Leisel Jones Shines on Second Day of Aussie Age Group Champs

By Ian Hanason

MELBOURNE, April 20. AUSTRALIA'S Olympic silver medalist, Leisel Jones, from the Redcliffe Leagues Lawnton Club in Queensland, tonight shrugged off a "touch of the blues" to add another gold medal to her trophy cabinet on the second night of competition at the 2001 Tip Top Australian National Age Group Swimming Championships in Melbourne.

Jones admitted she felt "pretty lousy" this morning and put it down to the end of a long preparation which saw her win two Australian Open titles in Hobart last month and put her on the Australian team for this year’s World Championships.

The find of 2000 clocked 1:08.91 to win the 15 years 100m breaststroke in what she described as a "pleasing performance under the circumstances" with Amanda Lee (SLC Aquadot, NSW) taking silver in 1:13.04 and Ashleigh Borg (The Hills, NSW) the bronze in 1.14.23 at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre pool.

"I would have liked to swum close to my PB (1:07.49) but anything under 1:09 at this stage of the year is a good swim," Jones said.

"There is no way I thought I would swim that fast the way I was feeling this morning."

Jones, who will contest the 100 and 200m breaststroke events at the 9th FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July, said she was looking forward to going home to Redcliffe next week for a well-earned rest.

Coach Ken Wood has given his super-charge a week off before the Telstra Swimming Grand Prix in Brisbane on May 12 and 13 and the Telstra Dolphins' World Championship team Orientation Camp on the Sunshine Coast immediately after the meet.

Jones will be among the favored swimmers in both the 100 and 200 meters breaststroke in Fukuoka – along with the Chinese duo Qi Hui (who broke the 200 meter breaststroke world record at the Chinese Nationals in Huangzhou with a time of 2:22.99) and Luo Xuejuan, who won the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.85 (a Chinese national record and the world’s No 1 time for 2001).

Jones will line up for the 200 meter breaststroke on Day Three of the National Age Championships, which has attracted 1400 swimmers to the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Among other outstanding performers on the second night were:

KATE KRYWULYCZ (SLC Aquadot, NSW) who clocked a personal best time of 2:01.90 to win the 16 years 200 meter freestyle – an encouraging swim on the eve of next month’s East Asian Games in Osaka.

OLYMPIAN Jennifer Reilly who won her first National Age Group title of the meet in the 17-18 years 200m backstroke in a time of 2:16.83 – encouraging for her challenge to Hayley Lewis’ longstanding Australian Open 400 IM record in Japan.

CHANDLER’s "flying fish" Alice Mills, who added the 14 years 100m breaststroke title to her 50 metres freestyle gold from night one in a time of 1:15.09.

HER CHANDLER teammate, Melanie Houghton, who was only fractionally outside Olympian Janet Tibbits 1983 Australian 15 years record in the 100m butterfly. Houghton clocked 1:01.94. Tibbits, a 1984 Olympian, holds the record at 1:01.79.

ALBANY CREEK’s Adam Hutchinson, who showed great potential in wining the 16 years 200m freestyle in 1:53.95.

REDCLIFFE Leagues Lawnton’s Jessica Schipper who added her second gold medal of the meet with an all-the-way win in the 14 years 200 meter butterfly with a time of 2:16.85. Schipper was a member of the National Tip Top Camp last year attended by Australian Swimming legend Shane Gould and it was Gould who took the youngster under her wing.

ASHLEY ANDERSON who won his seventeenth National Age Group championship in four years when he held on to win his second title at this meet in the 16 years 200m backstroke in a time of 2:05.82.

INTERCLUB MEDAL TALLY:

Chandler, QLD
Coach: Shannon Rollason
5 gold 2 silver 4 bronze
Total: 11

SLC Aquadot, NSW
Coach: Doug Frost
2 gold 6 silver 0 bronze
Total: 8

Redcliffe Leagues, Lawnton, QLD
Coach: Ken Wood
3 gold 2 silver 0 bronze
Total: 5

City of Perth, WA
Coach: Bernie Mulroy
1 gold 3 silver 1 bronze
Total: 5

INTER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Gold Silver Bronze Total

NSW 16 23 21 60
QLD 21 15 14 50
VIC 6 8 4 18
SA 6 5 6 17
WA 5 6 4 15
TAS – – 2 2
NT – – 1 1

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