegebaert clocked a time of 26.05, leading the field and becoming the fourth fastest 14-year-old Australian ever in the 50m backstroke.

At the same event for the 16-year-old age group, Haegebaerts’ teammate Knox Pymble showed a fast performance Tristen Waugh.

Waugh wowed the crowd with a time of 24.83, making him the only swimmer in the field to stay under the 25-second mark. This was the first time Waugh had ever broken the 26-second mark, making him the third-best Australian 50-meter backstroke swimmer of his age.

Jaimie De Lutiis was too fast to catch in the Girls 17&O 100m Freestyle. De Lutiis of West Iillawara Aquatic Swim Club clocked a time of 53.36, easily beating her previous personal best of 54.71.

Once again, Dunn attracted attention in more than one race, namely the 100m freestyle swimming for 15-year-olds.

Dunn did this with a time of 50.06 (24.05/26.01), almost breaking the 50-second barrier and setting another personal best.

He then posted a time of 56.44 in his age group’s 100m individual medley, making him the only swimmer in the field to go under a minute. Dunn closed his campaign with a win in the 50m freestyle, taking the gold medal in 23.45.