Orinoco Faamausili-Banse Sets New Zealand Open Record at Trans Tasman Stop

WOY WOY, Australia, July 5. DURING the second stop of the short course meter Trans Tasman competition, New Zealand's Orinoco Faamausili-Banse, 16, broke the New Zealand Open 50-meter freestyle record twice to give his country a win during the session.

Faamausili-Banse first broke the standard of 22.67 set by Brad Herring seven years ago with a 22.60 in preliminary action. He then came back to win the 50-meter skins semifinals in 22.53, before beating Jason Schnyder, 17, 23.41 to 23.67 in the final head-to-head battle. He also wound up winning the 100 free in 51.19.

Other winners in the skins events included Emily Thomas, 16, in the 50 fly (28.07), Daniel Bell, 17, in the 50 fly (24.81) and Ellese Zalewski, 15, in the 50 free (26.20).

The session win for New Zealand is the first time since the Trans Tasman games were reformed that a team from New Zealand has won a session.

"We are absolutely stoked with the performances this week and particularly today," said Simon Mayne, a team coach. "The swimmers really stood up today. This is the closest competition that anyone can remember in this Trans Tasman cup series and it is producing some outstanding swimming."

On the Aussie side of the ticket, Jessica Legge, 14, continued her remarkable string in the breaststroke events in the series. She has swept all four breaststroke races on the tour thus far. This time, she clocked a 1:10.68 to defeat Leiston Pickett, 15, by nearly three seconds (1:13.52). She also posted a 2:32.37 in the 200-meter last night to defeat Anastasia Osadchuck (2:38.33).

"I want to keep doing personal bests like I have been doing and then get faster as the week goes on," Legge said. "The 200-meter record [currently held by Kelly Bentley at 2:29.74] is definitely something I want to get close to this week and I am setting my goals on that. I will need to rest and make the most of that time and get my pre-race preparation right."

Grace Loh, 15, in the 100 back (1:01.97), Alex Kelshaw, 16, in the 200 back (2:01.39), Ellen Fullerton, 14, in the 200 free (2:02.13) and the 200 IM (2:17.46), Christian Halliley, 15, in the 200 breast (2:18.19), Abby Shaw, 17, in the 200 fly (2:17.29), Daniel Smith, 16, in the 400 free (3:53.07), Daniel Bell, 17, in the 100 fly (55.24) and Cameron Burrows, 15, in the 400 IM (4:27.93) completed the rest of the individual event winners.

The final stop on the tour takes place in Canberra over the next two nights.

Special thanks to Swimming New Zealand and Swimming Australia for contributing to this report.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

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