Junior Swimmers Clean-up On Day 4 Of QLD C’ships

2020 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, December 12th – Friday, December 18th (Day 1 relays only; Days 5-8 are age group)
• Brisbane Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Entries/Live Results
• Live Stream ($)

The 2020 Queensland Championships rolled on from Brisbane, with Moreton Bay’s Minna Atherton snagging her first gold of the meet.

After finishing behind on-fire Kaylee McKeown in both the 100m and 200m backstroke races, short course world record holder Atherton grabbed gold in the 50m back. Hitting a time of 28.33, Atherton held off teammate Calypso Sheridan, who touched half a second later in 28.84.

Of note, after a hectic schedule and numerous historic performances, McKeown was not in the pool today.

Mitch Larkin was the men’s open 50m backstroke winner, with the man who put up a fierce 1:56.32 200m IM last night registering a winning mark of 25.03.

Several key swims highlighted the age group set of the 50m back sprint, including Isaac Cooper lowering his own Queensland Age Record for 16-year-olds. Cooper clocked a time of 25.27 tonight, with the Toowoomba Grammar swimmer’s result hacking more than half a second off his previous PB of 25.80 from this meet last year.

Further, in the 18-year-olds exclusive race, Stanthorpe’s Ben Armbruster knocked down a longstanding Queensland Age Record set by Olympic medalist Andrew Lauterstein way back in 2006. Armbruster clocked a time of 25.45, which overtook the QLD Age mark from Lauterstein of 25.83.

Aussie age group record slayer Thomas Hauck also did some damage this evening, with the 17-year-old All Saints athlete throwing down a time of 2:01.40 in the 200m IM.

Taking gold for the age group, he nailed a new Queensland All Comers mark for 17-year-olds in 2:01.40. That sliced .36 off of Thomas Neill’s 2:01.76 put on the books last year.

Another 17-year-old in Sam Short rocked yet another personal best, with the Rackley teen clocking a time of 7:56.59 in the 800m free. That not only blasts away his personal best with this being his first occasion under 8:00, but the teen now enters the ranks of all-time Aussies in this event in slot #7.

24-year-old Kareena Lee nearly hit a lifetime best en route to winning the open 1500m freestyle for women this evening. Stopping the clock in a time of 16:01.02, Lee’s effort fell just outside her PB of 16:00.14 she produced at the 2018 Pan Pac Trials.

In fact, her 16:01.02 result from tonight in Brisbane would have rendered Lee as the 6th place finisher at last year’s World Championships. Lee didn’t represent Australian in this event there. Instead, it was Kiah Melverton and Maddy Gough, with the women placing 7th and 5th in the Gwangju final, respectively.

Additional Winners

• You can read more about Lani Pallister‘s age record for 18-year-olds in the women’s 1500m freestyle here.
• The 15-year-old who earlier broke Kyle Chalmers’ age record in the 100m free, Flynn Southam, rocked a big-time personal best of 57.47 in the 100m backstroke. Splitting 28.68/28.79, Southam claimed gold for his age category and enters the all-time rankings for the age in slot #9.
• The men’s 800m free open race saw Chandler’s 25-year-old Jack McLoughlin get it done in 7:49.85, with Elijah Winnington behind in 7:51.44.