Lani Pallister Swims 16:16 1500 Free, 1:59 200 Free at Australian Age Nationals

Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia/Delly Carr

Young Queensland swimmer and Junior Pac Pacs champion, Cotton Tree’s Lani Pallister, has secured another two national age titles on night four of the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Championships in Adelaide, taking her medal tally to four gold from four starts.

In her first event of the night – the Girls’ 16-year 200m Freestyle – the back-to-back Lorne Pier to Pub swimmer recorded sub two minutes (1:59.06) to score the top honor ahead of silver medallist, Gabriella Peiniger from MLC Aquatic (2:00.08), and bronze medallist, Manly’s Charli Brown (2:00.44).

 Event 63  Girls 16 Years 200 LC Metre Freestyle
==================================================================
      Aus Age: R 1:57.38  30/07/2009Ellen Fullerton, Pro Ma Miami
   All Comers: A 1:57.90  19/04/2017Ariarne Titmus, SPW
 Title Holder:   1:58.91  24/04/2018Michaela Ryan, SPW
 Meet Qualifying:  2:11.80
    Name           Year Team              Prelims     Finals  FINA       
==================================================================
                          === Finals ===                          
 
  1 PALLISTER, LANI 16-02 CTREE             2:02.13    1:59.06   854  
    r:+0.69  27.88        58.33 (30.45)
        1:28.88 (30.55)     1:59.06 (30.18)
  2 PEINIGER, GABRI 16-02 MLC AQ            2:03.18    2:00.08   832  
    r:+0.67  27.90        58.66 (30.76)
        1:29.47 (30.81)     2:00.08 (30.61)
  3 BROWN, CHARLI   16-02 MANLY             2:04.58    2:00.44   825  
    r:+0.69  28.01        58.62 (30.61)
        1:29.41 (30.79)     2:00.44 (31.03)

Less than two hours later, Pallister jumped back in the pool for one of the most grueling events – the Girls’ 16-year 1500m Freestyle. In a dominant display Pallister captured her fourth title in 16:16.91, which was more than one minute ahead of second-placed Tara Gallop (Hoppers Crossing) who came in at 17:19.59. Ashley Finegan (Uni of NSW) rounded out the top three after pinching bronze in 17:21.71.

For reference, the fastest 16-year-old in the United States this year in the 200 free is Regan Smith (2:00.36) while the fastest in the 1500 is Chase Travis at 16:27.15. Pallister’s time in the 1500 is the fastest of any Australian this year but she was off her best time of 16:08 from last year’s Junior Pan Pacs.

Pallister already this week swam a 4:08 in the 400 free at the Australian Age Championships.

Live Results

In yet another influential display, Perth City’s Kalani Ireland notched up his third national age title at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre after flying home in the Boys’ 17-year Butterfly event. As the wall continued to draw closer, lanes three, four and five were in complete synchronicity and going stroke for stroke until Ireland showed his class with 15 metres to go. Prevailing in a time of 54.16, Kalani beat out Melbourne Vicentre’s Oliver Nash (54.39) and Auburn’s Alex Quach (54.68).

Rackley’s Thomas Neill also continues to dominate the competition, taking home his fourth medal on the fourth night of the Australian Age Championships. Proving he’s a force to be reckoned with in the water, Neill scored the top honor in the Boys’ 16-year 200m Freestyle with a time of 1:49.18, edging out MLC Aquatic’s Noah Millard (1:50.69) who nabbed silver, and All Saints GC’s Thomas Hauck (1:51.09) who attained bronze.

Backing up her gold-medal-winning performance in the Girls’ 15-year 200m Backstroke on Wednesday night, young Mollie O’Callaghan took out the Girls’ 15-year 100m Backstroke on Thursday night. Clocking a time of 1:01.05, the St Peters Western product finished ahead of Emily Jones from Novocastrian (1:02.77) and Layla Day from Bendigo East (1:02.92).

UWA West Coast’s TJ Chong Sue was all smiles after recording his first gold medal of the meet – powering to the wall in a time of 57.00 in the Boys’ 15-year 100m Backstroke. Swimming from lane four, his neighbors in lanes three and five – James Bayliss (Albany Creek) and Brayden Miles (Flyers, VIC) – fought it out for silver and bronze. In the end it was Queenslander Bayliss who took the silver spoils, 57.28 to 57.86.

Already holding a gold, silver and bronze medal across three different disciplines – breaststroke, freestyle and the individual medley – Collette Lyons (Kinross Wolaroi) spread her wing in the Girls’ 13-year 200m Butterfly to nab another national title. Achieving a time of 2:18.94, the versatile swimmer beat Knox Pymble’s Hayley Johnston (2:21.00) and Revesby Workers’ Abbey Connor (2:21.52).

Going head-to-head in lanes three and four for the top honor in the Boys’ 16-year 200m Breaststroke, Connor Brackin (St Peters Western) and Lachlan Gilbert (Nudgee College) pulled away from the pack with 25 meters to go. With the crowd on their feet and in full voice, it was Brackin who gained space on his opponent to be named the victor in 2:18.68. Gilbert followed a fraction behind to receive silver (2:19.31), while local swimmer, Marion’s Thomas Lightfoot touched for bronze in 2:22.90.

After taking home the national age title in the Girls’ 13-years 200m Backstroke last night, Claveria Johnson-Tiumalu (St Peters Western) claimed her second gold after successfully holding off Brisbane Grammar’s Sophie Martin in the Girls’ 13-year 100m Freestyle. Recording a time of 57.11, Martin made contact with the wall moments later (57.65) to secure silver, while placing third was Newmarket Racers’ Josephine Crimmins (57.69) – the niece of Dolphin and former world record holder, Tracey Wickham.

In other results of the night:

Girls’ 13-year 1500m Freestyle

Sienna Shepherd (Bayside), 17:43.39
Paige Siren (Helensvale), 17:58.24
Alexis Barnett (St Peters Western), 18:06.24

Girls’ 14-year 1500m Freestyle

Tiana Kritzinger (Nudgee College), 16:53.87
Kimberly Doyle (Warringah Aquatic), 17:14.63
Bailey Day (Southside Aquatic), 17:18.71

Girls’ 14-year 50m Freestyle

Sydney Brown (Wests Illawarra), 25.92
Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western), 25.94
Mia Collins (St Peters Western), 26.06

Boys’ 14-year 50m Freestyle

Flynn McGregor (TSS Aquatics), 24.23
Stone Ma (North-West Aquatic), 24.28
Jack Goyen (MCA QLD), 24.38

Boys’ 17-year 200m Individual Medley

Se-Bom Lee (Carlile), 2:02.01
Silas Harris (Northcote), 2:04.01
Connor Roberts (Tamworth City), 2:05.36

Girls’ 16-year 200m Breaststroke

Georgia Powell (Newmarket Racers), 2:30.15
Reidel Smith (Nunawading), 2:33.57
Shikira-Lee Matheson (St Peters Western), 2:33.63

Girls’ 15-year 400m Individual Medley

Jenna Forrester (St Peters Western), 4:47.53
Tara Kinder (DVE Aquatic), 4:51.18
Taylor Butler (Helensvale), 5:00.03

Boys’ 15-year 400m Individual Medley

Joshua Staples (St Peters Western), 4:30.42
Cooper Phillips (Carlile), 4:34.26
Ruan Van der Riet (UWA West Coast), 4:35.24

Girls’ 14-year 100m Breaststroke

Kalyce Pressler (Silver City), 1:11.43
Ella Ramsay (St Peters Western), 1:11.53
Misha Wierzbowski (Nunawading), 1:12.10

Boys’ 14-year 100m Breaststroke

William Petric (Nunawading), 1:05.55
Haig Buckingham (Glenbrook), 1:06.43
Flynn McGregor (TSS Aquatics), 1:06.60

Girls’ 15-year 1500m Freestyle

Emily White (Norwood), 16:50.30
Kirralee Shepherd (MLC Aquatic), 17:04.42
Sienna Harben (Mountain Creek Mooloolaba), 17:08.47

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

Gary Ireland

5 years ago

Incredible girl.
Love it how tough you are.