Inspired by his brothers, Rudge, 13, took up the sport only three months ago and is ready to take on the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke in his toughest meet yet.
Rudge said he was proud to represent the same club as his brothers and had his sights set high.
‘‘I aim to come first and get a personal best,’’ he said.
Head coach Michelle Swift said making the qualifying times was a huge achievement for Rudge.
‘‘We don’t normally have a multi-class swimmer, so it’s great to have our first eligible swimmer,’’ Swift said.
‘‘We would like to encourage a few more of the disability swimmers to look at us as an option for competition because we are looking to trying to progress that side of the program.’’
Rudge is a part of 26-strong team that will make a splash during the three-day event that started in Warragul today.
With most of their competitors aged between nine and 15, Swift said the club’s goal was a top 10 finish.
‘‘It’s quite a young team this year, but it’s good to get them some experience,’’ she said.
‘‘Hopefully we can get a couple of newbies into finals who may not have finalled before and just give some of our young ones a taste of what competitive swimming is all about.
‘‘It’s one of the events we get to go and compete against all our country clubs, it’s fun, everyone gets involved and it’s causal — it’s just a good festive atmosphere with good competition.’’
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