ELLA Matters has continued her dominant displays in the pool, smashing a majority of her personal best times at the Victorian Country Short Course Championships in Wangaratta on the weekend.

The event kicked off a huge month of swimming for Matters who is on the road again this weekend for the State Championships before flying to Sydney to represent team Victoria in the National School Sport Championships.

The month of swimming got off to a flying start in Wangaratta with the 14-year-old beating her own personal best times in the 100m and 200m freestyle, 100m individual medley and 100m breaststroke.

Matters credited coming up against some older swimmers on the day to how she managed to push past previous best times.

“I’ve just aged into the 14-15-year-olds age group so I’m definitely younger than who I was coming up against which means you’ve got people ahead of you in the pool that you’re trying to stay with,” she said.

“I was also called up into the relay team, at first I wasn’t selected in it but at an event two weeks ago I swam the fastest breaststroke time at the club so they put me in the team.

“I was on the blocks up against some 20-year-old men so that was pretty scary.”

The impressive performance in the water came as a surprise to Matters who said she didn’t have ideal preparation in the lead up.

“I’d been a bit sick before Wangaratta and hadn’t had as much time in the pool as I usually do,” she said.

“So going into it I was aware of that so I was a bit nervous with how I’d go.

“I honestly have no idea how I managed to do what I did.”

There won’t be much time for rest for Matters, as she will compete in Melbourne across the weekend before flying to Sydney on Sunday for the week-long National School Championships in Sydney.

“It starts on Monday so I’ll fly there with mum,” she said.

“It’s at the Olympic Park pool – I’m so pumped to compete there. I’m coming up against really good swimmers in a really good pool, it’s all different at these bigger meets.”

Qualification for the National Championships occurs through a selection process based on performances at the school swimming events.

Matters has qualified for three individual events as well as three relay events.

The huge month of competing is worth it for the young talent who says she just loves being in the pool and taking her swimming to the next level.

“I just love it – going to events and competing and training, I love to swim,” she said.

“I’m a lot smaller than girls my age so I have to work hard on my technique.

“So in breastroke I just work on making my kick stronger and pay more attention to those things.

“On the Victorian team I’m definitely the shortest there, same with my Warrnambool team so I like famous swimmers like Abbey Hawkins, she’s not as tall as the Cate Campbell’s but she’s amazing.”