The Boys 14 and under 4 x 50 metre medley relay team wins gold and smashes Australian and Allcomers records

by Race Secretary, Steve Messervy

Coming in to the meet we knew the Marlins 14 and under boys 4 x 50 metre medley relay team was very good. They had won the gold medal at the NSW State Championships in January by a very big margin and their entry time of 1.57.65 had them ranked second behind a very formidable City of Perth team with a time of 1.55.20. The final appeared to be a race of two teams.

Marlins issued the challenge in the heats with a blistering time of 1.54.34, only to see Perth swim 1.54.23 in the following heat. Considering the race had been won comfortably the previous year by a very strong Knox Pymble team in 1.55.69 and the Australian record which had stood since 1998 was 1.53.21, the quality of these two teams was obvious. The stage was set for a battle royale in the final with Perth in lane 4 and Marlins in lane 5.

Our team of John Took (backstroke), William Messervy (breaststroke), Joshua Chang (butterfly) and Jordan Kelly (freestyle) had all swum significant PBs in the heats but coach John Bladon was still confident they could go faster in the final or maybe he just knew they would have to if they were going to win.

On paper the backstroke leg would slightly favour Perth as John was up against the Australian 200 metre backstroke record holder. Our biggest advantage appeared to be in the breaststroke where William had about a second on the Perth swimmer.

We needed to be ahead at the half way point because on paper Perth's biggest advantage was in the butterfly (just over a second faster than Joshua). In freestyle the Perth swimmer seemed fractionally quicker than Jordan. However, there was a common feeling amongst the Marlins that if Jordan hit the water first we would not lose.

The team was spurred on half an hour before the final by watching Ian Sarno crush his opposition to win the gold medal in the 13 and under 200 metres breaststroke in a NSW record time. Other teams could not believe that we could have a 13 year old swimmer of such quality who was not even part of our relay team.

The race started well for the Marlins with great underwater work by John as he surfaced about a metre in front. The class of the Perth swimmer began to tell as he drew level at the 25 metre mark - but swimming past John in backstroke is not easily done and Took raised the tempo to swim with his opponent stroke for stroke to the wall in a PB of 28.57.

William made the perfect changeover to hit the water first. He knew we needed a lead and he set out to break Perth's heart in this leg. He stretched the lead at the 100 metre changeover to just over a body length (1.3 seconds) with a blistering time of 31.72.

Joshua must have been pumped - his first event at a National Championships and he was in the water in the lead with a gold medal in his sights. He had apparently forgotten to read the form guide which suggested that the Perth swimmer would make up significant ground. Joshua swam the race of his life - holding his leading margin with an unbelievable time of 27.37 (the fastest lap of his life - even faster than he had ever swum a 50 freestyle).

With Jordan in the water over a body length in front it was impossible to see Marlins losing. The Marlins supporters were screaming the house down and when Jordan increased the lead to a body length and a half over an outstanding Perth team with 25 metres to go it was obvious the time was going to be something pretty special.

Jordan actaully swum the fastest lap in the race (25.24 seconds) to set the scoreboard flashing with a new Australian and Australian All Comers Record time of 1.52.90. Perth finished second with a time of 1.54.18.

The scenes in the Marlins camp were worth the trip to Perth alone - there were tears of joy in several eyes at poolside. Such is the comraderie and friendship amongst not only the swimmers in this team but in the Marlins squad that they all rushed down on to pooldeck to congratulate the four boys.

John Bladon had commented a couple of months before Nationals that one of his coaching goals was to coach a swimmer to achieve a National record. Coaching a team of swimmers to break a National record speaks volumes for the program that he has developed at MLC Marlins.

PS. In what almost seemed like an anticlimax two days later the same four boys won the silver medal in the 4 x 50 metre freestyle relay behind guess who - City of Perth - who broke the Australian record in that event, underlining the quality of these two teams.