South Australian Kyle Chalmers has become the first boy in the 14-15 years age group to swim a sub-50-second 100m freestyle at the State Teams Short Course Championships, at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
The 15-year-old sprint sensation hit the wall in an impressive time of 49.45 smashing the previous meet record set by Te Haumi Maxwell in 2009 of 50.15 and writing himself into the record books.
Chalmers touched first ahead of the defending title holder, New South Wales swimmer Vincent Dai (50.56) and Victorian Benno Negri (50.70).
The swimmers continued to impress in session three with seven more meet records broken this evening after this morning’s sensational efforts that saw a total of 14 records fall on day two.
After breaking the 100m butterfly meet record this morning, Queensland swimmer Dominic Richardson took his second record for the day this time in the boy’s 16-17 years 200m butterfly.
The 16-year-old stopped the clock at 1:57.55 to take the title convincingly ahead of Joachim Bardrum (1:58.68) from New South Wales and Hamish McDougall (2:00.77) from Victoria.
Triple Australian Age Champion Nicholas Groenewald is proving a force to be reckoned with in the boy’s backstroke events after setting a new meet record and taking the title in the boy’s 16-17 years 200m backstroke.
The Victorian finished three seconds clear of his closest rival in 1:56.07 to relegate Queensland’s Peter Mills to second in 1:59.15 and New South Wales swimmer Matthew Pender to third in 2:00.82.
Victorian swimmer Lucy Soden played her part in an attempt to close in on Queensland’s lead, with a win and a new meet record in the girl’s 15-16 years 100m backstroke.
Soden was too strong sealing the win in a time of 1:00.33 with Sophie Taylor (1:01.44) securing second and Amy Forrester (1:01.79) bagging the bronze.
Queensland picked up the last two records of the night with Calypso Sheridan’s win in the girl’s 13-14 years 200m breaststroke and then in the Girl’s 15-16 years 4x100m freestyle relay.
Sheridan set the new record with a time of 2:28.31, getting the better of Victorian teammates Mikayla Smith (2:30.66) and Paris Vasta (2:31.19).
Western Australia showed off their versatility taking the win in the boy’s 14-15 years 4x100m medley relay. James Hansford, Alex Milligan, Jackson Govers and Braga Verhage combined to take top spot in a meet record time of 3:47.28. New South Wales finished just behind for second with a time of3:47.73 while Queensland finished third in 3:48.09.
The Queensland quartet of Jazmine Wildin-Snedden, Lizzie Gannon, Amy Forrester and Chelsea Gillett faced a tough chase from the Victorian team but managed to hold on to the win with a speedy anchor leg from World Junior Championship representative Gillett.
Queensland hit the wall in 3:40.86 to set a new meet record and hold off Victoria in 3:41.85 and New South Wales in 3:45.18.
In other events…
Girl’s 13-14 years 800m Freestyle
The girl’s 13-14 years 800m freestyle saw a tussle for the title between Victorian swimmer Ellodie Reid (8:54.44) and New South Wales swimmer Olivia Adams (8:55.12) with Reid just getting the better of Adams at the wall to pick up the points for her state. Third place went to Queensland’s Sarah Johnson in 9:02.79.
Boy’s 14-15 years 200m Butterfly
It came down to the touch in the boy’s 14-15 years 200m butterfly with Jackson Govers, Joel Watson (2:04.77) and Mitchell Simmons (2:04.92) all hitting the wall within half a second of each other.
Govers was first to the wall in 2:04.33 with Watson second and Simmons rounding out the top three.
Girl’s 13-14 years 100m Backstroke
Thirteen-year-old Minna Atherton (1:02.40) took the title in the girl’s 13-14 years 100m backstroke with Victorian Jessica Adams (1:03.35) in second and Queenslander Kayla Hoey (1:03.45) third.
Girl’s 15-16 years 200m Breaststroke
Victoria’s Karlene Pircher and Queensland’s Georgia Bohl battled for bragging rights in the girl’s 15-16 years 200m breaststroke. Pircher pulled away in the final lap to take the win in 2:29.11 with Bohl second in 2:29.21 and South Australia’s Ella Bond third in 2:30.12.
Boy’s 16-17 years 100m Freestyle
World Junior Championship relay medalist Blake Jones impressed in the boy’s 16-17 years 100m freestyle, picking up the points for Queensland with a time of 50.06. The fight for second and third saw Edward Marks (50.37) and Jye Cornwell (50.38) touch just 0.01 of a second apart with Marks just managing to get the better of Cornwell.
Girl’s 15-16 years 400m Individual Medley
New South Wales swimmer Meg Bailey backed up from her impressive efforts in the morning session to pick up another win, this time in the girl’s 15-16 years 400m individual medley. Bailey bagged the title in a time of 4:40.97 ahead of Alanna Bowles in 4:42.36 and Chelsea Gubecka in 4:43.02.
Boy’s 14-15 years 200m Backstroke
New South Wales took the top two spots in the boy’s 14-15 years 200m backstroke with Bradley Woodward (2:02.01) and Lachlan Vane-Tempest(2:03.22) hitting the wall ahead of Queenslander Clyde Lewis (2:03.36).
Girl’s 13-14 years 400m Individual Medley
Fourteen-year-old Rebecca Cross blitzed the field in the girl’s 13-14 years 400m individual medley to take the win in 4:50.04, two seconds clear of her closest rival.
Queenslander Calypso Sheridan (4:52.16) and Victorian Mikayla Smith (4:54.03) were second and third respectively.
Boy’s 14-15 years 1500m Freestyle
Picking up some much needed points for Tasmania, 14-year-old Jacob Vincent took out the boy’s 14-15 years 1500m freestyle in a time of 15:43.74. Vincent finished over ten seconds ahead of Brody McGowan in 15:54.97 and Paras Nain in 16:00.60.
Boy’s 16-17 years 4x100m Medley Relay
The Queensland team of Jye Cornwell, Max Muggeridge, Dominic Richardson and Blake Jones (3:39.26) managed to hold off a fast finishing New South Wales (3:39.82) team to take the win in the boy’s 16-17 years 4x100m medley relay. Victoria finished third in 3:42.19.
Girl’s 13-14 years 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Victoria continued their climb up the leader-board with a win in the girl’s 13-14 years 4x100m freestyle relay. Julia Hawkins, Elyse Woods, Samantha Howe and Jessica Adams stopped the clock in 3:47.72 to relegate Queensland (3:48.76) to second and New South Wales (3:48.93).
The above is a press release submitted to SwimSwam unedited.
Why do the boys have an odd number and the girls an even number for the higher age in each age group?
I believe that at this particular meet, the age group section ends at 18 for males and 17 for females. The groups are thus adjusted to compensate. The state and national age group championships are separated into each individual year, and the records are also kept this way as well (unlike the US).
Correction, 17 for males and 16 for females.