Swimming: Local clubs pick up medals and personal bests at Country Regionals meets in Dubbo and Alstonville

Many recorded strong results, with a host of personal bests and medals to show for their efforts.

Swimming Gunnedah arguably had the strongest results out of the locals, finishing second in the overall medal tally at Dubbo with 45 in total, including 15 gold, 19 silver, and 11 bronze.

"I'm certainly happy," Gunnedah coach John Hickey said.

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"[That medal tally] is without the two Smiths [Jacob and Tahlia] and young Baxter [Knapman], who swam up at Alstonville.

"Our club is very strong at the moment, we've got great kids coming through."

While Tamworth City Swimming Club had the same number of swimmers at Dubbo as Gunnedah - 18 - they finished significantly lower on the medal tally with 18 in total.

New Tamworth City coach Andrew Hunter was nonetheless pleased with what he saw, and said the event was an important moment for him and the swimmers to begin building trust.

"It's my first tournament to see them race," Hunter said.

"The swimmers in the squad have to assess whether they trust that coach, and the coach has to assess their personalities and find out what makes them tick."

While Kootingal Moonbi had the fewest swimmers in attendance across both meets with just six, the two who went to Dubbo more than made up for a lack of numbers by snaring six medals (including four golds) between them.

Though the swimmers in Alstonville were not lucky enough to pick up medals, there were still good signs.

"The coaches at Alstonville were pretty happy with the way they went," Kootingal Moonbi publicity officer, Olly McDougall, said.

"They got some good PBs and finally broke times they'd been trying to break for a while."

360 Scully Park had seven swimmers at Dubbo, who picked up nine medals between them including two golds, six silvers, and a bronze along with a number of PBs in what the club described as a "fantastic weekend" in a Facebook post.

"They did really well," 360 Scully Park coach Kate Bolte said.

"Some of them were quite surprised at what they did this weekend, but they put the hard work in and got the results. They were really happy with how they swum as well."

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