2015 Australian Nationals and Trials: Day Three Prelims

2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships

• Dates: Friday, April 3 to Friday, April 10, 2015
• Times: prelims 9:30 am, semis/ finals 6:30 pm
• Location: Sydney Olympic Park (GMT +11, or 15 hours ahead of N.Y., 18 ahead of L.A.)
• Live Results: Available
• Championship Central

Day Three prelims of the 2015 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships is taking place in Sydney, and Swimming Australia is streaming the whole thing live on YouTube. The national championship is doubling as a selection meet for both the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, and the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

This is a prelims/semis/finals meet (with the exception of 400 meters and above, as well as IPC events); 16 make it back for semis, while only 8 compete in the final. Day Three’s prelims include men’s and women’s 50 fly multi-class, men’s 50 breast, women’s 200 free, men’s 200 fly, men’s 800 free, and men’s 400 free multi-class.

Men 12 & Over 50 Butterfly Multi-Class – Prelims

• Title Holder: 26.83 – 4/5/2014 Mitchell Kilduff, NSW

Mitchell Kilduff (S14) of Menai, the silver medalist in last night’s 50m free multi-class, led the qualifiers for tonight’s final of the 50 fly with 27.15 (993 points). Daniel Fox (S14) of Chandler went a best time by .22 with 27.55, and secured the second spot. Timothy Antalfy (S13) from Hunters Hill went 25.48 for the third position.

Other qualifiers for the final were Richard Eliason (S14) of Ginninderra with a PB of 28.53; Matthew Levy (S7) of Cranbrook with 31.27, a PB by 1.2; Jeremy Tidy (S10) of Nunawading in 27.05, best by .09; Rick Pendleton (S10) from Flinders of Buderim with 27.70 (best by .6); and Cameron Schefman (S14) of Brisbane Jets in 30.17.

Women 12 & Over 50 Butterfly Multi-Class – Prelims

• Title Holder: 30.69 – 4/5/2014 Kayla Clarke, Waterworx

15-year-old Emily Beecroft (S9) of Traralgon dropped a second in the 50 fly to touch the wall in 32.09 for 982 points and the leading position for tonight’s final. Madeleine Scott (S9) of Leisurepark Lazers placed second with 32.29, a best time by .37. The third qualifier was Prue Watt (S13) from Cranbrook, who improved her seed time by 1.7 seconds with 31.86.

The rest of the final will include Maddison Elliott (S8) from NU Swim with 34.45; Ashleigh McConnell (S9) from Melbourne Vicentre in 34.54, a best time by .1; Annabelle Williams (S9) of Cranbrook in 35.29; Amy Cook (S14) from SLC Aquadot with a 1-second drop for 34.11; and 13-year-old Tiffany Thomas Kane (S6) of Ravenswood, who improved her seed tim by 1.6 to qualify in 40.59.

Men 50 Breaststroke – Prelims

• Australian: 74 – 4/5/2014 Christian Sprenger, Commercial
• Title Holder: 74 – 4/5/2014 Christian Sprenger, Commercial

Commercial’s Christian Sprenger, who won this event last year with a national record, swam the fastest 50 breast of the morning, but only by 1/100; Sprenger touched in 27.74, a second off his best time. Jake Packard of Indooroopilly knocked a half-second off his seed time and qualified second in 27.75. Tommy Sucipto from Leisurepark Lazers improved by .16, making it through to semi-finals at the third spot.

It took 29.41 to make the semi-finals.

Women 200 Freestyle – Prelims

• Australian: 1:55.57 – 24/07/2014 Emma McKeon, Wests Illawarra
• Title Holder: 1:55.68 – 1/04/2014 Emma McKeon, Wests Illawarra
• FINA: 1:56.76

A pair of visitors led the way in the women’s 200 free: Michelle Coleman of Sweden posted the fastest time with 1:56.71, a .4 drop. Lauren Boyle of New Zealand qualified second in 1:58.60, just .10 ahead of defending champion and Australian record-holder, Emma McKeon of Chandler (1:58.70).

Four-time national champion Bronte Barratt of St Peters Western qualified 9th in 1:59.47. 2:01.13 was the cutoff time to make the semi-finals.

Men 200 Butterfly – Prelims

• Australian: 1:54.46 – 3/17/2009 Nick D’Arcy, Maroochydore
• Title Holder: 1:56.23 – 4/3/2014 Grant Irvine, St Peters Western
• FINA: 1:56.10

Adam Mallett of TSS Aquatics came up with a big 2.3-second drop in prelims, going through to semi-finals at the top of the list in 1:57.08. Keiran Qaium of Sydney University took 1.4 seconds off his seed time to qualify second in 1:58.24. Defending champion, St Peters Western’s Grant Irvine, was the third-fastest swimmer of the morning with 1:58.53.

It took 2:04.28 to make the top 16.

Men 800 Freestyle – Prelims

• Australian: 7:38.65 – 7/27/2005 Grant Hackett, Miami
• Title Holder: 7:54.29 – 4/3/2014 David McKeon, Wests Illawarra

After watching 18-year-old Mack Horton of Melbourne Vicentre win the 400 free on Friday it was no surprise to see him come in at the top of the prelims in the 800. Horton swam a smooth 7:57.65, winning his heat by several body lengths. Jack McLoughlin of Brothers finished second, touching in 8:04.61. George O’Brien of Bond dropped over 11 seconds to qualify third for finals in 8:05.07.

Yasunari Hirai of Japan also made it through to finals, placing fourth in 8:14.87. He will be joined by Lachlan Colquhoun of TSS Aquatics (8:17.28), 15-year-old Nathan Robinson of Auburn (8:17.78, a PB by 5 seconds), Sho Nishimoto of Japan who trains at TSS Aquatics (8:20.49, best by 4), and Sean Maloney from Ginninderra (8:25.05).

Men 12&O 400 Freestyle Multi-Class – Prelims

• Title Holder: 4:11.24 – 4/3/2014 Brenden Hall, Lawnton

Defending champion Brenden Hall (S9) of Lawnton led the qualifiers for tonight’s final of the 400 free multi-class with 4:16.21. Joshua Alford (S14) of Tuggeranong Vikings, the gold medalist in Saturday night’s 50 free multi-class, dropped 3.1 seconds and qualified second in 4:28.68. 16-year-old Liam Schluter (S14) of Kawana Waters made it through third with 4:28.68. Ethan Chan (S14) from Australian Crawl improved his seed time by 4 seconds for a fourth-place berth at 4:29.20.

Guy Harrison Murray (S10) of Perth City (4:17.52), Rowan Crothers (S9 ) of Yeronga Park (4:22.49), Timothy Disken (S9) of PLC Aquatic (4:29.87), and Matthew Levy (S7) of Cranbrook (5:01.89) will all contest the final as well.