Competitors needed to meet strict qualifying times for the three-day event, which catered for 41 clubs and featured between 700 and 800 competitors and up to 4000 people each day.
This year's Shepparton team was missing its traditionally strong 18-and-over age group and 12-and-under boys, but the team still performed well to finish 10th overall, with 22 swimmers qualifying for finals in individual events.
Standout performers with multiple finals swims included experienced national-level swimmer Darcie Guthrie with three golds in her pet events of the 16-17 years 100 m breaststroke and open-age 100 m and 200 m breaststroke.
She was joined by her recently first-time national-level qualified sibling Ollie Guthrie with a bronze in the 14-15 100 m backstroke and nationals swimmer Harry Shortis with a silver in the 16-17 years 100 m freestyle and bronze in the 100 m butterfly. Other point scorers and finalists in the individual events included Flynn Church, Hayley Hogan, Stella Freeman, Erica Shaw, Stephanie Moran and Branden Wilson.
The awesome foursome in the 14-and-under boys’ relays — Haidyn Symes, Branden Wilson, Joss Church and Tait Peterson — took out silver in the 4 x 50 m medley event and bronze in the 4 x 50 m freestyle relay.
The Victorian Country Championships is a unique event in the Victorian swimming calendar as it embodies the team spirit of a carnival along with serious racing. This year's event was even more so because it was swum in a 55 yard pool which is 29 cm longer than a standard Olympic 50 m pool, so the swimmers who managed to record a personal best certainly did a great job.
Coming up in the short term, the club is looking forward to the splash and dash 50 m events at the Victorian State Sprints at the end of February along with the Nagambie Open Water Swim, and the 2020 All Junior Competition held over two days, March 21 and 22, at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
