Queensland State Championships: Cameron McEvoy Clips James Magnussen in 200 Free

BRISBANE, Australia, December 11. GOLD Coast 17-year-old Cameron McEvoy has claimed the biggest scalp in Australian swimming, taking down James Magnussen in the men's 200m freestyle in a new personal best time of 1:48.08, on night one of the 2011 Queensland State Championships in Brisbane.

An untapered and unshaven Magnussen, the 100m freestyle world champion, in only his second competitive 200m freestyle swim of the year, snared silver in 1:49.09, while 2011 national champion Thomas Fraser-Holmes was third in 1:49.37.

For McEvoy, who erased Ian Thorpe out of the record books earlier in the year by claiming his 16-years Australian age 100m freestyle record, the win further endorses his potential ahead of next year's Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide in March.

"Yeah I was pretty stoked with that swim. Last year I was going 1:53.00, so to drop five seconds in one year is pretty good I guess," said McEvoy.

"I have been doing a lot of 200m work at training with my coach Glen Baker so to clock a PB at a State meet is pretty encouraging."

In the women's 200m freestyle final it was Gold Coast world championship team member Jade Neilsen who was too slick for the star studded field taking gold in 1:58.30.

Following the talented 20-year-old into the wall was Olympic relay gold medallist Bronte Barratt (1:58.43) and fellow Queenslander Melanie Schlanger (1:58.54).

"We're still in heavy work at the moment so I'm pretty happy with that swim tonight," said Neilsen.

Great Britain's Ellen Gandy, a finalist in this event at the Shanghai World Championships, was too strong in the women's 100m butterfly touching the wall in 58.60.

Olympian's Alice Mills (59.29) and Jessicah Schipper (59.23) finished second and third respectively, while reigning Olympic champion Libby Trickett, continuing her comeback to competitive swimming, finished ninth in 1:01.13.

"I was happy with how I executed that swim, I just wish I had went a little bit faster," said Trickett.

In other events…

Men's 200m breaststroke final:
Gold Coast swimmer Brenton Rickard, the 200m breaststroke silver medallist from the Beijing Olympics, was a class above in tonight's final taking gold in an impressive 2:11.59 from Kazuki Ootsuka (2:13.69) of Japan, while promising up and comer Nicholas Schafer was third in 2:15.34.

Women's 200m breaststroke final:
The women's 200m breaststroke final was a battle to the wall with 16-year-old Taylor McKeown going stroke for stroke with the more experienced 27-year-old Sarah Katsoulis. McKeown took the bragging rights and a gold medal with a time of 2:27.02, with Katsoulis (2:27.36) second and China's Li Ping Ji third in 2:27.41.

Men's 100m butterfly final:
Twenty-two-year-old Chris Wright continued the deluge of gold medals for Gold Coast swimmers, when he touched first in the men's 100m butterfly in the only sub 53 second swim of the night, clocking 52.98. The 200m specialist showed his versatility to beat home the determined Sydney duo of Jayden Hadler (53.33) and Daniel Tranter (53.62).

Women's 400m IM final:
In the absence of Olympic 400m IM champion Stephanie Rice who withdrew from the meet with shoulder soreness, Sam Hamill from the Sunshine Coast took gold in 4:40.28. Kiwi Natalie Wiegersma was over four seconds back in 4:44.76, while distance freestyler Katie Goldman was third in 4:45.80.

Men's 400m IM final:
Gold Coast swimmer and Australian champion Thomas Fraser-Holmes sharpened his IM skills ahead of next year's Australian Swimming Championships, with a resounding win in the 400m IM in 4:18.54. Following the Dennis Cotterell trained swimmer into the wall was Olympian Travis Nederpelt (4:21.08) and 100m butterfly bronze medallist from earlier in the night Daniel Tranter (4:23.17).

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