William Yang Posts 100 Free PB To Lead Young Talent At NSW State Age Championships

2022 NEW SOUTH WALES SENIOR STATE AGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 10th – December 16th
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC)
• LCM (50m)
• Results

After a two-year hiatus, the New South Wales Senior State Age Championships returned to Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. The 7-day meet saw both veterans and rising stars take to the pool, with nearly 500 athletes taking part in the elite meet.

Warringah Aquatic’s Lachlan Davies got the meet started out right on night 1, with the teen taking the boys’ 13-14 200m backstroke. Davies stopped the clock in a time of 2:08.11, earning the ‘Swimmer of the Night’ accolade for his new personal best.

Davies also took the boys’ 13-14 100m backstroke, punching a time of 59.87 for a new lifetime best. That hacked a second off of his previous career-quickest time of 1:00.90 he established in January of this year.

Also making noise early was Junior Pan Pacs Australian team member Marcus Da Silva. Racing for Cranbrook, Da Silva topped the boys’ 16-year-old 100m freestyle podium producing a time of 50.58. That outing came within earshot of Ian Thorpe’s NSW age record of 49.71 that’s been on the books since 2009.

Behind Da Silva was Knox Pymble’s Koby Bujak-Upton, who also snagged a sub-51 second time in 50.92. That marked the teen’s first-ever time in the 50-second zone, with his previous personal best resting at the 51.32 logged this past August.

Da Silva also put on a show in the boys’ 16-year-old 50m free where the Cranbrook ace put up a time of 23.42. That edged out SOPAC’s James Gauci who touched in 23.51 while Bujak-Upton earned another piece of hardware with 23.71 to round out the top 3.

Da Silva’s effort sliced .03 off of his previous PB of 23.45 he swam at the Australian Age Championships this past April when he was 15 years of age.

Finally, Da Silva pulled out the victory in a hard-fought 200m freestyle. Battling Brayden Woodford of Wests Illawarra Aquatic and Liam Molloy of Haileybury, Da Silva grabbed the gold in a time of 1:53.48. Woodford settled for silver in 1;54.40 while Molloy was next in 1:54.88.

Da Silva owns a lifetime best of 1:50.20 in this event, a time he put up at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Another NSW record was under duress, as Emily Nobbs fell just .15 shy in the girls’ 17&O 200m breaststroke. Nobbs produced a time of 2:31.86 to nearly take down the state record that’s been in place since 2010.

Olympian Maddie Gough was also in the water, leading the girls’ 17&O 40om freestyle. She touched in 4:14.78 to represent the only racer of the field to get under the 4:20 threshold.

Carlile’s Olivia Wunsch, a Junior Pan Pacs team member, topped the girls’ 16-year-old 50m fly podium. She earned the gold in a time of 27.57, falling just .01 shy of the NSW Record in the process. She owns a lifetime best of 27.52 from this year’s Australian Age Championships which took place in South Australia.

Wunsch would also take the 200m free title for her age group, stopping the clock in a speedy 2:02.56. And she grabbed the gold in the 50m free as well, hitting a time of 25.32.

The girls’ 16-year-old 100m free also fell victim to Wunsch, with the Carlile ace producing a mark of 55.19. That crushed the field by over 2 seconds, with Wunsch opening in 26.98 and closing in 28.21. She owns a career-best scorcher of 54.50 from the Junior Pan Pacs where she claimed bronze in this event.

Lillie McPherson of Manly highlighted the girls’ 14-year-old 100m butterfly race, logging a big-time personal best. Her time of 1:01.07 established a new NSW record and hacked over half a second off her previous PB of 1:01.67 she produced this past August as a 13-year-old.

McPherson also claimed the top spot in the 50m butterfly event for her age, roaring to the wall in a time of 27.87. That effort beat the field by well over a second en route to coming within .18 of her own lifetime best of 27.69 from August.

Finally in the men’s 19&O 100m free, William Yang made his presence known, with the 24-year-old SOPAC swimmer touching the wall in 48.49. Yang opened in 23.45 and brought it home in 25.01 to ultimately claim the best time of his career.

Entering this meet, Yang’s swiftest mark stood at the 48.55 he rocked at this year’s Australian Championships. At that competition he was the surprise gold medalist, having never before been under the 49-second threshold until that May meet.