Our resident swimming superstar, Year 10 student Rylee Smith, has been back in the water competing in Western Australia this past week for the 2024 Australian Open Water Championships. Rylee (15 yrs) competed in the 16-17 years 7.5km event and the 16-17 years 5km event. She battled it out to come second in Australia for the 7.5km event in a time of 1:46.06 in the roughest conditions of the 4-day event, with windy and choppy water, along with marine stingers. Backing up for the 5km event the next day, Rylee finished in 4th place in a time of 1:05.50.
This is Rylee’s second Australian Open Championships after competing last year in the 5km event (finishing 3rd in 2023), with the challenge of stepping up to the 7.5km event this year. The Australian Championships is the second time Rylee has ever swum the 7.5km event, after being selected in the Queensland Open Water team in November 2023 and competing in Coogee, WA where she finished 3rd place, in a QLD 1-2-3 at the Western Australian State Championships. Rylee’s results in this event also place her in the Queensland Youth Development Squad for Open Water.
Once again, this is a stunning achievement from Rylee and we wish her continued success as she continues to pursue her swimming career.
