By Tania Phillips
Stanthorpe swimmer Ben Armbruster dominated the 18-years age group at the Queensland State Short Course Championships at Chandler Aquatic Centre, Brisbane late last month returning with a seven-medal haul and nine personal bests at the prestigious event.
Swimming in 10 events, Armbruster brought home two gold and three silver and two bronze, narrowly missing a place in the other three races making the final in the blue riband event of the competition the men’s Open 50m Freestyle.
His gold came in the 18yrs 100m Butterfly (53.30) and 50m Backstroke (25.31) and narrowly missed the age group record set by Ashley Anderson of the Brisbane-based Commercial club in 2003 (24.73). Silvers were earned in the 18yrs 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke while he took bronze in the 18yrs 100m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly, dropping 2.64s from his seed time. He also finished in fourth place in the 50m Breaststroke and stepped up to opens to finish sixth in Men’s 100m IM and eighth in the always competitive splash and dash of the Men’s 50m Freestyle.
The results are the culmination of weeks of travelling between Stanthorpe and Warwick to complete four to five training sessions a week for the young swimmer who was the sole Stanthorpe representative at the championship (25-27 September) which usually herald the start of the busy summer competitive swimming season.
Meanwhile Stanthorpe Swimming Club returns Friday (October 9) with sign on from 5.30pm-6.30pm. The committee, acknowledging that this has been a difficult time for many people, has kept fees the same as last season. Swimming Club is held each Friday night from 5.30pm. Swimmers only need to be able to swim 25m to participate.
For enquiries, please contact Gail Smail at the Stanthorpe Pool on 46810181, Brendan Kay 0417741500 or Deb McGlashan 0420452499
