Age Nationals – Day 1 Competition (Thursday 14/4).

Geoff Gedge

With a slightly smaller team than last year comprising 39 divers from seven of our 10 clubs, Team Victoria has started its Age Nationals campaign with mixed results.

In the boys U11 1m spring, Team SA blitzed the field to take out 1st and 2nd with NSW a close 3rd, but it was a stirling effort by Max Renieris to come in 6th place.

Consecutively run, the boys 12/13 3m spring saw the top 3 places taken by WA and NSW respectively. Ryan King (5th), Luka Simic (6^th) and Josh Herington (7^th) competed strongly against a tough field.

The girls 14/15 1m spring proved better for Team Victoria. Out of a group of 24 competitors, Abby Rowley took a very definitive 1^st place, with Billie Bennett a solid 2^nd place. Matilda Baker (4^th), Jenna Healy (5^th), Sophie Westcott (8th), Anjali Jackson (9^th), Claire Lumsden (10^th), Pyper Byrne (13^th), Elise Marcun (14^th), Paris Hefford (15^th), Amy Kenny (17^th), Hanna Vlamis (18^th), and Darcy Furman (20^th) all performed well.

Leading into lunch, the Mens 19-29 3m spring proved successful for Corey Bruno, being beaten by less than 4 points by NSW, to take out 2nd place. In the Mens 30-49 3m Dean Murphy and Rohan Blake battled it out for 1^st place with Rohan eventually pushing into 1^st place, and Dean taking a solid 2^nd.

In the Womens 50+ 3m Pamela Downing, an inspiration to all of us, took out a solid 3^rd place behind QLD and NSW.

The afternoon started with the girls 16/18 Platform. Sophia James took out 4^th place and Ellyse Byrne 7^th.

We then moved to the first of the synchro events, the girls U13 3m synchro. Issy Brosnahan and Caitlin Westcott took 3^rd place behind QLD scooping both 1^st and 2^nd placings, but because Issy dived as a guest, 3^rd place was awarded to Piper Bennett & Olivia Roche. Zoe Adam-Gedge & Holly Kenealy came in 4^th with Lea Malina & Sophie Bumpstead completing our synchro successes with a solid 7^th place, out of a field of 12 contenders.

The final event for Day 1 was the boys/mixed 14-18 3m synchro. Marc Jencik & Jordan Thein dived superbly to take out 1^st place just ahead of Cooper Reid & Ellyse Byrne in 2^nd place, with Harry Davies & Chris Harris coming home in 7^th place.