CALROSSY’S Alex Hayes had something coloured and shiny to show off to her schoolmates last week after swimming her way to double Pacific School Games (PSG) silver.
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The Year 4 student finished second in both the 10 years 50m and 100m breaststroke.
It was Hayes’s first time competing at the PSG and the 10-year old admitted she was very surprised by how well she went in Adelaide.
She wasn’t far off gold. There was only a touch in it, the same girl (Collette Lyons) pipping her in both events.
Adding to Hayes’s excitement, she produced personal best swims in both events.
“I cut off one second in my 50m and in my 100m I cut it off by three seconds,” she said.
It’s the fruits of some hard work.
She’s been training hard under the watchful eye of Tamworth City head coach Nicholas Monet.
“I’ve been doing three days a week, sometimes four,” Hayes said.
Hayes qualified to swim at the PSG by placing in the top three at the State PSSA Carnival, where she represented Combined Independent Schools.
“I was third in the 50m breaststroke, and then they took my time for the 100m,” she said.
For the 50m, in Adelaide, she had to swim heats and then a final.
“The 100m was a timed final,” she said.
Effectively a heat and final rolled into one.
She was in the final heat along with Lyons.
Hayes trailed her by about three seconds at the turn after swimming the first 50m in 43.06, but was almost two seconds faster the second 50m.
She also swam the breaststroke leg in the 4x50m and 4x100m medley relays, finishing just outside the medals in both.
Calrossy Primary Sports coordinator Tim O’Callaghan said it was a great effort from a “wonderfully humble kid”.
She was back in the water on the weekend for the Scully Park carnival and there could be a few more major medals to come.
She’s already swum the qualifying time in the 50m and 100m for the Country Championships and qualified for the 100m and 200m for the state titles.
