Aquatic Update
2024 NSW State Senior Long Course Championship
Cranbrook Aquatic Swim Club competed at NSW Senior State, held Dec 6–Dec 12, 2024. This was our highest attended meet at these championships, with 45 individual swimmers plus another 3 relay swimmers competing from our top 4 squads. Our Cranbrook School students are highlighted across the 7 day meet below.
We kicked off Day one with 4 medals. Thomas Penny (Year 7) collected 2 gold medals in the 200m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke. Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) collected a silver medal in the boys 12 years 1500m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly, with both swims being PBs. Cranbrook students Aidan Park (Year 9 ) and Preston Irawan (Year 9) competed in the boys 14 years 100m breaststroke final, with Aidan taking the bronze medal with over a second PB, and Preston winning a swim-off to secure his place in a fast final!
Day two saw 8 Cranbrook swimmers compete in the 12–14 years 50m freestyle. This event was one of our most attended events by our swimmers. Noah Kemp (Year 9) and Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) progressed to the final, both missing out on the medals, finishing 6th and 4th respectively. Cranbrook alumni Max Moylan (2024) took the bronze medal in the boys 18 & over 200m freestyle, going under 1:56 for the first time. Thomas Penny (Year 7) added to his Gold medal tally with another 2 golds in the 100m Backstroke and 200 IM.
Day three saw our boys and girls 15–17 years 4x50m freestyle relay teams take the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Thomas Penny (Year 7) flourished again with Golds in the 400m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke. We also received silver medals in the boys 17 years 100m backstroke, with Tate Sirianni (Year 12) improving on his heat time, and Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) swimming a PB in the boys 12 years 100m butterfly. In the boys 13 years 100m butterfly, Noah Kemp (Year 9) showed his ability to swim multiple strokes to receive the bronze medal. Special mention goes to Cranbrook student Carter McGee (Year 8), who swam in 4 races, competing in 3 heat swims and qualifying for the boys 13 years 200m breaststroke final with a huge 7-second PB.
Day four Jack Charles (Year 10), progressed into the final for the 200m Breaststroke with a big PB finishing in 5th position.
Day five was our busiest day of the week, with 34 Cranbrook Swim Club swimmers contesting the heats. Fifteen of these swimmers came back in the evening session to race in the finals, where we won 2 gold, 1 silver, and 4 bronze medals. Aodhan Taylor (Year 7), equalling the boys 12 years 50m butterfly NSW Record, won the event, and Tate Sirianni (Year 12), with a huge PB, won the boys 17 years 200m backstroke. Tate was also back in action to help our boys 12–18 years 4x100m freestyle relay team win silver. Our bronze medalists on the day were Aodhan Taylor (200m freestyle). Special mention goes to Noah Kemp, who narrowly missed out on the medals in the boys 14 years 50m butterfly.
Day six saw Cranbrook claim first and second in the boys 17 years 100m freestyle. Both Ollie Moclair and Tate Sirianni (Year 12) swam huge PBs to claim the gold and silver medals, respectively. Tate Sirianni then led off the boys 4x100m medley relay team to take the silver medal. Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) also claimed a bronze medal in the boys 12 years 100m freestyle. Cranbrook also had 12 top 10 finishes on this day, making it one of the most successful days of the meet.
On the final day, Cranbrook claimed 6 medals and 9 top 10 places! Special mention goes to Tate Sirianni (Year 12), and Max Moylan (2025), who all claimed silver medals. Noah Kemp (Year 9) claimed bronze medals. Special mention to Thomas Penny (Year 7) who finished his meet with a new state record in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 56.26, beating the previous record set 32 years ago.
Overall, Cranbrook Swim Club ended the championships with a total of 28 medals: 4 gold, 12 silver, and 12 bronze. We also had 63 finalists/top 10 places. The club finished 5th in the state.
Cranbrook Student Medallist & Finalist
Thomas Penny (Year 7) – 10 Gold & 1 State Record
Adohan Taylor (Year 7) – 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze, 3x 4th Place, 1x 5th Place
Carter McGee (Year 8) – 1x 5th Place, 1x 10th Place
Aidan Park (Year 9) – 1 Bronze, 3x 4th Place
Noah Kemp (Year 9) – 2 Bronze, 3x 4th Place, 2x 5th Place , 1 x 6th Place, 1x 10th Place
Preston Irawan (Year 9) – 10th Place
Jack Charles (Year 10) – 5th Place & 7th Place
Jack Wilkinson (Year 10) – 4th Place
Tate Sirianni (Year 12) – 1 Gold, 4 Silver
Matthew Alexiou (Year 12) – 1 Silver, 4th place & 10th place
Australian Open Water Swimming Championships 2025
Max Moylan (Year 12 2024) – Silver Medal 10km
Carter McGee (Year 8) – Bronze Medal 5km
Jack Wilkinson (Year 10) – 5th place
Over the Australia Day Long Weekend, four Cranbrook swimmers headed to Busselton to compete in the Australian Open Water Championships. The four-day competition pitted our swimmers against the very best Open Water swimmers in the country.
Day 1 saw Max Moylan (Year 12 2024) compete in the Men’s 10km event. This grueling eight-lap race saw him line up with not only the best 19-year-olds in the country but also current Olympians. Max started the race in a great position, maintaining his place as a top 5 in the 19-year-old age group for the first two laps. The middle four laps saw a breakaway group emerge, which Max stayed with and built on his position to be inside the top 3 19-year-olds. The final two laps saw Max enter a race for the gold medal in his age group. He finished second in a time of 1:59.15, his first time under 2 hours and just 7.5 seconds behind the 19-year-old winner.
Later that day, Jack Wilkinson (Year 10) competed in the six-lap 7.5km event in the 16-year-old Age Group. Jack had a great start, making it around the first turning buoy in 5th place, which also included the older 17-year-old age group. This enabled Jack to be in the first breakaway group that formed at the end of the first lap and strategically place himself in a position to finish as highly as possible. Jack battled hard to stay competitive and hold onto his position, finishing the race in 1 hour 36 minutes to take 5th place. Jack also backed up 3 days later in the 5km race, despite a strong start unfortunately Jack had to retire hurt, Jack continued to race after being stung multiple times under the arms by stingers, however, after getting a bad sting to the face Jack could no longer continue the race.
On Day 2, competing in his first National event, Carter McGee (Year 8) swam a very tactical, and at times, aggressive race in the four-lap 5km event. Carter positioned himself in the middle of the start line to quickly get around the first buoy without any issues and keep in close contact with the race leaders. Laps 2 and 3 saw the two leaders of his 14-year-old age group break away, leaving Carter in a tough battle for the bronze medal. While constantly being followed by his closest 14-year-old competitors, he swam a brilliant final lap to out-touch both 4th and 5th place by less than a second, securing the bronze medal in the 14-year-old age group—his first National Medal and Cranbrook’s second of the championships.
Daniel Arnamnart
Head of Aquatics