Swimming: Clementine Monet places seventh and Marcus Ryan 11th at Australian open water championships

On the weekend the Tamworth City duo competed at the national championships, where competing against the best in the country they acquitted themselves well.

Held at Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast, Monet and Ryan both finished in the top 15 in their respective races.

Monet came in seventh in the 16-19 years girls 5k, dropping three seconds off her previous best time, while Ryan was 11^th in the 16-19 years boys 5k.

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Sharks coach Nicholas Monet said it was a great effort from the pair.

"They both swam very well," he said.

"It was a fantastic performance for their first participation at this level."

Both are only recent converts to open water swimming. Ryan's first competitive swim was the state championships in January while Monet only swam in her first event late last year.

Speaking with The Leader, [Clementine] Monet was on Monday feeling a bit tired and sore, but on a high after what was a really good couple of days.

"The experience itself was so much fun but I was also happy with how I went," she said.

Being her first nationals, and the vagaries of the conditions, she hadn't really gone in with any expectations but was hoping to make the top 15.

Her race plan was "to start off at a good pace and try and accelerate each lap (they raced four)".

One of the things, she remarked about her first race was how chaotic it was.

The weekend was even more so with about 80 swimmers all jostling for positions.

"This time the first stretch was about 100m before we had to turn at the buoy, it was pretty crazy - it was pretty brutal," she said.

After they raced they had the chance to watch some of the country's elite long distance swimmers in action.

"It was really great to see how they race and swim," Monet said.

Nearing the end of the summer season, she doesn't have anything on the radar but is keen to do more open water events and possibly even step to a 7.5 or 10k.

For now her attention will turn back to the pool with the state open championships this weekend.

Monet will swim in three relays and has also qualified for the 200m butterfly "for the first time" after dropping six seconds from her time at the start of the season to achieve the qualifying time.

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