Cootamundra’s Mikayla Johnston has returned home from the School Sport Australia 2010 National Swimming Championships with a gold medal in her keeps.

Mikayala is the daughter of Janelle Johnston and Richard Cross.

Her grandparents are Enid Johnston of Boorowa and Cecil and Jessie (d) Cross of Jugiong.

Richard and Janelle proudly supported Mikayla during all of her recent achievements.

The Year Six Cootamundra Public School student was a member of the NSW PSSA team at the national championships which were held at the Chandler Aquatic centre, claiming gold in the 4 x 50m medley relay, while she also won bronze in the 200m freestyle.

Competing in the multiple classification divisions of the nationals having had a hearing impairment since birth, Mikayla anchored her relay team with the freestyle leg, the team also including Rani Quinn (butterfly), Nicole Miro (breaststroke) and Madi Elliott (butterfly).

Naturally Mikayla was thrilled to have won gold at national level.

“It was very exciting,” Mikayla said, “we were all jumping around and hugging each other after the race.”

Not only did Mikayla and her teammates claim gold, they also broke the record in what was a memorable moment for the quietly spoken youngster.

Mikayla was in great form at the meet, producing personal bests in all races, including a massive 12.5 second PB in her 200m freestyle.

She touched the wall in third in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, however after calculations were made for the various disability categories, she was relegated to fourth and fifth respectively.

Mikayla’s parents would like to thank everyone for their support.