Swimming sensation Jasmine Phillips will be heading to the NSW All Schools Championships after shaving nearly 30 seconds off her time for the 400-metre individual medley.
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The 14-year-old set the new personal best as she won the event at the Combined High School’s Swimming Championships in Sydney.
Individual medley is where swimmers complete four different strokes – butterfly, backstroke, breastroke and freestyle in four laps.
Phillips was finalist in seven different races.
“Individual medley is one of the hardest races, you just have to pace yourself in each stroke,” Phillips said.
“Buttlerfly is the easiest to learn but it’s the hardest to maintain a quick speed.”
The Junee High School student will compete at the All Schools Championship in the first week of May.
While she’s among the best swimmers in NSW public schools, her goal is less about medals.
“I’m simply aiming to record national times,” she said.
“I need to close the gap by a 20th of a second - it’s my goal for the rest of the year.
“If I can get the national times, I can head to the national competition.”
It won’t be an easy journey for the teenager who spends 14 hours a week training in the pool and fortunately, along with the support of her family, she has support from her teachers at school.
“I’ve had some great support from Junee High’s Anthony Stokes and Andrea Francis - they came along to several carnivals so I could qualify for CHS.”