Courtesy: Swimming Australia
A team of 35 swimmers – 21 men and 14 women – will represent the Australian Dolphins at next month’s Para Pan Pacs in Cairns from August 9-14.
The team was named after four-days of solid competition at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championship Trials at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre and includes 17 Queenslanders, seven from NSW, five from Victoria, four from WA and two from SA.
Seven swimmers Blake Cochrane, Daniel Fox, Ellie Cole, Katja Dedekind, Braedan Jason, Logan Powell, Jacob Templeton, are all from the USC Spartans Swim Team on the Sunshine Coast.
The Dolphins will be led by Paralympic stars Lakeisha Patterson (Lawnton), Brenden Hall (Lawnton), Cole (USC Spartans, QLD) and Rachael Watson (Chandler, QLD) who will be joined by a host of new faces, unveiled during the Trials.
Seventeen swimmers from the 2014 Para Pan Pacs in the US will return for this meet, a strong signal that the Dolphins will again be super competitive.
North Sydney’s 31-year-old Matt Levy is the oldest member of the team and he will be included alongside his coach, former Australian and Canadian Commonwealth Games swimmer, Stephen Badger.
In tonight’s action Para Program Swimmer of the Year Yeronga Park’s Rowan Crothers showed his power when he smashed his time from the heats in the final of the men’s Multi Class 100m freestyle, clocking an impressive 51.69 (953pts) to send a message to the opposition that he means business in Cairns.
Crothers cruised to victory ahead of Kawana Waters swimmer Liam Schluter (54.04, 832pts) and USC Spartans swimmer Daniel Fox (54.15, 827)., with both swimmers in formidable form as they too joined Crothers on the Dolphins team.
In the corresponding women’s event, after making her debut on the Australian Swim Team in 2006 Cole (USC Spartans) showed why she isn’t going anywhere, with the 26-year-old picking up her second Australian Championship crown for the meet in the women’s 100m freestyle Multi Class tonight.
Cole who clocked 1:04.37 (847pts) admitted she had lost count of her title tally but was excited to still be swimming fast and to get the chance to once again pull on the green and gold for the Para Pan Pacs.
Sitting in second place was late addition to the team, Ashleigh McConnell (Melbourne Vicentre) in 1:04.54 (841pts) with Patterson (Lawnton) up on the podium once again for third in 1:05.40 (830pts), with McConnell joining Victorian teammate Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedos,)
Australian Dolphins Swim Team, Para Pan Pacs, Cairns, August 9-14, 2018: Men’s 2018 Para Pan Pacs Team
MEN: Jesse Aungles (Marion, SA), Liam Bekric (Norwood, SA), Rohan Bright (Barker Aquatic, NSW), Blake Cochrane (USC Spartans, QLD), Rowan Crothers (Yeronga Park, QLD), Timothy Disken (PLC Aquatic, VIC), Daniel Fox (USC Spartans, QLD), Brenden Hall (Lawnton, QLD), Guy Harrison-Murray (Westside Church Aquatic, WA), Timothy Hodge (Auburn, NSW), Braedan Jason (USC Spartans, QLD), Ahmed Kelly (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC), Mitchell Kilduff (SLC Aquadot, NSW), Matthew Levy (North Sydney, NSW), Jeremy McClure (South Shore, WA), Grant Patterson (Central Cairns, QLD), Rick Pendleton (Genesis Aquatic, QLD), Ben Popham (Arena, WA), Logan Powell (USC Spartans, QLD), Liam Schluter (Kawana Waters, QLD), Jacob Templeton (USC Spartans, QLD)
WOMEN: Ellie Cole (USC Spartans, QLD), Taylor Corry (Trinity Lismore, NSW), Katja Dedekind (USC Spartans, QLD), Katherine Downie (Perth City, WA), Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedos, VIC), Jasmine Greenwood (Bay & Basin, NSW), Paige Leonhardt (Yeronga Park, QLD), Ashleigh McConnell (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC), Monique Murphy (Lawnton, QLD), Lakeisha Patterson (Lawnton, QLD), Madeleine Scott (Nunawading, VIC), Keira Stephens (Fraser Coast, QLD), Tiffany Thomas Kane (Lane Cove, NSW), Rachael Watson (Chandler, QLD).
Para Pan Pacs Team Head Coach Leigh Nugent
Coaches: Stephen Badger (North Sydney, NSW),) Clinton Camilleri (Auburn, NSW), Harley Connolly (Lawnton, QLD), Nathan Doyle (University of Sunshine Coast, QLD), Gavin Stewart SLC Aquadot, NSW), Rob Van Der Zant (Yeronga Park, QLD), Yuriy Vdovychenko (SAL National Training Centre )
Cole won 100free only because they used the wrong world record time. Current S8 WR stands at 1:03.66 they used 1:01:47 which gave Cole the win over Patterson.
Result should stand as Patterson, Cole, McConnell
It should be Cole, McConnell and whoever followed her no Patterson at all. Why have Swimming Australia not done anything about Patterson? This is just obssurd to allow someone to make a fool of their own country by cheating.
Multi Class National Titles are determined by who swam closest to the World Record in their class. That happened to be Patterson and she is Internationally classified by the IPC – end of. SAL should overturn the result admitting that a clerical error was made. Cole, a 3 time Paralympian (not a rooky) and her coach – Head Coach at USC High Performace Centre (not a rooky coach) have had more than enough time to realise that she is not the rightful National Title holder for the 100 free. Given their combined experience I’m surprised that they didn’t realise before the medal ceremony. There needs to be more respect by everyone for the rules and the other competitors in these… Read more »
Oh poor Patterson……..but what about all the other S8 swimmers that she has ripped medals and titles off in the last few years due to her cheating? Some might call it karma.
Cole was wrongly announced by Swimming Australia as MC 100free National Title holder, a title which is determined by WRs and National / International Classification status. Therefor, based on the IPC WR and classification status, you can not possibly argue against the fact that an error has occurred. Swimming Australia aren’t responsible for classification, the IPC are. Swimming Australia are however responsible for National Swimming Championships. They have made a clerical mistake and used the wrong WR for the S8 class which gifted Cole the win.
The current S8 WR 1:03.66 was set by Tai (S9 100 back CG Gold medalist) in Sheffield during her shock S8 classification. Patterson set the previous S8 WR in December 2017.
Are… Read more »
And Swimming Australia, Cole and Patterson would be well aware of this, so why was Cole presented with the gold medal? Not like Patterson to go down without a fight when there is an opportunity to be in the limelight.
Before CG, Patterson was indexed for review later this year, so until her status as an S8 is “confirmed”, the WR she set in CG is not ratified.
Swimming Australia used the wrong S8 WR time – 1:01.47 instead of 1:03.66. Nothing whatsoever to do with Patterson’s CG non ratified WR relating to her current classification status of Review – which Cole also is btw.
Yes I agree that there was an obvious clerical error, but that is not Cole’s fault. Maybe call it karma for her being ripped off from the gold at Commonwealth Games by a swimmer who Should not have be there due to IM.
Yes Cole is also up for classification but hers will be a clear cut reclass of S9 as she is an amputee. Patterson on the other hand, well, let’s just wait and see what other conditions she adds to her long list before she gets there.
I do wonder when the Australians will be reclassed. It seems that they are deliberately being delayed for some reason.
Cole is not at fault for the clerical error but she is at fault for hanging on to a National Title that she didn’t rightfully earn according to the rules in place. End of. She, a senior athlete, needs to hand it over to Patterson. It’s not difficult.
Might be an idea to check out the weighting system for non-Paralympic event’s ‘base times’ before making any further comments. As I understand a five percent weighting is added to base times on non Paralympic events. Similar impact on s9 swimmer in 50 metre freestyle.
Non-Paralympic Event Weightings
A five percent (5%) weighting is added to long course events not included in the most recent Paralympic Games program.
When point scores for long course events are compared there are some anomalies that occur which result in a competitive advantage. This is influence by factors such as the depth of field, (i.e. the number of competitors that participate in a respective event internationally), whether an event takes place at key championships (i.e. is it a Paralympic event) and how old the world record is.
It is therefore easier to attain a high point score in events that are not regularly contested at international level. Adjusting the base time for these events creates a… Read more »
How can you hand over a title to the biggest fraud in para swimming and call it fair.
Clerical error or not no cheat should be rewarded for robbing genuine disabled swimmers of any medal.
It’s about time the photographic evidence was published so every one can see the magic hand at work.