LOCAL swimmer Grace Walton is the only regional swimmer to make the Western Australian team for the 2014 Age Short Course Championships to be held in Canberra this month.
The 13-year-old Peel Aquatic Club swimmer will join a team of 33 swimmers with Walton competing in freestyle and backstroke.
Walton will draw upon the experience she gained earlier in July when she swam for the WA school team at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
It is the forth consecutive year the Peel Aquatic has had athletes selected for the national event and Walton is the club’s first female to have made the team.
Peel’s head coach Ryan Spencer was selected for the second consecutive year as a development coach.
His role will be assisting in coaching along with providing support and guidance to swimmers.
The knowledge gained will be used to benefit not only the Peel Aquatic Club but also those clubs within the region as Spencer is a regional mentor coach for the south west region.
Western Australian head coach Bud McAllister said he was excited at the opportunity to lead the state programme.
“The WA team has an opportunity to put all of the hard work that they have been doing over the winter to the test in Canberra,” he said.
“I was really pleased to see the improvement of many of our swimmers at the recent SWA Short Course Qualification meet held at HBF Stadium.
“There is some real talent amongst our ranks.”
The championships will be held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from September 26-28.
The team travels to Canberra on Wednesday 24th September for the three days of competition.
