Alanna Bowles her second strike at State Teams
Swimming Australia
Published: Oct 7, 2012 03:40:04 PM Updated: Oct 31, 2012 12:06:27 PM
Queensland teenager Alanna Bowles has taken her second individual win and second meet record on day two of the State Teams Short Course Championships at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
The 14-year-old took the lead early in the 13/14yrs 200m individual medley and held on through the strokes to win convincingly in 2:15.72, three seconds faster than her seed time and nearly a second faster than the 2011 record set by Meg Bailey (2:15.50)
The five-time Australian Age medallist is rising through ranks and will no doubt be hoping to continue her rapid rise all the way to Rio.
New South Wales swimmer Abbey Harkin was second in 2:17.05 and Victorian teen Alexandra Good (2:20.06) was third.
Queensland’s Shayna Jack shrugged off any pre-race nerves to secure the win in the final of the girl’s 13/14yrs 100m freestyle in a new meet record time of 55.33.
The triple Australian Age champion, is one of the youngest swimmers at the meet, at just 13-years-old she is also progressing through to two skins finals tonight and hoping to record a personal best in the girl’s 100m backstroke tomorrow morning.
“I use my nerves to help me race, I know I’m going to get nervous but I think because I’m younger people sometimes underestimate me but I know I can swim fast and that’s what I do,” Jack said.
Jack took over a second off the previous meet record of 56.69 from 2009 and relegated 14-year-old Lushavel Stickland (56.64) from Victoria to second and West Australian Tamsin Cook (57.92) to third.
With three wins from three individual events and qualifying times for two skins finals just in this morning’s session, Victorian Nicholas Groenewald showed no signs of slowing down as his schedule progressed.
After qualifying for both the 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke skins, Groenewald somehow had enough left in the tank to take out the 14/15yrs 200m breaststroke, the 200m individual medley and finally the 200m backstroke.
The entry times had the Victorian ranked second for the 200m breaststroke but Groenewald switched on for the race and never looked back. Queensland’s Rory Brown just held on for second with a time of 2:21.46 ahead of West Australian Austin McAleese in 2:21.90.
The boy’s 14/15yrs 200m individual medley saw Groenewald cruise to victory, taking the win easily in 2:03.97, nearly four seconds clear of his closest rival. Fifteen-year-old Ryan Leonard stole second place in 2:07.08, just out-touching his New South Wales teammate Hayden Hinds Sydenham who finished third in 2:07.70.
Groenewald’s final test for the morning came in the boy’s 14/15yrs 100m backstroke where he was racing to defend his title and take his third win. The 15-year-old looked effortless through the water and took the title in 55.42 ahead of two of his Victorian teammates Adam Howgate (57.88) and Mitchell Hutton (58.18), for a clean sweep of the podium.
Another swimmer on a recent run of success is 17-year-old Regan Leong. Leong, who collected three medals from the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, took two individual titles and qualified for two skins finals in this morning’s sessions.
The Queenslander is proving a force to be reckoned with in the boy’s races, flying ahead of Mitchell Pratt (54.12) and Edward Marks (54.57) to take the 16/17yrs 100m butterfly title in 53.89.
He then just clinched the 100m backstroke title, a fingernail ahead of Queensland teammate Robert Gerlach in 54.08. West Australian Lyndon Goldsmith rounds out the top three with a time of 56.29.
Girl’s 15/16yrs 200m Backstroke
Dual Australian Age Champion from the 100m and 200m backstroke events Lauren Rettie can now add the 200m backstroke State Teams Short Course title to her collection.
The 15-year-old touched nearly two seconds in front of New South Wales swimmer Caitlyn Richardson (2:13.41) stopping the clock at 2:11.43. Victorian Sian Whittaker took third place in 2:13.59.
Girl’s 15/16yrs 100m Freestyle
Victorian Jemma Schlicht was too strong for her competition in the final of the girl’s 15/16yrs 100m freestyle, hitting the wall in 55.06, half a body length ahead of New South Wales swimmer Sophie Taylor in 55.52.
Following her win in the 400m freestyle last night, Queenslander Megan Gianotti picked up third place in 55.96.
Boy’s 16/17yrs 200m Breaststroke
New South Wales swimmer Tomas Elliott pipped Queenslander Joshua Tierney (2:15.73) and South Australian James McKechnie (2:15.77) at the post in the boy’s 16/17yrs 200m breaststroke. All three boys were in with a chance leading into the final turn with Elliott stealing the win in the final strokes to finish with 2:15.12.
Girl’s 15/16yrs 200m IM
The girl’s 15/16yrs 200m individual medley was a state of origin affair with Queensland and New South Wales in a battle for bragging rights. New South Wales swimmer and Australian Age Champion in this event Meg Bailey (2:16.45) dug deep to give her state the win, with her teammate Paris Zhang taking third in 2:18.92.
Queensland secured the silver with Australian Age Championships bronze medallist in this event Taylor Green stopping the clock at 2:18.29.
Boy’s 16/17yrs 200m IM
The boy’s 16/17yrs 200m individual medley was a tight tussle with Junior Pan Pacs representative Jared Gilliland (2:01.38) and New South Wales teen Tomas Elliot (2:01.80) going stroke for stroke all the way to the wall. Gilliland got the better of Elliott as they hit the wall less than 0.5 seconds apart. Elliott’s NSW teammate Jake Baggaley was third in 2:02.97.
Girl's 13/14yrs 200m Backstroke
The final of the girl’s 13/14yrs 200m backstroke went to 13-year-old Sheridan Calypso (2:14.70) who touched the wall over two seconds ahead of Zoe Lysaght (2:16.95) in second with Megan Adlem (2:17.61) taking third place.
Girl’s 13/14yrs 100m Butterfly
Following her impressive performance at the EnergyAustralia Short Course Championships in Perth 14-year-old Lucia Lassman picked up her first title of the meet in the 13/14yrs 100m butterfly final in a time of 1:01.16.
Victorian teammates Alexandra Good (1:02.53) and Stephanie Whan (1:02.72) fought for the minor medals with Good stealing the silver from Whan at the wall.
Boy’s 14/15yrs 100m Butterfly
Following his record breaking performance last night, West Australian Damian Fyfe can now add the 14/15yrs 100m butterfly title to his tally. The speedy teen hit the wall in 55.32, just 0.04 of a second ahead of Queenslander Dominic Richardson in 55.36.
South Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers was third in 56.36.
Girl’s 15/16yrs 100m Butterfly
Victorian swimmer Jemma Schlicht who picked up a silver medal in this event at the recent EnergyAustralia Short Course Championships in Perth, has smashed the field in the girl’s 16/17yrs 100m butterfly final, hitting the wall in a meet record time of 59.77.
The 15-year-old was the only finalist to go under the elusive one minute mark with her closest competitor Megan Gianotti stopping the clock at 1:01.22, only slightly ahead of her Queensland teammate Vanessa Puhlmann in 1:01.25.
Progressing through to Skins finals
Girl’s 13/14yrs 50m Freestyle skins
Shayna Jack, QLD, 25.39
Lucy McJannett, NSW, 25.85
Boy’s 14/15yrs 50m Freestyle skins
Kyle Chalmers, SA, 23.38
Vincent Dai, NSW, 23.45
Girl’s 15/16yrs 50m Freestyle skins
Jemma Schlicht, VIC, 25.48
Brittany McEvoy, QLD, 25.72
Boy’s 16/17yrs 50m Freestyle skins
Cameron Jones, QLD, 22.78
Luke Percy, QLD, 22.84
Girl’s 13/14yrs 50m Breaststroke skins
Mikayla Smith, VIC, 32.56
Ella Bond, SA, 32.85
Boy’s 14/15yrs 50m Breaststroke skins
Rory Brown, QLD, 29.89
Nicholas Groenewald, VIC, 30.06*
Jayke Small, NSW, 30.06*
Girl’s 15/16yrs 50m Breaststroke skins
Jenna Strauch, VIC, 32.19
Michaela Campbell, NSW, 32.38
Boy’s 16/17yrs 50m Breaststroke skins
Tomas Elliott, NSW, 28.58
James McKechnie, SA, 28.81
Girl’s 13/14yrs 50m Backstroke skins
Shayna Jack, QLD, 28.53
Andrea Ho, WA, 29.11
Boy’s 14/15yrs 50m Backstroke skins
Nicholas Groenewald, VIC, 25.97
Rian Pate, SA, 26.55
Girl’s 15/16yrs 50m Backstroke skins
Lauren Rettie, QLD, 28.46
Jasmine Stimson, WA, 28.65
Boy’s 16/17yrs 50m Backstroke skins
Robert Gerlach, QLD, 25.23
Regan Leong, QLD, 25.39
Girl’s 13/14yrs 50m Butterfly skins
Lucia Lassman, QLD, 27.10
Stephanie Whan, VIC, 27.65
Boy’s 14/15yrs, 50m Butterfly skins
Dominic Richardson, QLD, 25.13
Kyle Chalmers, SA, 25.23
Girl’s 15/16yrs 50m Butterfly skins
Jemma Schlicht, VIC, 27.04
Vanessa Puhlmann, QLD, 27.50
Boy’s 16/17yrs 50m Butterfly skins
Cameron Jones, QLD, 24.11
Regan Leong, QLD, 24.71
You can stay up to date with results online at www.swimming.org.au or on our Facebook Page ‘The Australian Swim Team’.
Session three will start at 4:30pm this afternoon with tickets available at the door.
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