Meet Records Continue To Fall at Australian Youth Olympic Festival

By Jason Marsteller

SYNDEY, Australia, January 19. AUSTRALIA maintained its day-one medal lead at the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center during the second day of long course meter competition. Overall, Team Aussie pushed its tally to 18 medals with six golds, while China held onto second with 12 medals and four of the gold variety. Meanwhile, Japan stands third with seven medals and three wins.

A trio of meet records fell to increase the overall total to five for the meet. 15-year-old Ellese Zalewski of Australia broke the women's 100 free standard before 17-year-old Cheng Peng of China cleared the men's 100 breast. The Chinese team of Mi Mengjiao, Zhang Chen, Zhu Qianwei and Tang Yi then closed the meet with a record in the women's 800 freestyle relay.

Women's 100 freestyle
15-year-old Ellese Zalewski of Australia knocked more than half-a-second off the meet record in the event with a time of 56.02 for gold. That effort eclipsed the 56.63 set by Hannah Wilson on Jan. 21, 2005. She had to come from .07 seconds behind second-place finisher, 14-year-old Tang Yi of China, to win. Tang wound up with a time of 56.22.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Cate Campbell of Australia set the pace at the 50 with a 27.08, nearly half-a-second ahead of her closest competitor, but could not hold that pace through the back half and took third in 56.33

Men's 100 freestyle
16-year-old Ban Bao of China led wire-to-wire in the two-lap free before touching the wall in 51.50 for the gold. Australia picked up the rest of the medals as 16-year-olds Nick Johnston (52.20) and Jason Schnyder (52.87) finished second and third, respectively.

Women's 400 IM
15-year-old Samantha Hamill of Australia was at it again with her second gold of the meet, this time in the 400 IM. Hamill built a six-second lead through the first two legs of the medley and made that advantage stand up with a time of 4:49.96.

16-year-old Zhou Wenting of China could not overcome that daunting difference, even though she cut the gap to with 1.5 seconds by the time she touched second with a time of 4:51.59.

14-year-old Ellen Fullerton of Australia finished right behind in third with a time of 4:51.93.

Men's 400 IM
15-year-old Yosuke Mori of Japan led a 1-2 finish for his country with his second gold of the meet. Mori dominated the field with a time of 4:24.67. Second-place finisher, 14-year-old Takahiro Yamazaki of Japan (4:32.06), stayed in Mori's hip pocket through the backstroke leg to trail by less than half-a-second, but watched Mori drop the hammer in the breaststroke to pull away to a seven-second advantage heading into the freestyle.

15-year-old Chien Jui Ting of Chinese Taipei rounded out the podium in 4:36.39.

Women's 100 breaststroke
14-year-old Sayuna Sugiyama made it two-in-a-row for Japan by holding off a hard-charging 16-year-old Zhao Jin of China in the 200 breast. Sugiyama hit the wall in 1:11.09, while Zhao posted a 1:11.69.

15-year-old Rebecca Blevins closed out the top three in 1:12.39, after taking the race out hard in the first 50 with a heat-low 33.62 split.

Men's 100 breaststroke
17-year-old Cheng Peng of China blazed to a meet-record time of 1:03.62 to pick up the win. That performance pipped the former standard of 1:03.71 set by Matthew Huang n Jan. 10, 2003.

14-year-old Kazuki Hayashi of Japan cruised into second with a time of 1:05.80, while 16-year-old Nathan Broadbent of Australia finished third in 1:07.00

Women's 800 freestyle relay
China's foursome of Mi Mengjiao, Zhang Chen, Zhu Qianwei and Tang Yi registered a meet-record time of 8:12.36 in the 800 free for their country's second consecutive meet-record gold-winning performance.

Meanwhile, Australia's team of Belinda Hocking, Ellen Fullerton, Samantha Hamill and Ellese Zalewski finished second in 8:17.89, while Canada's quartet of Roxane Lemieux, Marie-Pier Couillard, Lindsay Seemann and Amy Xu earned bronze in 8:29.64.

Men's 800 freestyle relay
Australia's contingent of Nick Johnston, Ryan Napoleon, Taylor Hardy and Daniel Smith picked up gold in 7:38.16, while China's squad of Ban Bao, Shi Haoran, Liu Shangkun and Chen Weiwu earned silver in 7:42.42.

Additionally, Japan's team of Yosuke Mori, Yuuki Kobori, Shinpei Moriyoshi and Yusuke Yasue took bronze in 7:49.85.

Click Here to view PDF results file.

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