A trio of silver

KORUMBURRA swimmer Cooper Quaife won three silver medals at a national swimming carnival in Tasmania recently.
The 12 year old set three personal best times to earn silver in the 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 50m butterfly in the 12 year old boys division at the School Sports Australia Swimming Championships in Hobart.
“I was very, very, very happy,” Cooper said of his results.
He swam the 200m freestyle in two minutes and 14 seconds, shaving four seconds off his personal best.
Cooper completed the 100m butterfly in one minute and eight seconds, also beating his PB by four seconds, and knocked two seconds off his PB for the 50m, finishing in 30 seconds.
The Grade 6 student at Korumburra Primary School set himself the goal of winning at least one medal at the nationals after placing sixth in the 100m butterfly at last year’s nationals in South Australia.
“I was really disappointed after last year and I really wanted a medal this year. As soon as I looked up at the board and saw my times and saw that I got second, I was just that happy,” Cooper said.
“It was a really good opportunity to be able to race against the top swimmers in Australia and that really pushed me.”
Cooper was among the three Victorian boys chosen to contest the titles based on his previous times for each event and attributed his success to being dedicated to training.
“I’ve had to sacrifice a lot of my time for training and gym work. I train five times a week at the pool at Splash in Leongatha and twice a week at the gym,” he said.
A member of the South Gippsland Bass Swimming Club, Cooper acknowledged the quality coaching he receives from Dylan Muir, and also thanked his parents Kellie and Rob Quaife for transporting him to events and training, and his school community for its support.
Cooper has been swimming for three years and enjoys pushing himself to achieve his goals.
“There is a lot of mental preparation during the marshalling, just trying to psyche myself up for the race,” he said.
“During training I have to remember as much as I can, like stroke rate and holding my breath. During the 50m butterfly I only breathe once. You hold your breath and see how far you can swim.
“If you are not breathing as much, you have a lot more time to think about what you are doing when you are racing.”

Happy with that: Cooper Quaife, 12, is still smiling after winning three silver medals at the School Sports Australia Swimming Championships in Tasmania.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Aug 14 2018. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry