The 17-year-old Wagga swimmer has made a name for himself as a sprinter, in particular the 100m freestyle. He backed up last year's win in the 16-years division with another victory in the 17s on Monday night, clocking a time of 51.41 seconds.

He also claimed gold in the 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley (2:12.82) and 400m individual medley, as well as bronze in 400m freestyle, 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke.

Mooney is quietly spoken, but there's an underlying sense of confidence after his hard work in other strokes over long distances translated to results.

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"It's been my first full year of training and we haven't chosen just one stroke like freestyle to do, we're looking at everything to find exactly what I'm capable of and what my stroke is," he said.

"2024 is the focus down the track. Having seen what myself and Gennadiy (Labara, coach) are capable of at this carnival, with all the events we did, I reckon we're a good chance to have a variety of events to pick and target."

Mooney contested the Australian Open Championships in Adelaide last year, but whether he does so again or focus solely on the national age championships in April is yet to be decided.

"It's too soon to pick a program for certain. At the moment it's just the Age Championships and look at all the events there. But later in the year we'll make the decision to see whether the freestyle (progress) is there to be competitive in the opens.

"Having a full year of training without playing footy has helped a lot and it's only the first year. We haven't reached any limits yet, and it's unknown what we're capable of."

Wagga Swim Club assistant coach Billy Nicholson said Mooney's dedication has risen as results have come.

It's the first time he's really raced the medleys properly and the way he put his races together, you can tell he's been working on it," he said.

"He's really focused, probably paying more attention to the little things like recovery, planning and goal setting."

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