2015 WESTERN AUSTRALIA SUNSMARTSTATE OPEN & AGE LONG COURSE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Day 1 of the SunSmartState Open & Age State Championships is done and dusted, with the usual Western Australian suspects throwing down titles at the HBF Stadium today. Competition runs through Monday, December 21st, but here’s a break-down of what has transpired thus far.
16-year-old stand-out Tamsin Cook, representing UWA West Coast, took on a grueling schedule for day 1, which included the 200m freestyle, 800m freestyle and 200m butterfly events. A reminder, this is a long course meters meet, so quite the three-headed monster of a program for this youngster.
Cook delivered, however, earning 3 titles on the day. First, in the 200m freestyle, Cook earned the 16-year-old age group title, winning her age group in a time of 2:03.86. That mark is well off her personal best of 1:58.16 clocked in Singapore at the 2015 FINA World Junior Championships, but enough to get the job done in her age group today.
The 200m butterfly was Cook’s next event in which she took her age group title, clocking a time of 2:21.38 to top her peers and claim gold. Remember, Cook made a name for herself by earning a silver medal in the event in Singapore, touching in a stellar 2:08.86.
It was Cook’s 800m freestyle, however, that took her to the next level today, as she won the event easily in a time of 8:45.56 to take the overall open title.
Other open title winners included Brianna Throssell, who doubled up on wins to top the podium twice. She took the women’s 200m freestyle in the only sub-1:59 mark of 1:58.38 and followed that up with a solid 200m butterfly winning time of 2:11.32.
18-year-old Damian Fyfe claimed the open title in the men’s 200m freestyle, stopping the clock at an impressive 1:51.28, while Zac Incerti took the men’s 100m backstroke open gold in his outing of 57.88. For Fyfe, he’s coming off of a break-through summer, having taken 4th in the men’s 200m freestyle at Junior Worlds, registering a personal best of 1:48.90.