2016 Australian National Championships: Day Three Prelims Live Recap

2016 HANCOCK PROSPECTING AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• Thursday April 7th-Thursday April 14th
• SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre – Adelaide
• Prelims – 11 am local (9:30 pm EDT previous evening); Finals – 7:45 pm local (6:15 am EDT)
• Australian Olympic Qualifying Criteria
• Psych Sheets
• Program of Events
• Live stream
• Live results

WOMEN’S 400 FREE MULTI-CLASS

Monique Murphy (S10) put together a fantastic swim this morning, swimming a time of 4:33.67, nearing the S10 world record of 4:32.79. That scored her 991 points, putting her far and away in the lead after prelims.

Finishing up behind Murphy with an impressive 914 points was Lake Patterson. The 17-year-old recorded a time of 4:48.95. Third went to Jade Lucy, scoring 839 points and touching at 4:56.50.

Note: In multi-class races, swimmers are given a point score by comparing their times to the World Record in the event, so the swimmers with the lowest time doesn’t necessarily earn the top spot.

Top 8 qualifiers to finals:

1. Monique Murphy, 4:33.67
2. Lake Patterson, 4:48.95
3. Jade Lucy, 4:56.50
4. Megan Botha, 5:10.61
5. Nikesh Harding, 5:13.74
6. Jenna Jones, 5:01.89
7. Maddison Elliott, 5:25.00
8. Nicole Fielden, 5:25.43

MEN’S 400 FREE MULTI-CLASS

951 points were awarded to Brenden Hall, who touched out in a 4:14.02 for the best swim of the morning. Hall is the defending Paralympic and World Champion in this event in the S9 class.

Rowan Crothers swam a time of 4:11.88 for 904 points to finish 2nd. 3rd went to Harrison Murray in 4:14.85, which converted to 873 points.

Note: In multi-class races, swimmers are given a point score by comparing their times to the World Record in the event, so the swimmers with the lowest time doesn’t necessarily earn the top spot.

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Brenden Hall, 4:14.02
2. Rowan Crothers, 4:11.88
3. Murray Harrison, 4:14.85
4. Braeden Jason, 4:10.50
5. Blake Cochrane, 4:42.92
6. Timothy Diskey, 4:29.33
7. Lian Schluter, 4:15.04
8. Timothy Hodge, 4:32.51

WOMEN’S 200 FREE

The fastest swimmer in prelims of the women’s 200 free was Sweden’s Michelle Coleman in a 1:56.17. While that doesn’t hold much direct relevance to the Australians, it holds great significance for Sweden, who had the 4th-best 800 free relay at last year’s World Championships and have a chance at an Olympic medal in the event with an on-fire Coleman pairing up with Sarah Sjostrom, arguably the best 200 freestyler in the world, for have of the Swedish relay.

Foreigner swimmers can’t advance beyond prelims at this meet.

The Australians, meanwhile, continue to seek an answer in this event after finishing 6th in the same relay at last year’s World Championships. They didn’t have any swimmers mark times under the Aussie-mandated Olympic standard in prelims, but did get two under 1:58 already. That might seem like a minor victory, but in a soft first round, that’s significant given that Australia only had one of its four relay legs in Kazan under that same barrier.

The top two Australian finishers were St. Peters Western teammates Bronte Barratt (1:57.86) and Emma McKeon (1:57.89).

Barratt scratched the final of the 400 free in order to focus on this race.

Brittany Elmslie (1:58.83) and Madeline Groves (1:59.26) round out the top 4 qualifiers.

There were two foreigners in the top 16, meaning that Bonnie Zhang and Dahlas Rogers, the 17th and 18th fastest swimmers in prelims, will get a second swim in on Saturday evening.

Top 9 swimmers in prelims (including one foreigner).

1. Michelle Coleman, 1:56.17 (international)
2. Bronte Barratt, 1:57.86
3. Emma McKeon, 1:57.89
4. Brittany Elmslie, 1:58.83
5. Madeline Groves, 1:59.26
6. Mikkayla Sheridan, 1:59.44
7. Leah Neale, 1:59.50
8. Carla Buchanan, 1:59.53

MEN’S 200 FLY

The men’s 200 fly, on paper, is one of the weaker Australian events on paper, and in prelims of the event on Saturday morning, nobody was yet close to the Swimming Australia Olympic qualifying time in the event.

The 27-year old veteran Christopher Wright led the qualifying in 1:58.94, thanks to a final 50 split that was roughly a second faster than anybody else in the field.

American-trained Hugo Morris, who swims at Auburn University, qualified 2nd in 1:58.97, and the event favorite Grant Irvine qualified 3rd in 1:59.19. Irvine is one of only two swimmers who entered the meet with qualifying times of better than 1:57. Both he and David Morgan (6th – 1:59.79) came in with bests of 1:55.9, where the qualifying standard is set at 1:55.75.

Top 8 swimmers in prelims:

1. Christopher Wright, 1:58.94
2. Hugo Morris, 1:58.97
3. Grant Irvine, 1:59.14
4. Nicholas Brown, 1:59.19
5. Keiran Qaium, 1:59.43
6. David Morgan, 1:59.79
7. Isaac Jones, 2:00.07
8. Will Harmsen, 2:01.68

WOMEN’S 200 IM

Olympic silver medalist Alicia Coutts came away with the top qualifying time of 2:13.62. This is not only well off her lifetime best of 2:08.15, which she recorded in London, but is close to four seconds off her season’s best of 2:09.99 that she put up at the New South Wales State Championships in early March. That time currently has her sitting third in the world rankings.

The first event Coutts swam did not turn out the way she had hoped. Last night she missed out on qualifying for Rio in the 100 butterfly, an event she finished third in at the London Games. She posted a time under the Olympic qualifying standard, but finished behind both Emma McKeon and Madeline Groves.

Coutts’ competition in the 200 IM will not be as tough and considering how she performed just a month ago going under the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:11.39 should not be a problem for the two time Olympian.

Kotuku Ngawati was the seconded fastest qualifier touching the wall in a time of 2:13.89. Ngawati finished second to Emily Seebohm in this event at the 2015 Australian Championships. Seebohm had initially entered this event in Adelaide, but it was announced a week ago that she would not swim the event.

Ellen Fullerton enters the tonight’s semi-final with the third fastest time of 2:14.04. The two women who will be swimming the 400 IM in Rio finished in the next two positions. Keryn McMaster had the fourth fastest swim of the morning posting a 2:14.37 while Blair Evans hit the wall in a time of 2:15.73.

Top 8 swimmers in prelims:

1. Alicia Coutts – 2:13.62
2. Kotuku Ngawati – 2:13.89
3. Ellen Fullerton – 2:14.04
4. Keryn McMaster – 2:14.37
5. Blair Evans – 2:15.73
6. Aisling Scott – 2:16.14
7. Calypso Sheridan – 2:18.19
8. Samantha Wilkins – 2:18.20

WOMEN’S 50 BREAST MULTI-CLASS

Tiffany Kane (SB6) was the top qualifier posting a time of 44.76, which gave her a point score of 983. Kenda Williams (SB9) finished second in a time of 38.76 earning 748 points followed by Kate Wilson (SB6) who recorded a 49.62 giving her 721 points.

Top 8 swimmers in prelims:

1. Tiffany Kane (SB6) – 44.76
2. Kenda Williams (SB9) – 38.76
3. Kate Wilson (SB6) – 49.62
4. Hannah Britton (SB15) – 37.63
5. Jaime Getson (SB14) – 40.09
6. Ruby Storm (SB14) – 41.77
7. Emily Schmidt (SB14) – 41.92
8. Nicole Miro (SB9) – 42.44

MEN’S 50 BREAST MULTI-CLASS

Blake Cochrane (SB7) was this morning’s top qualifier putting up a 35.74 earning 982 points. Ahmed Kelly (SB3) qualified second in a time of 50.45 earning 888 points followed by Matthew Levy (SB7) who recorded a 37.08 earning 879 points.

Top 8 qualifiers after prelims

1. Blake Cochrane (SB7) – 35.74
2. Ahmed Kelly (SB3) – 50.45
3. Matthew Levy (SB7) – 37.08
4. Richard Eliason (SB14) – 31.80
5. Liam Bekric (SB13) – 31.74
6. Mitchell Kilduff (SB14) – 32.46
7. Matthew Ward (SB9) – 32.22
8. Solomon Coleman (SB14) – 34.83

• For the SB2 and SB3 classes, the 50 breaststroke is a Paralympic event
• For the SB4-SB14 classes, the 100 breaststroke is a Paralympic event