Age Champs closes with WA medal spree
Swimming Western Australia
Published: Apr 15, 2012 12:43:30 AM
WA's best young swimmers have set the pool alight across the final two days of racing at the 2012 Australian Age Swimming Championships in Brisbane.
On Friday night, City of Perth’s Brianna Throssell re-wrote the record books in lowering her own WA All-Time Record with a GOLD Medal swim in the Girls 16yrs 100m Butterfly.
Brianna had company at the first turn with most of the field touching together however a blistering return lap saw the Perth College student power to the wall in a new best time of 59.72.
The win was Throssell’s 3rd GOLD medal for the week, with Coach Matt Magee praising the 16yr olds performance.
“Thrash has really stepped up this week, not just in her results but more so in her level of professionalism and productivity”, Magee said.
Tamsin Cook (City of Perth) added more bling to her swim bag with a SILVER Medal winning performance in the Girls 12/13yrs 400m Freestyle. Cook has enjoyed a fantastic start to her National Championship career netting 5-medals across a range of different events at her very first Nationals.
Western Sprint’s versatile swimmer Andrew Walker was the third Australian home on Friday night in the Final of the Boys 15yrs 200m Freestyle to claim BRONZE in what was a very fast race across the board. Walker’s controlled and well-executed race was enough to post a new personal best time of 1.56.52 and in the process reach the podium on Day 5 of the National Age Swimming Championships.
In closing the night it was West Coast’s Awesome Foursome who “did the double” in winning the Boys 14yrs and Under 4x50m Freestyle Relay.
The quartet of Mitchell Wright, Braga Verhage, Alex Chin and Alex Milligan outswam their rivals for the second time this week and secured a GOLD Medal for themselves in the final race of the night.
Tonights finals continued the WA medal haul, with four podium finishes rounding out the phenomenal week of racing for WA's young talent.
Damian Fyfe (City of Perth) netted himself a 4th GOLD Medal for the Meet when he came ploughing into the wall to win the 14yrs Boys 200m Freestyle. Fyfe’s time of 1.54.58 not only confirmed the youngsters week as an overwhelming success but also smashed the 8-year old WA All-Time Record previously held by teammate and City of Perth senior Jason Evans.
In a fitting end to a tough National Open/Age double campaign it was WA’s fastest woman, Brianna Throssell who pushed the limits of her versatility to secure a 5th medal, a SILVER in the Girls 16yrs 800m Freestyle.
“At the start of summer I sat down with my coach and we set some targets for both Olympic Trials and Age. One of those goals was to PB in every event at AGE” Throssell said.
There was more medal action towards the end of the night with a flurry of BRONZE Medals going to WA’s Emily Kayser in the 16yrs Girls 800m Freestyle in a time of 8.50.28, Alex Milligan (West Coast) in the Boys 14yrs 200m Breastroke in a new personal best time of 2.26.34, Andrew Walker (Western Sprint) who snatched a 3rd place and another medal in the Boys 15yrs 100m Butterfly in a time of 56.53 and City of Perth’s Tamsin Cook who added a 6th medal to her first ever National Age Champs with BRONZE in the Girls 12/13yrs 400m Individual Medley in a new best time of 5.05.64.
By weeks end, WA had secured a total of 31 Medals at the Championships including 29-individual and 2-relay.
Congratulations to all swimmers and coaches who participated in the event - an outstanding result for WA.
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