The Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships was held from 7 - 12 April 2019 at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide. Swimming WA had a total of 55 swimmers from 13 SWA Clubs representing the State with honour over a week of intense competition.
The WA swimmers closed out the Championships with their heads held high, after some outstanding swimming. Our WA representatives finished with a total medal count of 26, 11 of which were achieved in the Open finals (Two Gold, Three Silver, Six Bronze) and 15 Medals won in the age group categories (10 Gold, Four Silver, One Bronze).
On Sunday 7 April 2019, the first night of finals kicked off. In the third event of the evening, the Men’s 20/21 100m Backstroke final, Kevin Kalember, 20 (ROC) collected gold in the in a time of 56.29. Twenty-year-old Ben Roberts (BRW) then won Gold in the 20/21 Men’s 400m Freestyle in a time of 3:52.91. Ashton Brinkworth, 19 (UWSC) won Gold by over a second in the Men’s 18/19 100m Butterfly recording a time of 54.23, while Chris Purcell (SSPW) took out the honours in the Men’s 20/21 100m Butterfly in 56.49.
St Hilda’s swimmer Anna Monaghan (17) touched the wall in third taking out bronze in the Women’s 17/18 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:12.86. Our first relay medal was taken out by UWA West-Coast, (Zac Incerti, Alex Milligan, Brianna Throssell, Jemima Horwood) who in the Mixed 4x100 Medley Relay claimed the Bronze Medal.
Monday night action kicked off with the Men’s Multi-Class 100m Backstroke event with Jeremy McClure, 31 (STSH) placing 5th and qualifying for the World Para-Swimming Championships after finishing in a time of 1:12.58 (775 MCPS). Brianna Throssell, 23 (UWSC) captured a silver medal in the Women’s 100m Butterfly in 57.52, while Blair Evans, 28 (UWSC) took out the bronze medal in the Women’s 400IM shortly after with a time of 4:41.97. In the 20/21 Men’s event, WA went one and two with Jackson Govers, 21 (SHILD) picking up Gold in 24.58 and Chris Purcell, 21 (SSPW) picking up silver in a time of 25.57. To finish off the night and after picking up Gold in the Men’s 20/21 400m the night prior, Ben Roberts, 20 (BRW) collected bronze in the 800m Men’s freestyle recording a time of 8:01.22.
On day three, Tuesday 9 April, our swimmers showed no signs of slowing down. Multi-Class swimmer Katherine Downie, 23 (PERC) collected a silver medal in the 200m Multi-Class IM with a total of 824 MCPS.
In the Men’s 18/19 200IM Breakers swimmer Kieran Pollard, 19 (BRW) took out the gold medal in a time of 2:04.44 while Holly Barratt, 31 (ROC) won the bronze medal in the Women’s 50m Backstroke, producing a time of 28.22. Alex Milligan 21, (UWSC) won his first individual medal, claiming silver in the 20/21 age group of the Men’s 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:02.45.
On Wednesday 10 April, Kieran Pollard, 19 (BRW) claimed bronze, registering a 7.61 second personal best in the Men’s 400IM.
On night five of the Championships, Kevin Kalember, 20 (ROC) claimed one of two medals for WA won during the night, winning the gold for the Men’s 20/21 50m backstroke in a time of 26.41. The second medal was won by Anna Monaghan, 17 (SHILD) who touched the wall first, collecting Gold in the Women’s 17/18 years 50m Breaststroke final in 33.13.
The final night of competition commenced on Friday 12 April and saw some outstanding results to close out the Championship. Blair Evans, 28 (UWSC) secured bronze in the Women’s 200 IM in a time of 2:14.29. In the 17/18 Years 200IM Arena Swim Club swimmer Lauren Gastevich, 18 (ARE) touched the wall in 2:17. 30 to claim the silver medal. Kevin Kalember, 20 (ROC) finished his week off on a high, by claiming Silver in the 20/21 Men’s 200m Backstroke recording a time of 2:03.00. UWA-West Coast swimmer, Nicholas Brown, 23 won the gold medal; smashing his heats time by over two seconds in the Men’s 200m Butterfly recording a time of 1:56.50. In the Men’s 18/19 event, Breakers swimmer Kieran Pollard, 19 (BRW) won gold in 2:03.24 Chris Purcell, 21 (SSPW) secured another gold in the Men’s 20/21 event in a time of 2:06.31.
After placing 5th in the 100m Backstroke in a time of 1:01.92 earlier in the session, Holly Barratt, 31 (ROC) took out the Women’s 50m Butterfly to win WA’s second Gold medal of the night in a time of 25.91 beating Cate Campbell by 0.12 seconds.
In event 62, the second last event of the Meet, Ben Roberts, 20 (Breakers) gave everything he had left in the task but was pipped on the line by 0.13 seconds in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle recording a time of 15:15.66. This silver medal was the cherry on top of an already outstanding Championships for Ben.
At the conclusion of the Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships, the 2019 World Para Championship Aussie Team was announced. Western Australia is lucky to have two WA swimmers in the squad. Congratulations to Jeremy McClure (South Shore) and Ben Popham (Arena) on making the Aussie Team.
Swimming Australia also announced the Australian team set to compete in July at the World University Games in Italy. Two WA swimmers were selected as part of this squad, congratulations to Ashton Brinkworth (UWA West Coast) and Ben Roberts (Breakers) on their selection.
The Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Swimming Championships was held from Monday 15 – Monday 22 April 2019 at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre in Adelaide. Swimming WA had a total of 163 swimmers from 24 SWA Clubs competing in a week of intense competition.
The WA swimmers represented their Clubs and State proudly, with some outstanding swimming all around. Our West Australian representatives finished with a total medal count of forty-four, 10 Bronze, 10 Silver and a massive 24 Gold medals! UWA West Coast Swimming Club featured heavily throughout the Championships; finishing third in the country based off results from the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Swimming Championships.
Day one finals started on a high with Kalani Ireland, 17 (PERC) for winning the gold medal in the Boys 17 Years 50m Freestyle final in a time of 23.21. This was then followed by a gold medal from Joshua Yong, 17 (UWSC) in the Boys 17 Years 100m Breaststroke, with an outstanding swim, finishing in 1:03.38.
UWA West-Coast swimmer TJ Chong Sue won the silver medal in the Boys 15 Years 200m Backstroke with a time of 2:05.49.
In event 16, the Boys 16 years 100m Freestyle final, Joshua Edwards-Smith, 17 (UWSC) won the gold medal in a flying time of 50.66.
UWA West-Coast pulled together some energy after a long first day of racing to do very well in both the Boys 14-15 4x50 Medley Relay and the Boys 16-17 4x50 Freestyle Relay. In the Medley (TJ Chong Sue, Adriano Todoro, Ruan Van der Riet, Brendan Best) they finished 2nd and received silver medals in a time of 1:47.51. This was then followed up in the 4x50 Freestyle relay, (Cooper Brinkworth, Joshua Edwards-Smith, Hugh Moran, Thomas Noordzy) as they gave it their all and claimed Gold in a final time of 1:34.28, breaking the Australian Age Club and All Comers Record.
Day two began with Crystal Edwards, 15 (UWSC) claiming her first medal of the Championship, winning silver in the Girls 15 Years 100m Freestyle final in a time of 56.15. Followed by Kalani Ireland, 17 (PERC) continued his good form, winning his second gold medal for the Meet in the Boys 17 years 100m Backstroke.
UWA West-Coast Swimmer Joshua Edwards-Smith, 16 took out bronze in the Boys 16 years 50m Freestyle, Touching the wall in a time of 23.54.
Ruan Van der Riet, 15 (UWSC) and Damian Badenhorst, 15 (ROC) battled it out in the Boys 15 Years 200m Butterfly final. Ruan managed to get ahead to claim gold in a time of 2:03.82 with Damian following in 2nd place in 2:05.42.
The third day of finals began on a massive high with speedster Joshua Edwards-Smith (16, UWSC) winning gold in the Boys 16 Years 100m Backstroke, clocking a time of 55.01 to break Andrew Lauterstein’s Australian Age and All Comers record by 0.43sec. Andrew was on pool deck at the time DJ’ing the session as he watched Josh take the record from him.
Crystal Edwards, 15 (UWSC) was focused swimming a great time of 1:12.31 in the Girls 15 Years 100m Breaststroke to claim bronze. Crystal then backed up her good form later in the evening in the Girls 15 Years 50m Freestyle winning the silver medal in 26.05.
Alyssa Burgess, 16 (ARE) took out our first medal of the night in the Girls 16 Years 100m Backstroke, missing out on silver by .05 of a second to claim bronze in 1:02.09.
In the battle of the Breaststrokers, UWA West-Coast duo Aleksandr “Sasha” Bell (17) and Joshua Yong (17) battled each other all the way to the wall in the Boys 17 200m final. Sasha got a fingernail in front to claim Gold in a time of 2:16.15 with Joshua following to take out silver in 2:16.61.
Day four began with Kalani Ireland (Perth City) collecting his third national title of the Championships, winning gold in the 100m Butterfly in a time of 54.16.
UWA West Coast’s TJ Chong Sue was all smiles after recording his first gold medal of the Championships – powering to the wall in a time of 57.00 in the Boys’ 15-year 100m Backstroke.
In event 74, a Bronze medal was awarded to Ruan van der Riet (UWA West Coast) in the 400m IM after a seven-second improvement on his heats time (4:35.24).
To end off the night, UWA West Coast ‘A’ team (Joshua Edwards-Smith, Joshua Yong, Ruan van der Riet and Hugh Moran) gave everything they had left in the tank to collect Gold in the Boys 14-17 4x100 Medley Relay in a time of 3:46.31.
On the 5th day of competition, UWA West-Coast 15-year-old Adriano Todoro battled teammate TJ Chong Sue all the way to the wall in the Boys 15 Years 200m Breaststroke final. Adriano just got ahead to claim the bronze medal in 2:23.08.
UWA continued their good form in the team events, “A” Boys (Joshua Edwards-Smith, Hugh Moran, Joshua Yong, Cooper Brinkworth) claimed silver medals in the Boys 15-16 4x50 Medley Relay, touching in 1:44.32.
The 6th day began with the first medal from our Multi-Class events in the middle session of the day, Ella Hodgson, 13 (UWSC) won gold in the Girls 11-15 400m Freestyle final in a time of 4:56.61 (1234 MCPS)
Our long-distance swimmers took to the water to start the night session in the Boys 16-17 1500m event. Both Robert Bonsall, 16 (UWSC) and Kyle Lee, 17 (BUN) won bronze is their age categories, swimming times of 16:15.45 and 15:54.11.
We had three WA swimmers appear in the Girls 15 years 200IM final. However, Crystal Edwards, 15 (UWSC) got ahead to claim the bronze medal in a time of 2:20.91. TJ Chong Sue, 15 (UWSC) then received the first gold medal of the evening in the Boys 15 Years 200m IM in a time of 2:07.10.
Iona Anderson, 13 (BRW) took out the bronze medal in the Girls 13 Years 100m Backstroke final (1:05.58). Well done Iona!
16-Year-Old Alyssa Burgess (ARE) knocked a few seconds off her PB to win gold in the Girls 16 Years 200m Backstroke (2:12.77).
The highlight of the night, and possibly the swim of the Meet went to Joshua Edwards-Smith, 16 (UWSC) who continued his excellent form in the Boys 16 Years 200m backstroke final. Josh finished the race in a time of 1:57.82, which was enough to not only win him the gold medal but also to smash Olympian Mitch Larkin’s Australian Age and All Comers record which was previously set at 2:01.00 back in 2010. Well done Josh!
Damian Badenhorst, 15 (ROC) won the bronze medal in the Boys 15 years 100m Butterfly, clocking a time of 55.62.
UWA West-Coast “A” team won gold in the Mixed 13-17 4x50 Medley Relay. Joshua Edwards-Smith, Crystal Edwards, Joshua Yong and Teegan Watson were too strong for the rest of the field, finishing in 1:48.09.
The night concluded with the announcement of the Junior Australian Team set to compete at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Hungary. Congratulations to Kalani Ireland (Perth City), Alyssa Burgess (Arena) and UWA West Coast duo Joshua Edwards-Smith and Joshua Yong on being selected in this team. Special mention to Michael Shaw (UWA West-Coast) who was also selected as a coach to accompany the team.
On day 7 we had some great success from our Multi-Class swimmers, Victoria Park’s Amy Ralph (15) claimed Bronze in the Girls 15-16 100m Backstroke Multi-Class with a 352 MCPS.
Ella Hodgson (UWA West Coast) took out Gold in the Girls 11-14 50m Freestyle Multi-Class with 880 MCPS.
Tegan Reder won Silver in the Girls 15-16 100m Breaststroke Multi-Class beating her seed time by over a second to finish with 529 MCPS.
On Sunday afternoon, Ella Hodgson (UWA West Coast) took out another two Gold medals in the Girls 11-14 100m Backstroke Multi-Class with 1198 MCPS in a time of 1:15.71. The second was where she earnt her third national title in the Girls 11-14 50m Breaststroke Multi-Class with 623 MCPS and a time of 43.72.
As the 8th and final day began Ella showed no signs of slowing down, claiming gold in the first event of the day, the Girls 11-15 200m IM Multi-Class. Ella finished in a time of 2:48.79 (840 MCPS).
Ella also claimed two more gold medals to close out the morning session. The first in the Girls 11-14 100m Freestyle Multi-Class in a time of 1:06.79 (932), and the second in the Girls 11-14 50m Butterfly Multi-Class hitting the wall in 36.03 (699 MCPS). Her fourth gold medal of the day was won in the afternoon session in the Girls 11-14 50m Backstroke Multi-Class in an outstanding time of 35.14 (1015 MCPS). Ella's final medal tally was eight Gold Medals, with six Personal Bests recorded. Well done Ella!
Victoria Park’s Amy Ralph (15) won silver in 1:16.46 (506 MCPS) and Tegan Reder, 15 (VPS) won silver in the Girls 15-16 50m Breaststroke Multi-Class, touching the wall in 39.98 (508 MCPS).
Congratulations to all the swimmers, parents, coaches and volunteers who were a part of the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian and Age Swimming Championships.
Special mention to all the WA Technical Officials who participated at the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships.
Swimming WA is very proud of everyone who was a part of both Championships and represented their Clubs and State so proudly.
