On the final day at the 2012 Oceania Championships, the Australians (especially the men) punctuated their medal standings with their best performance yet.
The day began with Australia’s Kenneth To tagging on his third win of the meet in the men’s 200 IM with a 2:01.35. After flirting with Meet Records in both the 100 and 200 freestyles, he finally got one here by knocking nine-tenths off of the old standard set by New Zealand’s Dean Kent in 2008.
His countrymate Daniel Lester added a 5th individual medal with a silver in 2:05.25, with New Zealand’s Carsten Corozza taking bronze in 2:06.27.
Shortly thereafter, another Australian Kyle Richardson also took down a Meet Record with a 22.83 – shaving three-hundreths off of the 2008 time of another Kiwi – Orinoco Faamausili-Banse. That’s close to his best time this season. Current New Zealander Cameron Simpson was 2nd in 23.18, with Papua New Guinea’s sprint star Ryan Pini taking bronze in 23.56.
The Australian men didn’t start this meet out great, but they finished very well, as Nicholas Schafer capped a final-day sweep with a 2:16.67 in the 200 breaststroke. That just out-touched New Caledonia’s Thomas Dahlia in 2:16.70. That pair had a great head-to-head battle in the 100 as well, there being separated by only .02. But this time, Schafer go the edge for his first gold medal of the meet.
Meanwhile, the Aussie women also won all of the events on the meet’s final day, which gave them a perfect 20-for-20 in this meet. In fact, their only defeat of any kind came in the 200 free, where they took only one medal; other than that, they swept all possible silver medals as well.
Jordan White topped the women’s 800 free final in 8:48.99, followed by Leah Cutting in 9:00.23. The Australians actually took 3rd in this race too, but per meet rules the bronze will go to Lena Hayakawa of Hawaii in 9:40.75.
By country, we actually saw that identical medal-placement in three-of-four final on Friday. Amy Levings won the women’s 200 IM in 2:18.91, just barely bettering her teammate Mikkayla Sheridan in 2:18.97. Hawaii’s Aja Grande was 3rd in 2:26.54.
Another Australian, Lorna Tanks, was actually fastest in prelims with a 2:16, but scratched the final to focus on the 200 breaststroke. There, she took the silver medal in 2:36.86. For the first time of this meet, that’s a bit of disappointment for her, given that she’s gone best-times in other races. That swim is 6-seconds slower than her time from Australian Trials. That 200 was won by 17-year old Jessica Hansen in 2:32.57. Hawaii’s Hayakawa took another bronze with a 2:46.92.
And finally, Ami Matsuo wrapped a sweep of the short freestyles with her third gold medal. A 50 free win of 26.00 added to earlier victories in the 100 and 200 freestyles for the 15-year old. Nicole Mee took 2nd in 26.82.
