Oscar and Archie Kreutzberger and Dorothy Pasko won medals at Australian Age Championships

Brothers Oscar and Archie Kreutzberger won nine medals between them at the Australian Age Championships, while club-mate Dorothy Pasko brought the NASC tally to a dozen.

Oscar claimed five silver medals in the boys 16 years 200m and 400m individual medley, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle and bronze in the 200m breaststroke while Archie picked up silver in the boys 14 years 200m and 400m individual medley.

Meanwhile, Pasko swam to silver in the girls 12-13 years multi-class 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke as well as bronze in the multi-class 50m breaststroke.

The trio have honed their craft at SwimTech Albury under head coach and owner Mitch Brown, who's convinced their journey through the sport's elite ranks is only just beginning.

"It was unbelievable, it was astounding." Brown said of the nationals medal haul.

"I haven't heard of that high a level of success on the national stage for this region for at least 25 years.

"It's really cool and I'm very proud to be a part of it.

"Growing up in Corryong, I used to have to drive an hour-and-a-half one way and then back to train once a week and I saw what I missed out on.

"I saw there was a gap here so I've really tried to bring what they have in metropolitan areas to regional areas with the long-term goal of being able to put swimmers on the Australian team from their home town.

"That's a dream of mine and that's what SwimTech helps support from the swimming lesson level of babies all the way up to hopefully Olympic greats one day."

Oscar, 16, and Archie, 14, are training 26 hours a week while 12-year-old Pasko has made huge improvements in the pool over the last six months.

"Dorothy went from not having any national times to making six or seven times," Brown said.

"She made finals in nearly every single event and medalled in three events.

"She's exceptionally athletic, with really good range and control.

"Dorothy has the ambition of being a Paralympian and her rate of improvement at the moment is definitely indicating she has potential for that."

Oscar, who recently swam a world junior qualifying time, is now training with Australian internationals after being named in the State Flippers Squad.

"It's very good being the underdogs from a country town, getting a few medals instead of those Sydney kids who race in the good pools," he smiled.

"Being able to beat them is really exciting.

"A couple of years ago, I didn't get a medal, I came 20th, so to come away with six medals this year was amazing.

"Knowing how much faster the other kids were, I wanted to be up there and feel what it's like to be up the top."

The brothers, who train together all the time, are pushing each other to go faster.

"He's trying to keep away from me and I'm trying to keep up with him," Archie laughed.

"Swimming teaches you what hard work is.

"In life, it's more about the hard work; if you're not willing to put it in, you don't go anywhere.

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"I'm willing to put it in so I can go somewhere with my swimming and it's paying off.

"I've done so much work to get those medals."

Pasko, like the Kreutzbergers, attends Trinity Anglican College.

"I started swimming with this squad at the start of this year, I come four times a week and I really enjoy it," she said.

"It's good, a bit harder but that helps!

"The people here are really welcoming and fun and the coaches know how to train us enough but not over-train us."

Brown will continue to strive for that balance in the pursuit of further excellence over the coming year.

"Their dedication to the sport and their consistency is just brilliant," he said.

"They don't miss sessions and they do the work.

"We had 11 kids in total who swam at nationals and some of those kids work equally as hard.

"This is a pleasure, I live for it.

"It doesn't feel like I work because of how enjoyable it is to work with these kids. \

"They're so respectful and you couldn't pay me to move away, you couldn't throw anything in front of me."

The other North Albury swimmers to participate at nationals were Grace Doherty, Lachlan Elgin, Adelaide Hiscock, Brodie Peacock, Alicia Spiers, Alessandro Vaccaro, Samuele Vaccaro and Isabella Van Der Merwe.

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