Local youngsters secure gold at Statewide championships in Perth

Kalgoorlie Amateur Swimming Club members will look to replicate sound form at the upcoming regional pennants after the team claimed six medals at this month’s country championships at Perth’s HBF Stadium.

The local team comprised 13 swimmers, among 37 participating teams, whose charge was led by Jackson Van Den Elzen, Dylan DeBeer and Xavier Duke.

Van Den Elzen was the stand-out, with gold medals in the 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke and a silver medal in the 50m butterfly.

DeBeer’s two silvers were won in the 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke events and Duke rounded out the club’s success with victory in the boys’ 16 years 50m breaststroke.

It represented a major revival for the local team, who claimed eight medals at the 2022 carnival but missed out in 2023 and claimed just one medal in 2024.

Goldfields swimmers are now gearing-up for the WA country pennants in Mandurah on the March long weekend.

“This year we sent more kids (to Perth) and have an especially strong and consistent squad among the 10, 11 and 12-year-olds,” club publicity officer Lynette Van Den Elzen said.

“It seems that across virtually every sport in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, that age-group tends to be ridiculously talented.

“As a club, we’re extremely proud — mainly because the standard of competition is so high.

“Last year, Xavier managed to get a bronze medal after the year before when we had no medals.

“It’s great to see them getting rewards for the effort they put into training and their willingness to crack-on and always do their best.”

Also last weekend, local official Tim Mills earned official recorder accreditation.

“We have quite a few technical officials, including Tim, who only needs one more accreditation until he’s officially a referee,” Van Den Elzen said.

“At the moment, we only have one referee in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and one in Kambalda, so this is great news (because) without a referee, we can’t hold an official meeting.”

The club’s medals were complemented by an extensive list of personal-bests, including 29 on the first day of the championships.

KASC hosted last year’s country pennants with a team of 51 swimmers, among an overall field of more than 500.

Kalgoorlie’s success included the C-grade and E-grade spoils and the trophy for best overall relay team.

Mandurah will host the 2025 championships as the defending A-grade champions when Albany were last year the B-grade leaders, and Tom Price and Wickham tied for the D-grade trophy.