Records fall at NSW Jewish Swimming Championships
Four tournament records were broken at the 69th NSW Jewish Swimming Championships held in sunny conditions at Des Renford Aquatic Centre last Sunday.
FOUR tournament records were broken at the 69th NSW Jewish Swimming Championships held in sunny conditions at Des Renford Aquatic Centre last Sunday.
Although there were a few well-known names missing in the event’s biggest races – the open male and female 100m free AJN Cups – Ravenswood Swim Club’s Kyron Israelsohn swam most of the men’s race at full throttle to finish first in 54.41 seconds, beating his own record set last year by 0.38 of a second.
It was the third straight AJN Cup won by the 22-year-old, and his fifth title since he debuted in 2012.
After a tight opening lap, victory came easily in the end, with up-and-coming 17-year-olds Alon Pajor (KRB Aquatics) and Adam Amoils (Maccabi) coming second and third with respective times of 58.43 and 58.81 – the latter time being a PB.
Canberra’s Zak Levine, representing Ginninderra Swim Club, finished just 0.04 of a second further back to finish fourth.
Israelsohn, who trains at Macquarie University’s Olympic pool and has a seed time for the 100m free of 52.21 seconds, told The AJN he used the event as final preparation for this weekend’s 2019 NSW Open Swimming Championships, which will feature 13 Jewish swimmers from eight clubs.
“It’s always good to win a race, especially this event which I first entered as a teenager,” Israelsohn said.
“It was good preparation for the NSW Open, as I haven’t swum in any major races since the NSW Short Course Championships last year.”
Israelsohn also broke his own record in the 17-24 men’s 50m butterfly race, with a time of 26.53 seconds.
KRB Aquatics’ Gabriella Goodridge, 16, broke through to win her first women’s AJN Cup, touching the wall in 1:05.16. That was more than five seconds slower than her seed time, but 0.12 of a second quicker than Jessica Williams, 14, from Maccabi, who scored a PB to earn silver. Maccabi’s Hannah Pajor, 14, won bronze in 1:06.21.
Goodridge, who will also swim at the NSW Open, has undergone a heavy training program in recent weeks, so she held back a little in the second lap. But later, in the 16 girls’ 50m fly, she set a new record of 32.98.
“This event is always a good opportunity to reconnect with other Jewish swimmers, and my attitude was just to go and have fun with it,” Goodridge said.
“It was nice to win it for the first time – I’d been close (third) in the last couple of years.”
Daniella Goodridge broke records in the women’s 40+ 50m fly (36.20) and the women’s 40+ 50m free (31.90) events.
The event was presented by Maccabi NSW.
Other winners included [all 50m freestyle]: Noa Smily (8 girls); Julian Brown (10 boys); Kayla Parks (10 girls); Noah Teitler (11 boys); Erin Lederer (11 girls); Cody Davis (12 boys); Jenna Marks (12 girls); Sam Garvin (13 boys); Hannah Pajor (13-14 girls); Zak Levine (15 boys).
SHANE DESIATNIK
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