Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – April 1 – April 8 – Daily updates
Day 8 – Friday April 8 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships- 1 bronze medal and 2 swimmers selected in the Australian Swim team.
There was just the one swim during the heats sessions with Meagan Ramsay competing in the 400 individual medley, finishing a creditable 13th.
Finals
The Sydney Uni team finished the meet the same way they started with a medal. The Men’s 4 x 100m medley relay (Stephen Parkes, Alistaire Pickles, Sam McConnell and Matthew Abood) finished in third claiming.
Sarah Hilt was chosen to represent Australia at the Para World Championships to be held in Canada in August, Sarah will competed in the S4 classification in the 50m backstroke, this is Sarah’s first Australian Team and a fantastic achievement.
Matthew Abood was chosen to represent Australia at the Fina World Championships to be held in Shanghai in July where he will compete in the 50m freestyle and the 4 x 100m relay.
Sydney Uni would like to congratulate both Sarah and Matthew for their selections.
Sydney Uni finished 9th overall on the club pointscore and the 2nd placed NSW team behind SOPAC, a wonderful team performance.
Day 7 – Thursday April 7 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships- one gold, two 6th placings and a 4th ranking in the world.
Sydney Uni swimmers continued their great performances on Day 7, with five of the eight swimmers racing in the heats producing personal best times.
Sarah Hilt continues to impress in the multiclass events swimming in her maiden 150 individual medley (back, breast, free) and finishing in a time of 3:37. This time ranks Hilt fourth in the world. She now anxiously awaits the announcement of the Para Team to be selected tomorrow night.
Emma Gray and Gemma Johnson both swam the heats of the 50 freestyle, while Meagan Ramsay, Christine Kidd and Jess Cerni swum in the the heats of the 50 breaststroke and Tim Halliday and David Wise the 50 backstroke. All swimmers produced strong performances.
At the end of Day 6 Sydney Uni was ranked 11th in the pointscore. (3rd NSW club)
Finals
In the men’s 50m freestyle it was Sydney Uni’s Matt Abood who emerged from the white water to set the third quickest time of 2011, touching in 22.02 and edging out 50m butterfly champion Matt Targett (22.15) and Australian record holder Ashley Callus (22.35).
Abood secured his spot on the Australian Swimming team and will head to Shangai in July to compete at the World Championships.
Emma Gray put in brave performance in the 50 fly, finishing slightly off the pace in sixth in a time of 27.15.
The Women’s 4 x 100 medley relay also finished in sixth with 13 year old Paige Burland swimming a personal best of 1:08.80 in the backstroke leg and team mates Megan Ramsay, Emma Gray and Kate Johnson all swimming well.
Day 6 – Wednesday April 6 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – 2 semi-final swims, 1 final swim and 5th world ranking
Day 6 saw Sydney Uni swimmers produce the best results of the meet, with 15 swimmers competing 13 swimmers producing personal best times and seven swimmers progressing through to the semi-finals.
Stephen Parkes and Sam McConnell progressed through to tonight’s semi in the 100 fly ranked 11th and 12th.
Matthew Abood is ranked third fastest in the 50 free, his brother Andrew ranked ninth and Jono Newton ranked 12th.
Emma Gray and Melanie Houghton are ranked fifth and seventh going into the semi-finals in the 50 butterfly.
Sarah Hilt produced a three second personal best time in the 100 freestyle (disability) to finish in 1:55.71, which gives her a world ranking of four.
Gordon Willis, Dylan Curtis, Tom Heal and David Wise all competed in the 50 freestyle with great results.
Tim Halliday produced a personal best in the 100 fly, as did Kate Johnson, Meagan Ramsay and Gemma Johnson in the 50 butterfly.
After Day 5 Sydney uni was placed 10th on the club pointscore.
Final Results
Emma Gray was the star of the evening finals sessions progressing into the finals of the 50m butterfly in another personal best time of 25.15.
Comeback queen Melanie Houghton finished in a creditable 10th place in the 50 fly after been absent for eight years from the swimming scene.
Matthew Abood also qualified for the finals in the second fastest time and will race for spot on the World Championship Team.
Andrew Abood and Jono Newton also performed well and finished 10th and 13th respectively.
Newton’s time of 22.99 was a season best.
Sam McConnell and Stephen Parkes swam in the semis of the 100 butterfly.
McConnell was narrowly outside his personal best from the morning heats finishing 12th and Parkes finished the meet with another personal best and a 13th place finish.
Gray’s final will be held on Thursday night and will be televised on One HD at 7pm.
Day 5 – Tuesday April 5 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – 2 semifinals swims, 1 final swim, 5th world ranking
Day 5 saw six Sydney Uni swimmers compete with fantastic results.
Meagan Ramsay produced a gutsy swim in the 200m breaststroke to qualify for her second semi final swim with a time of 2:36.32.
Sarah hilt continued her good form in the 50m backstroke (disability) swimming a two second personal best of 1:07.61, ranking her fifth in the world.
Kate Johnson and Emma Gray all competed in the 100 freestyle both producing personal best time 58.04 and 58.15.
Alisitaire pickles and James Etter both swam in the 200 breaststroke – finishing in 2:24.80 and 2:28.12 – both personal bests.
Sydney Uni will be involved in five semi-finals swims on Wednesday night (tonight). The coverage will be on One HD tonight at 7pm.
Final results
Stephen Parkes swam very aggressively in the finals of the 200 individual medley to finish a very creditable seventh in his second finals appearance of the meet, in 2:02.95, another personal best.
Matthew Abood finished fifth in the 100 freestyle.
Meagan Ramsay finished 13th in the semis of the 200 breaststroke, narrowly outside her heats times.
Day 4 – Monday April 4 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Parksey makes 100 butterfly final
11 Sydney Uni swimmers competed on Day 4 with Stephen Parkes, Kate Johnson and 13 year old Paige Burland staring in the heats session.
Parkes will compete in his second semi-final of the Championships qualifying eighth fastest of the finals, touching the wall in 2:04.85 which is a four second second personal best time.
Kate Johnson will compete in the semi-final of the 200 butterfly after finishing 10th in the heats in 2:16.38 – a personal best.
At age 13 Paige Burland is competing in her first major championship, and she was able to calm her nerves and swim a personal best time of 31.72 making her the second fastest 13 year old over 50 backstroke, a very impressive result.
NSWIS based swimmers Matthew Abood and brother Andrew Abood go into tonight’s semi-finals ranked third and 14th respectively and after very fast heat swims.
Other heat swimmers included Sam McConnell, Gordon Willis, Dylan Curtis and Jono Newton, who all competed in the 100 freestyle and produced personal bests.
Gemma Johnson and Meagan Ramsay competed in the 50 backstroke, both swimming well.
After Day 3 Sydney Uni is ranked 11th in the club pointscore
Final results
Stephen Parkes was gallant in his semi final, holding third place until the 75m mark where he faded slightly to finish in a very creditable seventh place in 2:00.68.
Parkes swam the race of his life in the 200IM semi finals, producing a second personal best time of 2:03.98, to secure eighth place for the finals to be held on Tuesday night.
Kate Johnson continued Sydney Uni’s great results, narrowly missing the finals in the 200 fly, again producing another personal best of 2:15.54 to finish 13th.
Matthew Abood breezed into the finals of the 100 freestyle with a 3rd place finish in a 48.86 and his brother Andrew finished a creditable 14th in 50.32.
This event will also be contested on Tuesday night.
Day 3 – Sunday April 3 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Parkse makes 100 butterfly final
Day 3 saw Stephen Parkes shine as he swam a personal best time of 2:01.78 to qualify fifth fastest into the evenings semi-finals of the 200 butterfly.
Parkes’s swim in the semi-final was even better as he qualified for the finals in another personal best time of 2:00.62.
He will compete in the final on Monday night.
Dylan Curtis continued his good form to narrowly miss his second semi-final swim in the 50m breaststroke, producing a personal best time of 29.89 to finish 19th.
Alistaire Pickles and James Etter also swam in the 50m breaststroke, finishing 30th and 40th respectively.
Kate Johnson continues to impress, producing her third personal best time of the meet, in the 200m freestyle finishing in 2:05.57.
Sydney University is ranked 6th in the overall pointscore and the 1st NSW club.
Day 2 – Saturday April 2 – Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – World ranking swim
Sydney University was represented by four swimmers on Day 2 of the Championships.
Sarah Hilt was the outstanding performer, competing in the 50m freestyle (disability event), where she produced a personal best time of 54.01 which ranks her fifth in the world multi-class rankings.
Stephen Parkes competed in the 200m freestyle, while Tim Halliday swam the 100m backstroke, and Megan Ramsay competed in the 100m breaststroke.
All swimmers put in strong performances.
Sydney Uni was ranked 4th on the overall club pointscore and the 1st NSW club
Day 1 results Australian Swimming Championships – Silver medal, 2 finals swims, 4 semi finals.
Sydney University was represented by 19 athletes on Day 1 of the Australian Telstra Championships.
The highlight of the day was the men’s 4x100m freestyle where Matthew Abood, Andrew Abood, Stephen Parkes and Gordon Willis swam brilliantly to finish with the silver medal in 4:22.62, only one second behind the winner SOPAC (4:21.75).
The men’s B team also put in a very strong performance to finish sixth, with the team of Tim Halliday, Dylan Curtis, Sam McConnell and Jono Newton in a time of2:28.24.
The women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, consisting of Christine Kidd, Gemma Johnson, Kate Johnson and Emma Gray, also swam a remarkable race to finish seventh (2:57.09).
In individual events, Emma Gray, Sam McConnell, Jono Newton and Megan Ramsay all progressed through to the semi-finals in their respective events.
Gray was the highest placed swimmer finishing 12th (1:01.11) in the 100 butterfly in a personal best time, and was also the first finishing NSW swimmer.
Sam McConnell and Jono Newton both swam in the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly finishing 12th in 24.72 and 14th in 24.77 respectively.
Megan Ramsay compete in the semis of the 200m IM and finished 13th with a time of 2:19.50, which was narrowly outside her personal best time.
Heat results
Sarah hilt (multi class S4) finished 16th in the 100 backstroke, producing an 11 second personal best time to finish in 2:21.49.
Kate Johnson swam a personal best time to narrowly miss the semis in the 100 butterfly finishing 20th in 1:02.00.
Gemma Johnson also competed in the 100 fly, producing a personal best time of 1:03.27.
Dylan Curtis, Tim Halliday, David Wise, Stephen Parkes and Matt Jaukovic all competed in the 50 butterfly, with Curtis, Halliday and Parkes all swimming personal bests.
Alistaire Pickles and James Etter both competed in the 100 breaststroke and finished 31st and 32nd respectively.
