Barratt Claims Top WA Swimming Award

Holly Barratt was crowned the 2019 Lyn McClements medallist at Swimming WA’s Annual Awards last weekend.

Barratt earned the state’s top swimming prize ahead of Nicholas Brown, Brianna Throssell and Ben Roberts following a campaign that saw the 31 year-old compete at the World Short Course Championships where she achieved silver in the 50m Butterfly, bronze in the 50m Backstroke, and bronze in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay.

The evergreen talent will eye another Dolphins team in 2019 when she contests the Australian Swimming Trials in Brisbane hoping to earn a spot at the FINA World Championships in Korea.

There was a popular win for Bud McAllister who was named the Coach of the Year for his role in guiding Nicholas Brown onto a first senior team at the World Short Course Championships. This had followed his efforts in helping Blair Evans and George Harley onto the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games team.

Bud has managed his coaching workload and time on pool deck around some significant health challenges in recent times, which included having a cyst removed from his brain and a tumour removed from his spine.

In a sign of solidarity within WA’s coaching fraternity, Leigh Nugent and Michael Palfery – amongst others – have helped with overseeing training sessions (at the Northern Suburbs High Performance Training Centre) or with athletes attending sessions at Palfery’s HBF Stadium Podium Performance Centre to ensure that athlete performance has remained on track.

McAllister is a legend of the sport, having led the great US swimmer Janet Evans to four Olympic titles and six world records.

Ben Popham was another big winner on the night, with the 18 year-old claiming the Multi-Class Swimmer of the Year.

The Arena clubman starred at the Para Pan Pacs in 2018 and has secured selection for the 2019 Para World Championships which will take place in London next September.