For Kylie Crofts, being crowned the overall Ovens and Murray swimming champion and receiving the Ben Pascall trophy is an accomplishment she will always hold close to her heart.
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This year marked the first time the trophy had been named in Pascall's honour, after the keen swimmer died at the Norske Skog paper mill in 2018.
Crofts and Pascall grew up as childhood friends, competing in the pool together and going on to be debutante partners.
After hearing the trophy was to be in Pascall's name, Crofts set herself the goal of being the first recipient and was awarded on Sunday.
The 28-year-old entered 15 events at the O and M swimming championships last month, breaking three records and claiming four first places, seven seconds and one third, with personal bests in all of her events.
Crofts said it was a special moment to hear her name called out.
"It was very emotional to win it," Crofts said.
"I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to be as close as I was with Ben growing up to have that long term friendship we made, not only for ourselves, but with Debbie and Ken (Pascall) and my parents.
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"Growing up with Ben we were very competitive.
"I tried to train as hard as I could leading up to it.
"I didn't expect to win all of the awards, but to win Ben's award was my main goal, it was a good outcome.
"This year would've been his 30th birthday, so it's a bit of a present to him."
Crofts plans to keep her swimming training up where she can, while also juggling work and family commitments and coaching at Wodonga City Swimming Club.
She now hopes to help young swimmers also reach the special milestone.
"I'll be able to encourage my own swimmers to try and win the award for Ben, which will always be near and dear to my heart," Crofts said.
"It's ongoing and something to look forward to every year now that I'm back involved with swimming.
"I'd like to focus on the swimmers now, but you never know what the future holds."
Pascall still holds two records locally in the 15-year-old 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly events and in 1999 become one of the youngest swimmers to gain selection in the South Australian team to compete at the 2000 Pacific School Games.
Swimming was Pascall's passion from the ages of eight to 16, while he was also a cross country ski champion.
Pascall's mum, Debbie, said the trophy was donated to encourage swimmers to have a go in all areas.
"He used to say you should try and compete in all events, because you'll never become a better swimmer if you don't," she said.
"If anybody in life could align themselves with Ben's work ethics, especially when it came to sport, it was Kylie."
