WARRNAMBOOL SURF Lifesaving Club's under 13 beach relay team are inseparable.
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The close friendship between Will Main, Will Callaghan, 12, Henry Hoffman and Jack McNeil, 13, has also helped the quartet become an unbeatable force on the sand.
They secured their third straight Lifesaving Victoria Junior State Championships title in the beach relay after narrowing collecting the win in the final on Saturday.
The victory comes in the quartet's final year in the junior carnival after wins in the under 11 and 12 age groups previously.
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They were all "stoked" to claim the three-peat before moving into the under 14 age group and senior carnival next summer.
"To win three in a row is just a great achievement," Main said after the win had sunk in.
Fun and the friendships are what bring the quartet back to the popular south-west surf club each summer.
But practice, not dropping the baton and a bit of changeover tactics proved to be the key to the Emmanuel College year seven students' sustained success.
The quartet's tactic is to start at least two metres behind most of their competitors and charge to the changeover line.
"Making sure they (the changeovers) are perfectly timed before the line," McNeil said.
"(We do it) so when you run you get more speed to receive the baton."
Hoffman adds: "So once you cross that line you are already going full pace."
The club secured 11 more medals on Saturday and Sunday with six scored by individuals and five by relay teams.
Eddie Northeast and Hannah McMeel both secured bronze in their under 11 beach sprint finals.
Northeast added a silver medal to his haul in the beach run while McMeel got another third place in the beach flags.
McNeil (beach run) and Riley Shiell (beach flags) both won back-to-back state titles.
The under 11 boys wade and board teams secured silvers and the under 10 boys board relay secured bronze.
The under 12 girls board relay and the under 13 boys beach relay teams also scored bronze medals.
The club also had a large amount of its members make finals on Saturday, Sunday and for Monday's final day of the carnival at Lady Bay.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
