Australian Age Group Swimming Championships: Mack Horton Wins Third Gold Medal

BRISBANE, Australia, April 11. VICTORIAN freak-freestyler Mack Horton has continued to dominate at the 2012 Australian Age Championships in Brisbane, picking up a third gold medal in as many days, taking out the boy's 15yrs 400m free in one of the swims of the night.

Horton was one of four swimmers to collect their third Australian Age title for 2012 on night three of competition, following his win in the 100, 1500 and now 400m freestyle.

The Melbourne Vicentre swimmer, with his boy-band sweep haircut and smooth freestyle stroke, was the hot favourite for the eight lap event and certainly lived up to the hype, posting a time of 3:56.49 — the only finalist under four minutes.

Michael Mincham (4:00.32) and Hayden Rea (4:01.74) did their best to keep up with the young prodigy and will take home the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Having won three gold and three silver medals in Adelaide last year, Horton missed out on a medal in the 50m free later in the night, but will still contest the 200m freestyle on Friday.

London Olympics bound Cameron McEvoy, breaststroker Taylor McKeown and Townsville's Regan Leong also added to their gold medal tally tonight, while Hayley Baker picked up double gold in the girl's 16yrs 400m IM and 100m backstroke.

In other events…

Girls 14yrs 200m Butterfly
Queensland's Alanna Bowles wasn't going to let history repeat itself in the girl's 14yrs 200m butterfly final. In 2011 the Rocky City swimmer had to settle for bronze behind Jemma Schlicht and Taylor Green (2:15.46) but the fast-finishing 14-year-old stole the 2012 title in 2:14.93. Victoria's Schlicht led early but was out-touched by Bowles, hitting the wall in 2:15.15.

Boys 14yrs 200m Butterfly
Damian Fyfe has picked up the butterfly-double with a win in the boy's 14yrs 200m butterfly final. The West Australian powered through the first 100m and held on to take the title in 2:05.36, a massive four seconds quicker than his heat swim. Despite a strong finish, Queenslander Dominic Richardson couldn't quite catch Fyfe but will take home the silver medal in 2:08.37. The bronze medal went to fellow Queenslander Kyle Rethamel (2:09.28).

Girls 17-18yrs 200m Freestyle
Queensland's Brittany Elmslie was crowned Age Champion for the second time this year after winning the girl's 17-18yrs freestyle final in 1:58.70. Following her selection onto the 2012 Olympic Team, 17-year-old Elmslie has been unstoppable. Despite a fierce comeback with 25m to go, Elsmlie was too strong for silver medallist Emma McKeon who was just 0.05 of a second behind in 1:58.75. Mikkayla Sheridan picked-up the bronze medal with her time of 2:00.69

Boys 17-18yrs 200m Freestyle
Sprint sensation Cameron McEvoy did not disappoint in the boy's 17-18yrs 200m freestyle, defending his 2011 title in a speedy 1:49.11. The four-time Australian Age Champion from last year looks set to equal or better that result at this year's championships with three titles so far and his main event, the 100m freestyle, still to come. Woden's Hugo Morris (1:50.67) stormed home to steal the silver from Andrew Digby (1:51.44) who will take home the bronze.

Girls 15yrs 400m Freestyle
The girl's 800m freestyle champion Remy Fairweather (4:14.99) faced a fight for gold in the girl's 15yrs 400m freestyle final when Queensland's Megan Gianotti (4:19.27) matched Fairweather stroke for stroke over the eight laps. Fairweather made her move in the last 50m, extending her lead over Gianotti and defending her 2011 title in the event. Victorian Eliza Ham chased them down to claim bronze in 4:19.83.

Girls 12-13yrs 200m Backstroke
Cranbrook's Monique Rae has won her first Australian Age title in the girl's 200m backstroke final. Rae maintained her three second lead for the duration of the race to finish in 2:18.86, nearly four seconds ahead of silver medallist Calypso Sheridan in 2:22.40. Queensland's Kylie Duncan won bronze with a time of 2:23.50.

Boys 12-13yrs 200m Backstroke
Thirteen-year-old Benno Negri opened his Australian Age medal count with gold in the boy's 12-13yrs 200m backstroke. Negri had to fight for first, stopping the clock at 2:15.07, with Bradley Woodward finishing just behind in 2:15.92. Leo Wong took nearly five seconds off his heat time to collect bronze in 2:16.56.

Boys 16yrs 400m IM
The Australian, New Zealand rivalry shone true in the boy's 16yrs 400m IM final with the Kiwis taking the bragging rights. Bradlee Ashby (4:28.70) and Matthew Meyers (4:29.73) both from New Zealand hit the wall ahead of Kazimir Boskovic who touched a fraction behind the Kiwis in 4:29.84. Boskovic will claim the Age Champion crown, Liam Cunneen (4:35.12) will pick up silver and James McKechnie (4:36.28) wins the bronze.

Girls 15yrs 100m Breaststroke
Melbourne Vicentre swimmer Jenna Strauch won her first gold medal of the meet taking out the girl's 15yrs 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:12.67. Strauch was too quick for Emma Handley (VIC) 1:12.97 and Maddison Dwyer (1:13.38) who also medalled for the first time at this meet.

Boys 15yrs 100m Breaststroke
James Traiforos from Trinity Grammar in Sydney took the boy's 15yrs 100m breast in a time of 1:06.71 with Rory Brown (QLD) picking up silver in 1:06.94 and Jayke Small winning bronze just 0.04 behind in a time of 1:06.98.

Girls 12/13yrs 800m Freestyle
With less than a quarter of a second separating them at every turn, the girl's 12/13yrs 800m freestyle came down to a final flurry from Mountain Creek swimmer Chelsea Gubecka, securing gold by just 0.14 of a second from Delainee Melia. Swimming stroke-for-stroke over the 16 laps, Gubecka and Melia shared the lead on numerous occasions, before the 200m free gold medallist powered home to set a new personal best time of 8:51.84. Melia took silver in 8:51.98 while Tamsin Cook from the City of Perth was third overall in 9:06.17.

Girls 16yrs 100m Backstroke
Victorian backstroke specialist Hayley Baker continued her dominance at age group level, this time in the girl's 16yrs 100m back, winning in a time of 1:03.41. The Trans-Tasman representative was too strong for Queenslander Leah Neale (1:03.80) and Tianni Gilmour from Pelican Waters who finished third in 1:03.88.

Boys 16yrs 100m Backstroke
Townsville swimmer Regan Leong also showed his backstroke class to take out the corresponding boy's event in a time of 56.50. The Glenn Beringen coached Leong, was followed into the wall by Matthew Meinema from WA in 58.63, with visiting Kiwi Julian Weir (58.63), and Lachlan McLeish (58.93) from Surrey Park in Victoria rounding out the medal winners.

Girls 14yrs 100m Freestyle
Visiting Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey was too good in the girl's 14yrs 100m free to earn back-to-back titles in the event, having won the same event last year in the 12/13yrs. Haughey's time of 56.39, was just quicker than her winning time in 2011, while Brooke Thornton from Queensland was awarded the gold as the first Australian to the wall in a time of 57.06. Jemma Schlict (57.32) and Lucy McJannett (58.02) took silver and bronze respectively.

Boys 14yrs 100m Freestyle
Following on from his silver medal in the 200m IM, Vincent Dai from Cherrybrook Carlile went one better in the boy's 100m free to secure gold in a time of 53.12. Dai was too direct for Max Carleton who took silver in 53.92, just 0.05 of a second ahead of Mitchell Davenport-Wright for bronze in 53.97.

Girls 17/18yrs 200m Breaststroke
Queenslander Taylor McKeown made it a breaststroke double and picked up her third gold of the meet winning the 200m breaststroke in 2:27.41. The Australian Crawl swimmer was almost six seconds quicker than silver medallist Montana Sansby (2:33.32) with Kate Dimou coming in third in 2:33.72.

Boys 17/18yrs 200m Breaststroke
Fellow Queenslander Buster Sykes from Nudgee Brothers also secured the breaststroke double, winning the 200 in 2:13.45 from Lennard Bremer from WA (2:18.39) and Noosa swimmer Jake Packard who took bronze in a time of 2:20.08.

Girls 15yrs 50m Freestyle
The Carlile express Ami Matsuo confirmed her sprint freestyle supremacy winning the 50m free in 25.60 from Victorian Lucy Soden (26.30) and West Australian Candice Wall (26.59). The win saw Matsuo take her individual medal tally to two gold at this meet already, still well on track to match the four which she won in Adelaide last year.

Boys 15yrs 50m Freestyle
St Peters Western sprinter Cameron Jones got the jump on the rest of the field to take out the boy's 50m free in a time of 23.81, while a triple dead-heat for silver saw Angus Hannan, Andrew Walker and Edward Marks all hit the wall in a time of 24.11. Both Hannan and Marks were part of the triple dead-heat for gold in the corresponding event for the boy's 14yrs in Adelaide last year.

Boys 12-13yrs 800m Freestyle
Brandon Yong (8:50.31) from the USA was too strong for the finalists in the boy's 12-13yrs 800m freestyle, touching almost ten seconds clear of his closest rival John Ooi (9:00.29) from Maribyrnong. Ooi wil be crowned the 2012 Age Champion as the first Australian to finish. Kai Edwards (9:04.35) and Samuel Curtis (9:06.84) had to fight for second place with Edwards powering past Curtis in the final lap to take the silver medal.

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