The 13-year-old year 8 Carroll College student turned his early rises and late afternoons of training into a personal best time when he represented NSW Combined Catholic Colleges.

Knight smashed his personal best, set at the previous representative carnival, by 4.8 seconds and turned in a time of two minutes and 46.72 seconds in the 200-metre 13 boys’ individual medley. 

It was good enough for an eighth-placed finish among a field of fast swimmers from across NSW.

It’s the first time Knight has made it to that level since starting high school and he said the competition was fierce.

“The Sydney boys are pretty fast, pretty tough,” Knight said.

Knight’s favourite stroke is breaststroke but he just missed qualification in that event.

He didn’t mind doing all four strokes, even his weakest - backstroke - and he was rapt to set a new personal best.

“It (individual medley) is hard, you have to be good at each stroke,” he said.

“I wanted to be steady in backstroke.

“I was pretty stuffed (after it).

“I have been training pretty hard.”

The next carnival is the area championships where he will swim against entrants from Wollongong to Jindabyne.