The 17-year-old claimed bronze in the boys’ 17-18 years longcourse 100 and 200-metre backstroke events at the week-long carnival in Melbourne last week.  Fraser finished the finals of both events in fifth place, but as the third Victorian home, claimed the bronze for each. 

Fraser was part of a large Warrnambool contingent at the carnival at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, with 21 Warrnambool Swimming club members competing. Among them were nine state level debutantes. 

Warrnambool Swimming Club head coach Jayson Lamb said he was pleased with everyone’s performance. 

“They all swam extremely well. I was very happy with their performance,” he said. 

“Nearly all the kids swam a personal best time and they weren’t just taking little amounts off, they were improving times in giant chunks.

“It’s always tough for the older swimmers to better their times at high-level competitions and even tougher for the inexperienced kids, so it’s a big achievement for them all.” 

Lamb said he was especially happy with the performance of the nine state longcourse debutantes. 

“I’m so pleased with the way they handled themselves at that higher level,” he said. 

“For their first taste of state level competition, they performed beautifully. ”

Lamb said it would be unfair to pinpoint individual performances, but made mention of Tayte Lang who swam in the final of the 14-year-old girls’ 200-metre backstroke. 

He said the focus would turn to the Victorian Open Championships from January 17-19 in Melbourne and the Victorian Country Swimming Championships in Wodonga on January 24-26. 

 “We’ll head back into training in the new year with those events as the main focus,” he said.