Sienna Toohey breaks five records at School Sport Australia Swimming Championships

Toohey swept the board by taking gold in all three breaststroke events for her age group and also helped NSW to gold in the 4x50m medley relay.

The Albury Swim Club member came away with silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the freestyle relay but it was her speed which caught the eye of the state and national coaches watching the event.

Toohey set a new record in the 100m breaststroke heats and then beat her own record in the final, touching the wall in a stunning 1:08.98. Leisel Jones, who went on to swim at four Olympic Games, is the only Australian to go faster as a 14-year-old.

She repeated the trick over 50m, breaking the SSA record in the heats and again in the final, claiming gold in 32.22 seconds.

Toohey wasn't finished there, swimming 2:33.37 to smash the 200m breaststroke record and leave the Australian swimming community in no doubt as to her class and future potential.

Albury coach Wayne Gould was thrilled to see Toohey's domination.

"She's the fastest 14-year-old breaststroker in Australia at the moment by a mile," Gould said.

"From where she was, six months ago at the nationals, to where she is now, I reckon she's improved five percent and that's amazing.

"Australia sent a junior team to the World Championships recently and the time of 68.9 she did for the 100 is faster than any of the breaststrokers they took over there.

"If she'd done that time six weeks ago, when they selected the team, she would have been straight in.

"I got a phone call from 'Nugget' Nugent (the former Australian coach), who's got a graph which tells you the projection of the times you should be doing from 12 years old to get to the Olympics - and Sienna's ahead of that."

Toohey, who's back in the classroom at Albury High School this week, took the historic set of results in her stride.

"It was nice beating the Sydney kids and the Queensland kids," she smiled.

"I knew I was close to the records, I knew I was ready for some good times, it was just a matter of how low I could go.

"I was very excited and it really gives me a boost to keep going."

Toohey's regular club training has been off-set over the winter by additional pool sessions with Mackensey House, while she's benefited from an Albury City athletes grant and sponsorship through the Southern Sports Academy.

Support from the Ovens and Murray and Southern Inland Swimming Association has also been key, while Toohey reflected on how little tweaks to her preparation have made a big difference come race time.

"A lot of things have contributed," she said.

"We've really stepped up all of the stuff I was doing and gone to the next level.

"I was a very picky eater and wasn't fuelling my body right but once we got that down, all of my times started to drop. I was training better and doing competitions better because I was getting more of the energy that I needed.

"I had a masseuse come in, the best I've ever met, and doing my gym work has really made me feel stronger."

So can Toohey continue on this remarkable trajectory by continuing to live, study and train in Albury or is the time coming to consider a move to the swimming stronghold of Queensland?

Gould reverts back to the mantra of his coaching mentor, Frank Hohmann, who took Belinda Hocking, Clementine Stoney, Jacinta van Lint, Craig Calder and Dianna Ley from the Border to Olympic and Paralympic glory.

"Frank always always kept them in his domain until they finished school," Gould said.

"They enjoy it, they're being successful and they're going to leave anyway at some point.

"Usually it's a university that will give them education as well as swimming and at the moment, Queensland is the place to be because that's where all the top coaches and facilities are - and that's where all the money is.

"I'm hoping we hang onto Sienna and I hope she can stay in NSW but, either way, Australia will have her.

"She looks terrific and the reason they're so interested in her is because she's still got a lot of growing to do and they can see how much more improvement is in front of her.

"We haven't got the facilities or the know-how that the big Olympic coaches have got but they love the country kids because they're a lot more flexible and resilient, they're tough and they hang in there."

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