A young swimmer who only began training in earnest last year has now been crowned as one of the Pacific region’s best in the pool.
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Warren’s Maddie Marks claimed three medals, broke a national record and shattered some personal bests (PBs) at last week’s Pacific School Games in Adelaide, which pits around 4000 school-aged students from up to 15 countries against each other in 11 different sports.
As if that wasn’t enough, the ten-year-old backed up her performance with 15 events, including three new records, at the Nyngan Amateur Swimming Club’s qualifying carnival on Sunday.
‘Whiskey’ Andriske coaches Maddie at the Coonamble Pool, and said the youngster “swam out of her skin”, helping the NSW team to gold in the 10 years 200 metre Medley Relay.
“They broke the Australian record,” Andriske said of the team’s time of two minutes and 18.52 seconds.
“They were a body and a half behind in the breast stroke leg, and Maddie touched the Queensland girl out in the butterfly leg. She had a tremendous swim in the fly.”
Maddie went on to claim bronze in the 50m butterfly, as well as in the 100m butterfly where she finished in 1:14.90 – shaving a massive six seconds off her PB.
She then went on to finish seventh in the 100m backstroke with a finishing time of 1:20.33 – eight seconds better than her previous PB.
“She has always been a hard trainer. She has really worked well and she never complains about training,” Andriske said.
“She’s got to travel from Warren [to Coonamble] every day; that’s a big commitment from the family.
“If she had the training these city kids do [Maddie is unable to train every day during winter] she would have won.”
Maddie had her final event in Adelaide on Friday. By Sunday, she was back in the pool on Sunday at Nyngan.
There she swam in 15 events, broke three records and claimed about $180 in cash prizes.
“To come back and do that – it wasn’t only 50m events, it was 100s and 200s,” Andriske said.
“The 11-year-old girls [at Nyngan], they’ve very strong … There is some talent in this region.”
Next Maddie will turn her attention to qualifying for Polding and NSW PSSA Swimming Championships in 2018.
“I’ve watched that young kid come over [to Coonamble], the way she’s grown in leaps and bounds is unbelievable,” Andriske said.
“She struggled early, but she’s leading the pack now.
“She’s committed to her training and that’s what makes good swimmers.
“I know she’s really helped Coonamble out by joining the Coonamble Club this year … she swims hard, she’s a club girl … she has made a big difference to the squad.”
