Records tumble at Trans-Tasman

Swimming Australia
Published: Jul 3, 2012 11:52:05 AM Updated: Jun 4, 2013 10:07:53 AM

After winning a silver medal in this event at the 2012 Age Championships Edward Marks went one better today, erasing the meet record of 25.33 set in 2004 by Beijing Olympian Andrew Lauterstein storming to the wall to take gold and stopping the clock in an impressive 25.28.

Australia Green’s Nicholas Groenewald was left to settle for second place with his time of 27.17.

Australian Age Champion for the 200m breaststroke Karlene Pircher stole the points for Australia Gold andre-wrote the record books with her time of 2:28.46 eclipsing the previous record of 2:28.66 set in 2008 by Jessica Legge.  Jenna Strauch (2:31.13) added a second place to her efforts while New Zealand’s Emily McGill (2:35.62) was third.

The penultimate event of the day saw the New Zealand men’s 4x50m freestyle relay team erase another record from the Trans-Tasman books. Samuel Perry Julian Weir Kyle Barnes and Matthew Hutchins stopped the clock at 1:32.34, taking just under 0.3 off the previous record held by Te Haumi Maxwell Hayden McEvoy and London bound Olympians Jayden Hadler and James Roberts set in 2008.

Australia Green was guaranteed more points in the second round of skins with teammates Lucy Soden and Lauren Rettie going head-to-head in the women’s 50m backstroke.  Soden (28.55) was able to get the better of Rettie (29.03) as they went stroke to stroke to the wall.

There was little separating Australia Gold’s Jesse King and Liam Cuneen in the men’s 50m breaststroke skins.  King was just ahead at the turn and managed to hold off a fast finishing Cuneen to take first place by 0.4 of a second.

The final round of the women’s 50m breaststroke skins was a showdown between Australia  Green and New Zealand.  The Trans-Tasman tussle saw Jenna Strauch come out on top, taking the win in 32.62 ahead of Emily McGill in 32.85.

Kiwi, Matthew Hutchins set the pool on fire in the first non-skins event of the morning winning the men’s 200m freestyle in a time of 1:48.76.  Hutchins’ seed time was just 0.01 of a second off the Trans Tasman record held by Bobby Jovanovich from WA.  Damian Fyfe from Australia Gold took silver in 1:52.73 with Kyle Barnes from New Zealand third in 1:53.02.

Not long after taking out the 200m freestyle Hutchins was back in the pool to for the 32 lap 800m freestyle event.  The 17-year-old added another gold when he took out the race in 8:10.37, his New Zealand teammate Carter Edgecombe finished in second place and Jacob Hansford from Australia Green was third in 8:19.32.

Australia Green then went one-two in the women’s 100m freestyle with dual Australian Age Champion Jemma Schlicht taking the race out in an impressive 55.12. Schlicht’s Australia Green teammate Shayna Jack picked up the points for second hitting the wall in 56.61. Australia Gold’s Brooke Thornton came in third in 57.60.

Back in the water for the second time this morning, Schlicht set a new meet record in the women’s 100m butterfly, hitting the wall in 59.28.  The 15-year-old was the only swimmer to go under one minute, eclipsing the previous record of 59.53 set by Megan Mackay in 2008. Australia Gold’s Megan Gianotti (1:00.40) and New Zealand’s Caroline Baddock (1:00.80) battled for second and third with Gianotti taking it in the touch.

The men’s 100m backstroke had Nicholas Groenewald backing up from his skins effort earlier in the morning.  The six time Australian Age Champion took out the event in 56.37, relegating New Zealand’s Julian Weir to second in 57.13 and Australia Green teammate Matthew Meinema touched just behind in 57.51.

Groenewald (2:05.72) later battled it out in the men’s 200m IM but was narrowly beaten by New Zealand’s Julian Layton (2:05.69).  Groenewald’s Australia Green teammate Kazamir Boskovic (2:06.02) rounded out the top three.

New Zealand’s Emily McGill was too strong in the women’s 200m bacsktroke taking first place in 2:12.67 leaving Amy Forrester from Australia Gold to take the points for second in 2:13.70 and Australia Green’s Lauren Rettie touched third in 2:14.32.

Triple Australian Age Champion Alanna Bowles was in fine form when she took out the women’s 400m freestyle in 4:14.72.  The 14-year-old went out fast and managed to hold off attacks from Australia Green teammate Eliza Ham (4:15.94) to take the win. Ham touched in second with local Canberran Bonnie Zhang third in 4:21.33.

Fresh off the back of her 400m freestyle win Bowles (4:48.58) beat race favourite Meg Bailey (4:56.26) in the women’s 400m IM to pick up more points for Australia Green.  Third place went to 13-year-old Chelsea Gubecka also from Australia Green, in 4:57.93.

The men’s 100m breaststroke saw regular rivals Jesse King (1:04.18) from Australia Gold and Ben Walsh (1:04.66) in a fight for first place.  King out-touched Walsh for the win with his Australia Gold teammate Liam Cunneen taking third in 1:05.35.

Australia Green continued their domination with a win from Mitchell Pratt in the men’s 200m butterfly.  Pratt’s time of 2:01.30 was too quick for Australia Gold’s Joachim Bardrum in 2:03.77 with Pratt’s Green teammate Jacob Hansford taking third in 2:04.89 and adding to Green's lead on day two.

The meet wrapped up with the women’s 4x50m medley relay, Australia Green finished first with their team of Lauren Rettie Jenna Strauch Jemma Schlicht and Shayna Jack taking out the race in 1:54.12.

Australia Green proved they are a force to be reckonned with as they extended their lead at meet two of the Trans-Tasman tour. The green team dominated the pool, finishing the day on 265 points. 

Australia Gold are chasing in second place on 222 with New Zealand not far behind on 216.  The swimmers will now head to Wagga Wagga where they will compete in two meets on Wednesday July 4 and Thursday July 5.