WHILE Jamin Baulch wants to slice, his club wants to stretch.
Both are achieving the contrasting goals as Jamin is slashing personal bests while Warrnambool Swimming Club is boosting its numbers.
The club will host its annual longcourse swim meeting on Sunday, when it will welcome 140 competitors from Victoria and South Australia to AquaZone.
Jamin will take to the pool, where he will enter events for every stroke.
"I'm hoping to get a couple of medals and some personal bests," he said.
It was raining personal bests for the 12-year-old at the first longcourse meeting of the season in Melbourne in October.
He recorded his quickest-ever times in three years in the sport in the 100-metres butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle.
"I just tried a lot harder at training and I was really determined when I was there," he said.
His training schedule includes four sessions a week, with one on Monday afternoon and one on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings.
"I get up at 5.20am," he said of rising for the morning sessions.
"It gets tiring sometimes but it's all worth it.
"I like the morning ones better because then you go to school and you don't have anything to worry about afterwards."
Jamin's pet event is the 100m backstroke, which he would love to win a medal in on Sunday.
Warrnambool Swimming Club president Peter Logan explained the format had changed for this year's competition.
"It used to be two half days on Saturday and Sunday," he said.
"It's always difficult to get good city swimmers to come three hours down the road. The program was shrinking a bit so it didn't make sense to continue to have two half days."
The annual meeting has been running for about 25 years. This year is believed to mark the highest number of Warrnambool Swimming Club members who will take to the pool for a meeting.
"We've got about 56 of our own swimmers swimming on the weekend, which is probably the most we've ever had represent the club at a carnival," Logan said.
"We've got 70 competitors in our club.
"It's the most anyone can recall but our records aren't phenomenally accurate."
He attributed the likely record number of members to coaching.
"(Head coach) Jayson Lamb has got a lot to do with it and I think we don't push kids too early, especially young kids," the president said. "Kids pick out their own training sessions and they gradually build as they get older.
"We're also keeping the older kids swimming, which is really pleasing, especially for boys because they don't reach their peak until their late teens or early 20s."
Twelve clubs from as far as Ballarat and Mount Gambier will compete.
"It's become more of a regional type of carnival," Logan said.
AquaZone will open its outdoor pool for the event.
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