THEIR overall results were different, but it was all about one aspect of the trip to the national swimming titles in Adelaide for three Port Macquarie teenagers.
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The experience for Phoebe Bentley, Mathilda King and Hayley Kable was the most important.
Bentley achieved a personal best in the 100-metre and 50-metre freestyle although she admitted she would have "liked to have gone better."
"It gives you a perspective of all the other people out there that you don't really get to race and gives you more competition," she said.
"In the races I did go well in I wasn't expecting to, but I was expecting to go better overall."
She said the experience of competing in an indoor facility was quite different to doing the same thing that she was used to outdoors.
"It was the whole atmosphere because it was different; you're versing the best kids in Australia so you feel like you've got more people to push you."
Port Macquarie clubmate Mathilda King was ranked 13th in the country in her best race before a slip on the starting blocks cost her.
Instead of looking at it negatively, the teenager admitted it was a learning curve.
"From the very start I dived in, my hands slipped and I knew it wasn't going to be the best so I learned to keep your hands tight when you dive in," she said.
"It was one of those things; I wasn't really nervous I just didn't think properly before my race."
King said it "wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't (a) terrible (result)."
"Overall I was disappointed; I would have liked to go back home making finals and saying I went really well but that makes me hungrier for next year."
Competing at her first national titles, Kable said she enjoyed the experience and was looking forward to being a better swimmer in 12 months' time.
"I think the nerves got to me and it was my first time going there so it was a really different experience," she said.
"I'll definitely train a lot harder to get there again and when I get there I'll know how it all works so I won't be as nervous.
"There were a few little things we picked up in my race that I wasn't doing right so fixing those will definitely improve my times."
Also at the national titles, clubmate Nathan Smith finished in the top 10 in the 200-metre butterfly.
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