“Lethal Leisel” Strikes Again on Day Three of Aussie Age Group Champs

By Ian Hanson

MELBOURNE, April 21. AUSTRALIA'S Olympic silver medalist, Leisel Jones, has earned herself a week off after winning her second gold medal in two days at the Tip Top Australian National Age Group Swimming Championships in Melbourne tonight.

Jones added the 15 years 200 meter breaststroke to the 100 metres title she won last night, in a time of 2:30.89.

The brilliant Redcliffe Leagues Lawnton teenager will take a break from training for a week before preparing for the first of the Telstra Swimming Grand Prix Meets in Brisbane on May 12 and 13.

"The National Age Championships is always a fun meet and it has been great to come down to Melbourne with my teammates and enjoy their company," said Jones, who will now set her sights on the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July.

"It certainly doesn’t seem like 12 months since I swam at the 2000 National Age titles in Perth and so much has happened in my life since then – with the Olympics and everything that goes with that experience.

"I’m looking forward to a rest and the various Australian team camps in May and June, before we go to Japan."

Later in the evening Jones combined with her teammates Tanya Henderson, Jessicah Schipper and Tanya McDonald to win gold in the 18 years and under 4x50m inter-club relay.

Jones was also joined on the individual winners' dais last night by her Olympic teammate Jennifer Reilly (Victoria Park, WA) who won the 17-18 years 100m breaststroke title in a personal best time of 1:11.87.

Rockhampton’s outstanding age group swimmer Ashley Anderson added his 18th National Age gold medal when he clocked a personal best time of 2:08.20 to record a comfortable win in the 200 meter individual medley – his third gold medal of the Championships.

In other highlights:

NUNAWADING’s Andrew Dyson added the 17-18 years 50m freestyle gold (23.51) to his 100m backstroke gold medal from night one and then spearheaded his club to their second gold medal in the 4x50m medley relay, splitting 22.51.

HURSTVILLE’s Jessica Abbott, an East Asian Games representative, continued to show her promise by winning the 15 years 100m freestyle in 58.18 after her 200 IM victory on night one. The first nine swimmers in the 100m all clocked under 60 seconds.

WILKINSON’s Melissa Mitchell’s last gasp win over SLC Aquadot’s Kelly Boxwell in the 13 years and under 400 meter freestyle – her third gold of the meet. She earlier won the 100 and 200 meter freestyle.

CITY OF PERTH’s Travis Nederpelt’s win in the 15-years 200m breaststroke after his victory in the 1500 meter freestyle last night and;

CHANDLER’S Jodie Henry, who won the 17-18 years 50m freestyle in 25.98 to help keep her club on top of the medal tally.

More than 1400 swimmers have converged on Melbourne for the five-day National Age meet, which concludes on Monday.

Interclub Medal Tally

Chandler, Qld:
Coach: Shannon Rollason
7 Gold
4 Silver
5 Bronze
Total: 16

SLC Aquadot, NSW:
Coach: Doug Frost
2 Gold
8 Silver
2 Bronze
Total:12

Redcliffe Leagues Lawnton, Qld:
Coach: Ken Wood
5 Gold
3 Silver
0 Bronze
Total: 8

State Medal Tally Day Three.
GOLD SILVER BRONZE Total
NSW 25 34 29 88
QLD 34 24 24 82
VIC 8 13 9 30
WA 8 8 7 23
NZ 5 9 6 20
SA 6 6 7 19
TAS 0 1 3 4
NT 0 0 1 1
KOREA 0 0 1 1

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