When Bella Pollard surfaced from the water after the 100m butterfly final at the NSW CHS Swimming Championships, her eyes instantly went to the big screen and she was left "a bit surprised".
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Amazingly, it wasn't the number one that caught the Quirindi High School student's eye first - it was her time of 1:06.48.
"I didn't really look at the place. I looked up at my time and was like 'yes, a PB'," Pollard recalled.
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She shaved a second of her best time to take out the girls 15 years event and Pollard also admitted to having a few sneak peaks at her opponents throughout her swim.
"I was just in front on that first turn but with the turn, I really pushed it underwater and I knew I'd come back up in front," Pollard said.
"Halfway through the lap, I knew I was in front by a lot but she [second placed Georgia Christian-Milne] came back a bit in the end."
This was Pollard's second time competing at the CHS championships after she attended in 2019. The 360 Scully Park Swimming Club member said the two trips to Sydney were very different.
"I was having fun so I was lot more relaxed than the last time. In year 7 I was so close to tears before [the races]. I was so nervous," Pollard said.
Pollard said once she was in the pool her determination helped spur her along.
"That second lap I was like 'you've gotta do this'. I was super determined," she said.
Pollard is now waiting to hear if she will compete at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships.
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Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
