Australia Remains Strong, New Nations Get Into Medal Action in Second Day of Junior Pan Pacific Championships

By Jason Marsteller

MAUI, Hawaii, January 12. IN the second day of long course meters competition at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui, Hawaii, Australia pushed its meet-high medal total to 21. Additionally, the Aussies won five more events to increase their top tally to 11 golds.

In other action, Mexico and New Zealand joined the medal party as Mexico's Dan Delgadillo earned bronze in the men's 800 free and New Zealand's Annabelle Carey took third in the women's 100 breast.

In a fast night of swimming, five meet records fell with standards set in the women's 100 free, 100 breast and 400 IM as well as the men's 100 breast and 400 IM.

Overall, Australia led the team total with 206 points, while the United States held second with 160 points from 13 total medals. Japan stood right behind in third with 149 points from 11 medals.

Men's 800-meter freestyle
17-year-old Australian Theodore Pasialis gave the Aussies their seventh gold medal of the meet with a first-place time of 8:13.05 in the 800 free. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Joe Kinderwater picked up silver for the United States in 8:14.11, while 17-year-old Dan Delgadillo garnered Mexico's first medal of the meet with a third-place 8:15.83.

Pasialis never once gave up the lead pace after taking a 28.01 in the first 50 then sitting right around 31 seconds the rest of the way.

Women's 100-meter freestyle
After coming up short to 16-year-old Amelia Evatt-Davey in the 200 free, 15-year-old Ellese Zalewski took Australia's eighth gold with a meet-record time of 55.78. That time cleared the 56.18 set by her compatriot Bronte Barratt on Jan. 7, 2005. It also eclipsed the Australian age group standard of 56.03 set by Alice Mills on March 20, 2002.

Evatt-Davey, however, still wound up with silver in 55.99 that also surpassed the meet-record standard. 16-year-old American Allison Schmitt rounded out the podium in 56.80.

Men's 100-meter freestyle
China scored its initial medal of the meet when 17-year-old Lu Zhiwu went out fast with a 24.44 first 50 and never looked back with a gold-winning effort of 51.25. 17-year-old Australian Bob Jovanovich touched just behind with a silver-winning time of 51.55, while Buddy Turner of the United States snagged bronze in 51.75.

Women's 100-meter breaststroke
Japan notched a quinella as Hitomi Nose powered through the two-lap breaststroke for a meet-record time of 1:09.71. That performance lowered her standard of 1:09.82 set during prelims.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Yuumi Murakami provided the back-end of the 1-2 Japanese finish with a silver-winning time of 1:10.09. The efforts gave Japan its fifth and sixth medals of the meet.

Nose pushed the pace in the first half of the race with a 33.01 split and held off a furious rush by Murakami (36.49 in the back half) with a 36.70 final 50.

17-year-old Annabelle Carey of New Zealand earned her country's initial medal of the meet with a bronze-winning time of 1:10.44.

Men's 100-meter breaststroke
Australia put up a 1-3 effort in the men's 100 breast to grab its 16th and 17th medals of the meet as James Stacey cruised to a meet-record time of 1:02.81 for the win, and Bryan Luca touched third for bronze in 1:04.03. Stacey's clocking eclipsed the previous meet standard of 1:03.23 set by Japan's Takao Matsueda on Jan. 7, 2005.

Matsueda's countryman 17-year-old Ryo Tateishi tried to defend Japan's honor with a meet-record time of 1:03.05, but could not catch Stacey to settle for silver.

Women's 400-meter IM
15-year-old Mary Beck stood strong for the United States by lopping nearly two seconds off her meet-record time of 4:48.08 set during prelims. Beck touched in 4:46.30 for the United States' first gold medal of the meet.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Samantha Hamill cornered silver for the Aussies with a time of 4:47.95 that also cleared the meet standard. 16-year-old Sakiko Nakamura of Japan took bronze in 4:49.76.

Although Beck fell behind Hamill by almost a second in the butterfly leg, she notched a four-second swing in the backstroke leg. She held onto that advantage in the breaststroke, before giving back two seconds in the freestyle.

Men's 400-meter IM
The United States went back-to-back in the all-around event with 17-year-old Scott Clary knocking two seconds off his prelim meet-record time of 4:24.82 en route to a gold-winning effort of 4:22.39.

17-year-old Yuma Kosaka of Japan finished with a silver-winning time of 4:23.37, while Shane Cross bagged bronze for Australia in 4:26.03.

Clary made the race interesting after snaring a full four-second lead over Kosaka through the backstroke leg. He nearly gave up the advantage when he touched a scant .31 seconds ahead of Kosaka after the breaststroke leg. Clary then closed the deal with a 29.99 in the final 50 meters to score the victory.

Women's 800-meter freestyle relay
Australia's foursome of Ellese Zalewski, Meagen Nay, Belinda Hocking and Amelia Evatt-Davey ripped through the distance relay event for a time of 8:09.35 to give the Aussies their 10th gold of the meet.

Japan's quartet of Chika Tainaka, Misaki Yamaguchi, Tomoe Ono and Sakiko Nakamura took silver in 8:13.85, while the U.S. team of Allison Schmitt, Samantha Tucker, Alex Forrester and Liz Koselka garnered bronze in 8:13.94.

Men's 800-meter freestyle relay
Australia posted its 11th gold of the meet with a time of 7:27.16 from Robert Hurley, Reece Turner, Stephen Parkes and Nic Donald. Meanwhile, the U.S. contingent of Cody Weik, Scott Clary, Joe Ziegler and Cory Chitwood finished second in 7:32.89.

Japan's squad of Kai Kohata, Yoshinori Muramatsu, Kazuki Dobayashi and Kenichi Teranishi rounded out the final podium of the day with a third-place 7:33.05.

Results: 2007 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – (01-11-2007 – 01-14-2007)

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