When they set off for the Senior State Age Championships this weekend, the small cohort from Gunnedah Swimming Inc will look to do more than swim well.
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They want to make history.
The small club situated an hour west of Tamworth has consistently stood out at representative meets in the last few years.
And after Tahlia Smith last year became their first swimmer to qualify for nationals, coach John Hickey hopes to see several more of his students do the same this year.
"It's what we concentrate on here, and what we've been doing in my five-and-a-half years here, is trying to build a higher standard of swimming," Hickey said.
Their three-strong team at Sydney Olympic Park will consist of Audrey Hannaford, Alexis Whitton, and Baxter Knapman - all long-time students of Hickey's.
This weekend, he believes that their habit of setting regular personal bests will be enough to see them through to nationals.
"If we can go down there and swim personal best times, then they'll be very close to qualifying for Australian Championships," Hickey said.
"Right at the moment, if these three kids were to go to Sydney, and swim national qualifying times, that'd be the first time, other than Tahlia Smith, that we've had a national qualifier."
In recent years, Gunnedah's swimmers have won enough zone and state medals to leave Hickey confident in their ability to have an impact next week.
But, he admitted, their lead-up has not been perfect.
Due to the recent cool, rainy weather, the team was unable to use the local 50-metre pool, which would have helped them more accurately replicate the conditions and distances they will face in Sydney.
"We've only been in [the 50 metre pool] once this summer," Hickey said.
"We certainly could've been in better shape if we had used the pool, especially swimming 100 and 200 metre events. But certainly our guys will be fast in the first 25, and we'll see if they can hang on."
Luckily, in the first few local meets of the summer, the kids produced some "fairly decent" times, Hickey said.
And he is making sure to keep an eye on the bigger picture. While the swimmers might not be at their peak next week, come the end of the summer, he knows they will be much-improved and ready to set new PBs.
"By March and April, we'll be even better," Hickey said.
"No matter what we do this weekend, we'll be better by then."
