Neslon Bay Swim Club members returned home last weekend from the area carnival with a bagful of medals and four new records.
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Competing at the Coast and Valley Swimming Association championships covering the Port Stephens, Central Coast and lower Hunter Valley region, Bay swimmers won an impressive 22 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals.
Nelson Bay, which entered 20 swimmers in the two-day carnival held at the Woy Woy swim centre, was also awarded 2019-2020 champion club.
Coach Tom Davis was ecstatic with the results, praising his young charges for their dedication to training and ability to carry out instructions in the pool.
"This is a fantastic result for everyone concerned," he said. "I was thrilled with the team effort and there were a number of outstanding individual performances.
"It was a great start to the swimming season and hopefully holds us in good stead for the summer ahead."
Leading the charge was 10-year-old swimming sensation Archie Quinn, who collected five individual [backstroke and butterfly] plus two relay gold medals, as well as a bronze. He also broke four meet records.
"Archie is a very strong swimmer and tenacious competitor," Davis said.
"He has that burning desire to win and a strong will to fight till the end. In one of the relay races he entered the pool at least three body lengths behind and managed to storm home to take gold."
Archie was also the highlight at the short course championships held in June, where he bagged eight gold medals, including six individuals.
Another strong performer at the Central Coast meet was Ebony Nix, 12, who brought home two gold, four silver and one bronze.
"Ebony is a natural butterfly stroker. Because of her stature she has virtually no resistance in the water and she has incredible flexibility," Davis said.
The Ingram brothers, Randal aged 13 years and 16-year-old Buckley, were also among the medal count, with the younger sibling taking gold in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and the more senior brother grabbing gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events.
Other multiple gold medal winners included Olivia Gray (10 years and under) and Magnus Gregory (10 years and under).
Meanwhile, Nelson Bay's Taylor Corry has taken a step closer to realising a dream - to win an elusive Paralympic gold at Tokyo in 2020 - by breaking a world record for her category at the recent short course titles.
Taylor, in fact, won four gold medals at the meet in the 50m butterfly and backstroke, 100m fly and 200m medley.
She also finished runner-up in both the 100m and 400m freestyle events.
In a career spanning 15 years, the 24-year-old intellectually impaired (S14 class) swimmer has her sights firmly set on winning her first ever Paralympic gold.