Anna Cartwright in action, and inset, with a bronze medal won for 50m butterfly at Cooroy recently. She recently beat the Gold Fins 400m individual medley record. Contributed
Anna smashes medley mark
17th Nov 2011 10:14 AM
AT the age of 12, Anna Cartwright is already proving to be a bit of a swimming sensation.
Last Friday, she broke the Gympie Gold Fins 400 individual medley record with 6min 21.19sec.
It was the St Patrick's student's first time competing in the 400m event.
The previous medley record of 7min 0.69sec was set by Kellie Gear back in 2004.
Gold Fins spokeswoman Racheal Carlson said the 400m individual medley or IM competition was held only once a year at the club.
During the competition, eight swimmers gave their all and four set new records.
Anna, who trains six times a week has won medals this year at Cooroy and Hervey Bay carnivals.
Mum Kate Cartwright said Anna had been swimming for only two seasons.
"Like most kids, training is a hard slog. Her first season she was just getting used to it, now she's starting to see improvements," she said.
Anna won a silver medal at the Wide Bay carnival and a spot at the state sprints last year, now she has a chance to compete in the state long course championships.
But swimming isn't Anna's only passion - she also plays touch football, soccer and loves speech and drama.
When it comes to breaking the record, it was a bit of a fluke Anna admitted.
She was actually aiming to break the 100m breaststroke.
Another first-timer, Troy Carlson, set a new club and pool record for the nine year's boys with a time of 7:33.44.
Carlson said it was a great achievement for Troy as the first male record for the 400m IM in the books was an 11-year-old boy.
Scott Gear set a new club and pool record for the 16 years boys carving out a 5:34.56 swim and Olivia Carlson broke her own three-week-old record for the 11 years girls with a new time and record with 7:23.21.
Her previous mark was 7.24.99.
The Gympie Gold Rush Sprint Meet will be held on November 26.
Entries have been well supported for the Gold Fin's only carnival with 384 swimmers nominated to compete.
The carnival is held as a heats and finals program for 11 years and older.
Years 8, 9 and 10 age groups compete as timed finals in the heat sessions.
This meet has attracted entries from Bundaberg out to Kingaroy and as far south as Brisbane.
Gympie Gold Rush is one of only a few carnivals run in the Wide Bay region as a 50m sprint event.
Swimmers attending this meet hope to qualify for the Qld Sprint Championships to be held in February.
Troy Carlson shatters Bundy 200m butterfly record
gympie gold fins swimming