Emma McKeon Breaks National Record; First Commonwealth/Pan Pacs Spots Awarded

The McKeon siblings are quickly becoming the stars early at the 2014 Australian National Championships in Brisbane, as David McKeon and Emma McKeon were the first to qualify this week for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

That continues a long legacy that included a mother (Susie Woodhouse), father (Ron McKeon), and uncle (Rob Woodhouse) who are all former Commonwealth Games qualifiers.

Men’s 400 Free – FINALS

As for the current generation, David McKeon booked his tickets in just the second final of the meet, swimming a world-leading 3:43.72 in the 400 meter freestyle. He set an early pace than Melbourne Vicente’s Mack Horton couldn’t hold up to, and though the 1500 specialist Horton closed very well to take 2nd in 3:44.60, McKeon’s swim was too strong to contend with.

Besides being a world leader, that swim by McKeon was just .01 seconds shy of the number with which he won this race at last year’s Australian National Championship meet.

Horton’s time also cleared the SAL A time, as did that of 3rd-place finisher Jordan Harrison (3:47.42), meaning that all three should receive invites to the year’s two major long course events. At 21, 17, and 18, the next generation of great Australian freestylers is starting to bloom, which should fill a gap that has been left over the last years.

Horton’s time, though far, far shy of Australia’s own Junior Record (about four seconds off of Thorpe), is under what FINA will recognize as its first Junior World Record in the event, so we’ll await ratification on that effort.

Women’s 200 Free – FINALS

Meanwhile, in the very next event, David’s 19-year old sister Emma McKeon swam a 1:55.68 that moved her to 2nd in the World Rankings this year with a new National Record of 1:55.68

McKeon, who has long been well ahead of the curve for her age, has now become its standard-bearer, as this swim followed up her previous lifetme best from the super series in January.

She’ll be joined on the 800 free relay this summer, pending the outcome of roster size, by Bronte Barratt (1:56.61), Brittany Elmslie (1:57.64), and Meagen Nay (1:58.43). Those three all represent St. Peter’s Western, as does the 5th-place finisher Madeline Groves (1:58.81).

Barratt’s runner-up time also hit the SAL A time, meaning that she’ll be invited to swim this event individually at the Commonwealth Games. Elmslie will be offered the opportunity to swim the event at the Commonwealth Games, and if she hits the “A” standard there, again at Pan Pacs.

Scratching out of the A-Final in the event was Mel Schlanger after a 1:59.72; she was on Australia’s silver-medal winning 800 free relay at the Olympics.

Men’s 200 Breast – FINALS

In the men’s 200 breaststroke finals, 28-year old Christian Sprenger has brought some class back to the event with a 2:08.63 to win and put himself as well atop of the world rankings.

Last year, Sprenger took a hiatus from this event to focus on the spring breaststrokes, despite being the National Record holder and a former World Record holder. That left the Australian team to muddle through the event at trials, without anybody even worthy of qualifying for Worlds. This year, Sprenger becomes a gold medal contender with that qualifying swim at both Pan Pacs and the Commonwealth Games.

In 2nd was Daniel Tranter in 2:12.26, well short of the qualifying standard, and in 3rd was Nudgee Brothers’ Buster Sykes in 2:12.95, which was three-tenths faster than his meet-winning time from last year.

Women’s 400 IM – FINALS

There were no qualifying standards hit in this race, but 20-year old Waterworx swimmer Keryn McMaster did crack the 4:40 barrier to win this 400 IM in 4:39.69, and repeating as National Champion.

Though she fell behind early to newly-Australian Ellen Gandy, McMaster had the superior back-half to make up about three seconds and overcome Gandy’s 4:41.11 for the victory.

Both swimmers cleared the SAL B time, which means they won’t qualify for Pan Pacs but have a chance at the Commonwealth Games if the rosters have enough room. So too would Jessica Pengelly with her 4:44.32 for 3rd-place.

Commonwealth/Pan Pacs Selection Status

Note: we have pared down the definitions of these selection criteria to what will realistically happen at the meet. To read full selection criteria, click here. Note that at the Commonwealth Games, the winners of the 100 strokes and the 1-2-3-4 finishers of the 100 and 200 freestyles, not already qualified, take the same priority. For Pan Pacs, the freestylers have a higher priority. All will likely be taken with rosters of 26 men and 26 women available.

Priority 1: “SAL A Times”

David McKeon (400 free)
Mack Horton (400 free)
Jordan Harrison (400 free)
Emma McKeon (200 free)
Bronte Barratt (200 free)
Christian Sprenger (200 breast)

Priority 2: Relay Swimmers

Brittany Elmslie (200 free – for relay)
Meagen Nay (200 free – for relay)

Priority 3: Top 3 Under “B” standard (Commonwealth Games only)

Keryn McMaster (400 IM)
Ellen Gandy (400 IM)
Jessica Penngellly (400 IM)
Meagen Nay (200 free – individual at CWG, with opportunity to qualify for PP)
Daniel Tranter (200 breast)

Semi-Finals/Relays

• The women’s 50 breaststroke semi-final was very ho-hum, though it resulted in a tight qualifying field. Southport’s Leiston Pickett took the top seed in 31.17, followed by Indooroopilly’s Lorna Tonks (31.36) and Marion’s Sally Hunter (31.48). Expect this field to really wake up in finals on Wednesday night. These non-Olympic events are not selectable events for Australia.
• In the men’s 50 fly semifinal, Nathaniel Romeo out of Sydney University swam a 23.82 to take the top spot just ahead of Jayden Hadler in 23.95.
• In the women’s 100 fly semi-final, Alicia Coutts and Ellen Gandy have set up for a great final, with Coutts touching in 58.22 and Gandy 58.51. Gandy went roughly the same times in the prelims and the semi-finals, but Coutts turned on her speed a little in the evening session.
• Ben Treffers took the top seed in the men’s 100 back with a 53.55 in the semi-finals, beating out the defending champ Ashley Delane (53.67) for that middle lane. Mitch Larkin (53.87) and the veteran Bobby Hurley (54.36) sit just behind them in what is a loaded final.
• 28-year old Marieke D’Cruz (nee Guehrer) is 3rd in 59.04, and in a little bit of an of event for her, Emma McKeon sits 4th in 59.14. While it’s still a long-shot for her to make the team in this race, that’s faster than McKeon’s seed time. Other notables include Yolane Kukla in 6th with a 59.36, and American-based Ellese Zalewski tying for 9th in 1:00.26.
• In the men’s 400 free relay, the biggest story to report is a 48.79 anchor from Matthew Abood on Sydney University’s winning squad, who touched in a combined 3:20.29. The defending champions from Nunawading had the same foursome, but added a second to take 2nd in 3:22.91.

Para Sport Finals

In the multi-class Para Sport finals, athletes are compared to the world record for the category in that event and assigned a score that determines the winner, so it’s important to keep in mind that the fastest time is not always the most impressive. A score of 1000 relates to equaling a World Record.

The Australian Para Sport team put on quite a show on Tuesday night, breaking multiple world records. Not only did they break those records, but it was a lot of teenagers who did so, showing that Australia’s rise to dominance in the Paralympic side of the sport isn’t stalling any time soon despite the aging of some of their stars.

• 13-time Paralympic gold medalist Matthew Cowdrey began his meet with a solid, but not spectacular, 56.45. That ranks him 2nd in the world this year, but Australia’s greatest Paralympian at 25 years old is facing some new blood and internal competition for the title of the face of the sport in his country. That’s because 16-year old Rowan Crothers, also an S9 swimmer, broke Cowdrey’s World Record with a 55.04 to win the event.
• In the women’s 50 free, Maddison Elliott swam a 30.13 for a win and a new World Record of her own. At just 15-years old, that took down her own S8 standard of 30.28 set roughly a year ago, and she beat-out another 15-year old Lake Patterson (32.27 – 943 points) for the overall title. Jacquie Freney, the country’s best-known female Paralympic swimmer, was 4th with a 32.60 that put her with 914 points.
• S14 swimmer Daniel Fox won the men’s 50 free in 24.77; this was a race without many of the country’s sprint stars, most of whom chose to focus on the 100 free earlier in the session.
• Melbourne Vincente 35-year old Tanya Huebner, who didn’t represent Australia in her first Paralympics until 2012, took home the win in the women’s 100 breaststroke with a 1:41.86 out of class S6. This event is a particular weakness for the Australian squad right now across all classes, though there’s some promising youth (a 12-year old and two 13-year olds in this A-final). Huebner’s swim is three seconds faster than she was to win the same event last year, however, so progress is being made.
• And finally, Blake Cochrane from Southern Cross won the men’s 100 breaststroke in a 1:18.94, putting up a point score of 958. Though he finished well ahead of Ahmed Kelly, in a game of watch-the-clock, Kelly’s 1:52.56 almost knocked off Cochrane, but ultimately took 2nd. That’s at least Cochrane’s second-straight title in the event.

Full, live meet results available here.