BY Maitland Mercury

A group of Kurri Kurri swimmers will be hoping to make a splash at the upcoming Australian Age Championships in Brisbane.

Leading the charge for Y Valley Swimming Club will be Lilli Williams, who will compete at Brisbane Aquatic Centre from today in the heats of the 15-years 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m freestyle.

It is the bubbly teenager’s second time at the championships, after she qualified in the 5km open water event in 2007 and finished eighth.

Lilli will swim in the open water event next week and will be joined by fellow Y Valley representatives Jamie Pender (14-year boys), Rosie Williams (13-year girls) and Brooke Ashbourne (14-year girls) in the Australian Age Open Water Championships at Kawana Waters on April 14 and 15.

Y Valley coach Jake Lindeboom said it was a credit to the young group and the hours they put in, that they would enjoy a chance to compete against the best swimmers in their age group.

He said Jamie had done particularly well to qualify having only enjoyed his first full season of training, while Lilli had been forced to adjust her training significantly because she would be up against swimmers almost a year older than her as a result of when her birthday falls in the swimming season.

Lilli claimed silver at this season’s State Age 5km event, which ranked her as the second fastest swimmer in her age group in NSW.

Lindeboom said the swimmer that beat her finished third at nationals in 2007, which was a good indicator of Lilli’s improvement.

She has enjoyed a great season in the pool, including gold medals in the 200m and 400m freestyle at the NSW Country championships.

All three of the Y Valley female swimmers came well within the 5km qualifying mark for the open water event and Lindeboom said it was testament to Jamie’s hard work that he qualified after such limited training.

“Lilli would have about eight sessions a week and the others seven,” Lindeboom said.

“That’s what it takes and they know that.

“They are prepared to put in the effort, they do it by themselves and they get themselves up in the morning – it’s a huge effort.”

Lilli said she looked forward to competing at the national event and would try and use the experience of last year’s event to her advantage.

Lindeboom said he had noticed the longer distance event had improved Lilli’s stroke and said generally the 5km ocean event required “huge adjustment” for swimmers, both in training and competition.

The Australian Age Championships start today in Brisbane and continue until Sunday, followed by the open water championships from Monday next week.

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