Australia Green take early lead in Trans-Tasman tour

Swimming Australia
Published: Jul 2, 2012 08:03:13 PM

The men’s 4x50m medley relay set the standards on day one of the Trans-Tasman tour at the AIS in Canberra.

The team of Edward Marks Jesse King Nick Roberston and Kyle Chalmers representing Australia Gold, hit the wall just over 0.2 off the meet record set in 2009 by Max Ackerman Buster Sykes London bound Olympian Jayden Hadler and Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Te Haumi Maxwell.

With four Australian Age titles to his name already, 14-year-old Chalmers managed to hold off 17-year-old Alex Press in the final 50m to take the win.

Having only practised relay change overs once before, the young swimmers’ are looking promising for the future.

The women’s 4x50m freestyle relay team of Shayna Jack Jemma Schlicht Brittany McEvoy and Lucy Soden took first place for Australia Green in 1:44.39.

New Zealand’s Matthew Hutchins broke the first and only record of the meet with a win in the 400m freestyle.  Hutchins went out strong from the start and couldn’t be caught as he hit the wall first in 3:48.44, taking the 2008 record from Declan Potts.  In second place, nearly 10 seconds back was Australia Gold’s Damian Fyfe in 3:58.04 with Australia Green’s Jacob Hansford (3:58.08) taking third.

The men’s 50m backstroke skins kicked off proceedings for the night with Australia Green’s Edward Marks qualifying fastest in 25.96, just ahead of Nicholas Groenewald (26.02) who touched in second and picked up points for the Gold team.

With New Zealand’s Julian Weir and Bayley Main rounding out the top four qualifiers for tomorrow morning’s finals.

In the corresponding women’s events it was New Zealand’s Rima Williams who will take the top spot through to the final after beating race favourite Lucy Soden (29.00) and Australia Green teammate Lauren Rettie (29.09) to the wall. Naomi Smit (29.48) from New Zealand will also progress to the finals.

Australian Age Champion in the 100m breaststroke Jesse King collected the points for Australia Gold in the 50m breaststroke skins and will go through fastest to the finals tomorrow morning with a time of 29.27. 

With less than a second between the top six it was New Zealand’s Ben Walsh (29.67) and George Schroder (29.72) along with Liam Cunneen (29.80) from Australia Gold who will progress to the finals.

It came down to the touch in the women’s 50m breaststroke skins with Australia Green’s Jenna Strauch (32.31) just getting the better of Karlene Pircher (32.88) from Australia Gold. New Zealand’s Emily McGill (33.01) and Melita Raravula (33.29) round out the top four qualifiers for tomorrow.

Seventeen-year-old Alex Press added to the Green team total with an impressive win in the men’s 100m freestyle.  Press hit the wall in 50.14 to steal the win off Australia Gold’s Jake Hodgetts in 50.50.  Green team’s Lachlan Wells was third in 50.93.

Australia Green extended their lead with a win from Jemma Schlicht (2:00.48) in the 200m freestyle and then Nicholas Groenewald (2:02.77) in the men 200m backstroke events. 

The New Zealand team’s Rima Williams relegated Australia Green’s Lauren Rettie (1:01.79) to second place in the women’s 100m backstroke when she hit the wall in 1:01.14.

Australia Green had Alanna Bowles to thank for their next point score, the 14-year-old took a commanding lead in the women’s 800m freestyle to finish over ten seconds ahead of her closest rival Gold team’s Emma Reid (8:48.39) in 8:37.22

It was a New Zealand one-two in the men’s 200m breaststroke with Schroder (2:18.03) and Walsh (2:20.00) backing up after their efforts in the 100m breaststroke to get one back on King (2:21.81).

After narrowly being beaten in the 50m breaststroke skins, Pircher took control in the 100m breaststroke to take the win ahead of Australian Green rival and fastest qualifier for the skins, Strauch and New Zealand’s McGill.

The men’s 100m butterfly came down to the touch with the Green team’s Mitchell Pratt taking the win in 54.60 ahead of Marks (55.06) and Nick Roberston (55.11) – both from Australia Gold.

The women’s 200m butterfly saw Australia Gold add to their tally after an impressive swim from Megan Gianotti who finished the race in a 2:11.23.

New Zealand swimmer Julian Layton relegated Australia Green and Gold to second and third respectively to take out the men’s 400m IM in 4:22.27. While Australia’s Eliza Ham (2:14.86) extended the Green team’s lead with a win in the women’s 200m IM.

At the end of meet one, Australia Green have an imposing lead, collecting a total of 132 points,  Australia Gold are second with 111 and New Zealand are closing in on 108.

Congratulations to Alanna Bowles, Nicholas Groenewald, Meg Giannotti,  Hayden Hinds-Sydenham, Rima Williams and Matthew Hutchins for being named swimmers of the meet, following their efforts tonight.