A fistful of medals and the 16 years boys age championship. That's what swimmer Bevan Smith walked away with after the recent Swimming North Coast long course championships.
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The 16-year-old member of Taree Torpedoes competed in 13 races and two relays in the competition, claiming six gold medals and several silver and bronze medals.
Bevan is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
The championships were delayed from November due to the bushfire crisis on the Mid North Coast.
With the extra preparation time, Bevan was thrilled with his results. "I was close to my (personal best) times in that, which was good preparation, and in all my other strokes I was close to my times so I'm happy with my results," Bevan said.
"There were a couple of kids in my age group who were pretty strong and because you don't actually swim in your age group, you swim in the opens, I was versing a lot of the older boys in most of my races. They pushed me along really hard."
In December, Bevan competed in the State titles. He claimed bronze in 200 metre backstroke and sixth in 100 metre backstroke.
He also qualified for the 200 individual medley final but pulled out to conserve energy for the 200 metre backstroke final.
Bevan is gearing up for a big year in the pool. This weekend he's competing in the Country Championships in Sydney.
He will race in the 100 metre, 200 metre and 50 metre backstroke, 200 metre individual medley, 100 metre breaststroke, 100 metre and 50 metre freestyle.
Then he's off to Nationals in April. If all goes to plan at that event, Bevan could have an opportunity at an Olympic trial.
On the local front however, Bevan continues to excel in school based swimming and his beloved swim club.
His recent claim to fame was smashing a 41-year-old Torpedoes record. He bested the previous time for 400 metre individual medley by 53 seconds.
He said backstroke is his favoured style but he has a soft spot for individual medley.
These accolades don't come easy, with a strict weekly training regime the basis of his success.
Bevan is up at 4.30am to train four mornings a week. Add to that afternoon exercise, the occasional downtime, some weekend carnivals, swim club and more training just for good measure.
Bevan is keen to pursue a career in swimming post-school. "Hopefully, that's the goal - I'll stick to swimming because I'm good at it," he smiled.
He also competes in athletics and cross country running through school.
