16-Year-Old Joshua Edwards-Smith Swims 55.01 100 Back at Australian Age Nationals

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Clocking a time of 55.01 in the Boys’ 16-year 100m Backstroke was music to Joshua Edwards-Smith’s ears, as the UWA West Coast swimmer broke Andrew Lauterstein’s Australian Age and All Comers record on night three of the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Swimming Championships.

Fittingly, Lauterstein – also known as ‘DJ Louderstein’ – was controlling the beats poolside and witnessed his 15-year-old record be surpassed by 0.43 of a second. Fighting it out in lanes three and four, Will Sharp (Nunawading) touched in 56.16 to claim silver, while Thomas Hauck (All Saints GC) achieved his third medal of the meet – finishing third in 56.18.

For comparison, Edwards-Smith’s time would be the fastest 16-year-old 100 back time in the United States in 2018 and 2019. Carson Foster (55.37) was the fastest in 2018 and Harrison Lierz (56.47) is the fastest in 2019.

Edwards-Smith is now ranked 41st in the world rankings for 2019 and is the fourth fastest Australian this year behind Mitch Larkin (53.51), William Yang (53.59) and Tristan Hollard (54.02).

 Event 47  Boys 16 Years 100 LC Metre Backstroke
==================================================================
      Aus Age: R 55.01  17/04/2019Joshua Edwards-Smith, UWSC
   All Comers: A 55.01  17/04/2019Joshua Edwards-Smith, UWSC
 Title Holder:   57.18  23/04/2018Kalani Ireland, St Hildas
 Meet Qualifying:  1:02.69
    Name           Year Team              Prelims     Finals  FINA       
==================================================================
                          === Finals ===                          
 
  1 EDWARDS-SMITH,  16-03 UWSC                57.21      55.01R  837  
    r:+0.61  27.10        55.01 (27.91)
  2 SHARP, WILL     16-02 NUN                 57.42      56.16   786  
    r:+0.62  27.17        56.16 (28.99)
  3 HAUCK, THOMAS   16-03 ALLSA               57.01      56.18   786  
    r:+0.61  27.17        56.18 (29.01)

Rackley’s Thomas Neill racked up his second gold medal of the competition, after swimming sub eight minutes in the Boys’ 16-year 800m Freestyle. Cruising through the water in lane five, Neill led for the majority of the race – and cut nearly 10 seconds off his qualifying time – to secure the title in 7:59.05. Thomas Raymond from Nudgee College clocked 8:11.68 to nab silver, while Seungbeen Cho from St Peters Western pinched the bronze in 8:15.48.

Newmarket Racers’ Elizabeth Dekkers was successful in her quest to take out the Girls 14-year 200m Butterfly event. Logging a time of 2:11.37, the young prospect was only six one hundredths of a second behind the Australian Age and All Comers record set by Dolphin Madeline Groves in 2009. Korea’s Yunhui Kim finished second in 2:14.24 and Jamie Krueger (Fairymead) nabbed third in 2:14.27.

Touching the wall in 1:05.80, an ecstatic Joshua Collett (Knox Pymble) slammed his fist into the water to celebrate his win in the Boys’ 15-year 100m Breaststroke. Joshua Staples from St Peters Western and Jack Dugandzic from Churchie battled it out in lanes four and five for silver and bronze. In the end, it was Staples who stood in second place on the podium with a time of 1:05.89, to Dugandzic’s 1:06.12.

Swimming for Rackley, young Bronte Job got the job done in the Girls’ 16-year 100m Backstroke. Recording her second win of the meet – Job also won the Girls’ 16-year 50m Freestyle on night two – the versatile swimmer clocked 1:00.51 to take home the gold. Brisbane Grammar’s Tahlia Thornton received silver in 1:02.04, while swimming from lane three, Arena’s Alyssa Burgess scored bronze with a time of 1:02.09.

It was a trio of Thomas’ who took the trifecta in the Boys’ 16-year 400m Individual Medley. Thomas Hauck (All Saints GC) earned his second medal of the night in 4:20.58, Thomas Neill (Rackley) snared silver in 4:22.07 and Thomas Lightfoot (Marion) lured bronze in 4:28.55.

St Peters Western scored two medals in the Girls’ 14-year 100m Freestyle, with Ella Ramsay (55.96) claiming her second gold of the meet and teammate Paris Burlock (56.63) placing third. Sydney Brown from Wests Illawarra spoiled their hopes of the top two spots, taking home silver in 56.14.

Charging home in the Boys’ 14-year 100m Freestyle in a time of 53.20 was TSS Aquatics’ Flynn McGregor. Speeding along in lane five as the second-faster qualifier, he had tough competition from lane nine, with Churchie’s James Yu (53.37) powering through the water to also record his second medal of the competition. North West Aquatic swimmer, Stone Ma, collected bronze in 53.59.

Manly’s Charli Brown and SLC Aquadot’s Jessica Madden eyeballed each other in lanes five and six throughout the Girls’ 16-year 400m Individual Medley. Going stroke for stroke, Brown was strong enough to touch the wall first in 4:47.92, with Madden fractions behind in 4:47.98. Local swimmer Emilie Muir (Norwood) was third fastest, coming home in 4:48.77.

In other results of the night:

Boys’ 17-year 800m Freestyle

Silas Harris (Northcote), 8:09.85
Nick Jennens (Manly), 8:15.51
Stuart Swinburn (Uni of NSW), 8:17.64

Girls’ 15-year 100m Breaststroke

Tara Kinder (DVE Aquatic), 1:09.79
Nisha Kijkanakorn (Nunawading), 1:11.03
Emily Cobb (Acacia Bayside), 1:11.16

Boys’ 14-year 200m Butterfly

Jesse Coleman (Bond), 2:06.99
Fergus McLachlan (Norwood), 2:08.76
Daniel Craig (Miami), 2:08.85

Boys’ 17-year 400m Individual Medley

Se-Bom Lee (Carlile), 4:19.10
Kyle Niesler (St Peters Western), 4:24.21
Lucas Humeniuk (Chandler), 4:24.35

Girls 15-year 400m Freestyle

Jenna Forrester (St Peters Western), 4:13.55
Emily White (Norwood), 4:16.98
Finella Gibbs-Beal (Noosa), 4:20.09

Boys’ 15-year 400m Freestyle

Samuel Short (Albany Creek), 3:56.05
Joshua Staples (St Peters Western), 4:02.04
Ruben Rees (Miami), 4:03.51

Girls’ 13-year 200m Backstroke

Claveria Johnson-Tiumalu (St Peters Western), 2:20.32
Sienna Shepherd (Bayside), 2:22.55
Emily Mitchell (Launceston), 2:22.97

Boys’ 17-year 200m Breaststroke

Aleksandr Bell (UWA West Coast), 2:16.15
Joshua Yong (UWA West Coast), 2:16.61
Connor Roberts (Tamworth City), 2:18.16

Girls’ 15-year 50m Freestyle

Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western), 25.85
Crystal Edwards (UWA West Coast), 26.05
Layla Day (Bendigo East), 26.26

Boys’ 15-year 50m Freestyle

Edward Speller (Melbourne Vicentre), 23.35
Kai Taylor (Commercial), 23.92
Joseph Hamson (Knox Pymble), 24.07

The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Swimming Australia. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contactAdvertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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Thomas A. Small

5 years ago

Congratulations

Jaclyn Kile

5 years ago

Jill Massie-Braun

Junior Melendez

5 years ago

Marcos Melendez