Harrison claims gold in lengthy swim at short course

Swimming Australia
Published: Sep 12, 2012 04:23:20 PM Updated: Oct 17, 2012 12:12:21 PM

Fresh off the back of their recent success at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii the distance duo of Jordan Harrison (7:43.10) and Matt Levings (7:47.21) finished first and second in the final of the men’s 800m freestyle at the 2012 EnergyAustralia Short Course Championships in Perth.

The Miami based boys both train under Coach Denis Cotterell on the gold coast and have been slowly rising up the ranks of the distance freestyle events. Seventeen-year-old Harrison is proving tough to beat both nationally and internationally after claiming silver and a meet record in the 1500m freestyle in August at the Junior Pan Pacs.

Despite winning gold in this event at the Junior Pan Pacs, Levings will have to settle for silver today behind his training partner Harrison who got the better of him at the turns.

Sixteen-year-old Jacob Hansford couldn’t keep up with the blistering pace of the Queenslander’s but collected the bronze medal in 8:10.40

The men’s 400m Multi Class freestyle wrapped up the first session for the meet with Queensland’s Cameron Schefman taking the gold.

Schefman put on a stellar performance in the final of the 400m Multi Class freestyle to take 13 seconds off his seed time and claim gold in 4:41.76. The silver medal went to Sydney 2000 Paralympic gold medallist Patrick Donachie (4:45.76) with Victoria’s Ben Morrison (4:54.50) taking home the bronze.

In other events…

Men’s 200m freestyle:

The men’s 200m Freestyle officially opened the 2012 EnergyAustralia Short Course Championships at Challenge Stadium, with dual World Cup Short Course gold medallist Bobby Hurley heading through to the final as the fastest qualifier in 1:44.90. Jarrod Killey of Hunter touched in 1:45.05 to take second spot into the final ahead of Chandler’s Kyle Richardson who will qualify third fastest in 1:45.24.

London Olympian and WA All Comers record holder in this event, Tommaso D’Orsogna will also progress through to tonight’s final in fifth position with a time of 1:46.07.

Women’s 50m breaststroke:

Commonwealth and Australian record holder for this event Sarah Katsoulis has posted the fastest time for tonight’s semi-final of the women’s 50m breaststroke, hitting the wall in 30.85.  The 28-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the World Short Course Championships in Dubai, 2010, finished ahead of Queensland’s Lorna Tonks (31.03) and dual Olympian Sally Foster (31.41) who will also advance.

Men’s 100m backstroke:

Bobby Hurley and Ashley Delaney have established themselves as the pace-setters in the men’s 100m backstroke ahead of tonight’s semi-finals.  Barely an hour after racing in the 200m freestyle, Hurley managed to get the better of Beijing Olympian and Australian record holder Ashley Delaney (52.66) to qualify fastest in 52.58.  Melbourne Vicentre’s Daniel Blackborrow will progress through to the semis as the third fastest qualifier.

Women’s 200m butterfly:

Fresh off the back of the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii, West Australian local Brianna Throssell clocked the fastest time in the heats of the women’s 200m butterfly to take top spot going into the final in a time of 2:09.08.  Qualifying just behind Throssell was St Peter’s Western swimmer  Amy Smith in 2:09.81 with Cranbrook’s Jordan White (2:10.31) rounding out the top three.

Men’s 100m breaststroke:

London Olympic silver medallist Christian Sprenger (1:00.85) will have to keep a close eye on his competition after being pipped at the post to qualify second for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m breaststroke.  Nikolas Pregelj (1:00.47) recorded the fastest time and will be looking to claim his stake at the Short Course Championships with Jeremy Meyer (1:101.03) and Nicholas Schafer (1:01.46) also in the mix.

Women’s 100m backstroke:

The top three qualifiers of the women’s 100m backstroke have all gone under the elusive one minute mark with the 2011 title holder of the event Rachel Goh holding onto to her top spot in a time of 58.84. Fellow Victorian Grace Loh (59.25) took second spot and WA local Holly Barratt was third in 59.71.

Men’s 100m butterfly:

New South Wales swimmers Kenneth To and Joseph Carty (52.42) will face a fierce battle in the men’s 100m butterfly semi-final tonight.

A dual gold medallist at the 2011 Short Course World Cup, To finished just head of NSW sprinter Carty to secure top spot for the semi-finals hitting the wall in 52.21.  London Olympian and defending champion Christopher Wright will go into tonight’s race is ranked third with a time of 52.74. Commonwealth Record Holder Mitchell Patterson has also cruised through to the semi-final in 53.41.

Women’s 400m IM:

South African swimmer Jessica Pengelly has a clear lead going into the final of the women’s 400m IM tonight.  The 21-year-old finished nearly five seconds ahead of the next fastest qualifier Aisling Scott in 4:40.39.  Queensland’s Ellen Fullerton will go through third in 4:41.88.

The finals will start at 6:30pm tonight with tickets still available at swimming.org.au.