Day 3 of individual action is completed in Brisbane at the 2012 Long Course Queensland State Championships, and more Olympians were on display at one of the biggest mid-year meets down under.
Christopher Wright kicked things off with a win in the men’s 200 fly, touching in 1:58.85 to best New Zealand swimmer Shaun Burnett (2:00.74).
In the next open race, the women’s 200 IM, Emily Seebohm won in a modest 2:14.19, bettering 19-year old Keryn McMaster in 2:17.50. While Seebohm’s times at this meet haven’t been great (even for an in-season meet), she’s now successfully conquered a long course training cycle and is into the next one without any health problems. That does give her a third win in as many nights at this meet, after previously winning the 100 fly and the 100 back.
Her times in this 200 IM really are the place where we’ve seen the biggest dropoff after her return from a year of unusual illnesses as compared to her 100 back and 100 fly events that have been as good as, or better than, ever.
Jayden Hadler won the men’s race easily in 2:02.44 after a big backstroke leg put him into clean water on the back-half of the race.
St. Peter’s Western swimmer Meagen Nay won the women’s 200 backstroke in 2:09.78, keeping Seebohm from a 4th win of the meet. She was 2nd in 2:11.52.
For Nay, that’s a very good time in-season, as she’s only dipped under 2:10 at a handful of other non-taper meets in her career.
Out of the age group races, Olympian Brittany Elmslie, who already won the open 200 free, took the 17-18 title in an even faster time of 1:57.71. That’s just half-a-second from her best time and misses by an even narrower margin Blair Evans’ all-time 18 year olds mark in Australia of 1:57.38. That sounds strange, but much as we’ve seen in the U.S. from swimmers like Missy Franklin, Elmslie was faster than the 18-year olds record at this year’s Olympic Trials when she was only 17.
She should have through at least World’s Trials to break the record again, and given how well the Nudgee Brothers swimmer has looked through and since the Olympics, expect it to be a goner in the spring.
Emma McKeon, closing her race very well, was 2nd in 1:59.10; she’s just 18 as well. Cameron McEvoy won the 18-year olds race on the boys’ side in 1:49.27.
In other age group races, Georgia Bohl won the girls’ 15-year olds 100 breaststroke easily in 1:10.06; that’s not quite as fast as she was as a runner-up of the open race on Monday.
In the girls’ 11-12 200 backstroke final, 12-year old Minna Atherton from the local Brisbane Grammar Swim Club won in 2:19.07. For perspective on what exactly 12-year old backstroke times look like (Swimming Australia only keeps records for 13 & unders, and their times database doesn’t reach back before 2009), the only 12-year old in the U.S. who has ever been faster than that is Elizabeth Beisel.
In the girls’ 14-year olds 100 freestyle Shanyna Jack from the Chandler Swim Club won in 55.96. She wow’ed at the U.S. Open back in August when she dipped under 56 seconds as just a 13-year old, and now she’ll have a whole summer to try and get under the 55-second barrier. She wasn’t great in the open final of this race and was faster here; another outstanding young future piece for the Aussies.
Anybody knows if Libby Trickett will continue competing?