Mt Barker swimmers star at Mandurah meet for 2025 Belt Up Country Pennants with record-breaking times

Mt Barker Amateur Swimming Club secured a joint second place at the 2025 Belt Up Country Pennants competition in Mandurah over the March long weekend, putting on a strong showing for the Great Southern. The competition hosted around 2000 swimmers on March 1 and 2 and Mt Barker took home an impressive joint second place in the C-class pennant competition, tying with Geographe Bay on 605 points. Busselton won the division overall on 895 points. The Barracudas competed and placed in 22 event categories across the weekend, from the 8 to 9 year-olds girls to the open mens, taking home a swag of medals. Edith De Jonge and Ava Rowe both claimed golds in the 10 and under girls’ category for 50m breaststroke and freestyle respectively. Edith also claimed silver in the 11 and under girls’ breaststroke. Dayna Orgovan took home four medals in the 12 and under girls’ events — a gold and three silvers across the four 50m events — and Hannah Osborne picked up a gold and two bronze medals in the 13 and under girls. Koos De Jonge claimed two golds, a silver and a bronze in the 13 and under boys’ 50m events, and Harlin Seib took home a gold in the 14 and under boys’ 50m breaststroke. Head coach Dylan Zijlstra broke two Country Pennants records, taking home gold in the 17 and over mens’ 50m breaststroke and the open mens’ 100m breaststroke. The Barracudas entered 16 relay teams across both freestyle and medley relays, with the 10 and under girls claiming gold in both the freestyle and medley competitions, and the 12 and under girls picking up a gold in the freestyle. Both 14 and under teams and the open mens’ team took home silver medals in both the freestyle and medley relays. Edith De Jonge and Will Henderson were awarded Aqua Technics rising star awards in the 12 years and under category for their displays of leadership, good sportsmanship and swimming ability across the weekend. The 2026 country pennants competition will be held in Karratha and club president Jeff Osborne said the club was already fundraising “like crazy” to get their squad to the Pilbara to compete, and invited anyone to sponsor or donate to the club’s efforts.