With big names away time for teens to shine at Australian Short Course

The big names may have been missing but the next generation stepped up to the plate as the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Short Course Championships wrapped up in Melbourne – giving them a chance to shine on the eve of an Olympic year like no other for Australia’s swimmers.

The Tokyo Trials are still eight months away and the decision to move the Trials to next June could well play into the Australian team’s hands – developing a whole new next generation and giving them time to get sniff of the big time.

Enter emerging 17-year-old Gabriella Peiniger (MLC Aquatic) and 16-year-old Thomas Hauck (All Saints) who have continued their rise through this year’s Junior World Championships with eye-catching performances at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

ON THE FLY: Teen machine Gabriella Peiniger emerges as a star of the future. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

Don’t be surprised if they are challenging for places in next June’s Olympic Trials finals in Adelaide – and after that anything is possible.

Peiniger produced two outstanding back-to-back individual performances on the final night of the Championships and both within 10 minutes of each other.

She then finished off with a winning MLC Aquatic medley relay team which is testament not only to her ability but also what she can bring to the sport in the future.

First up for the 17-year-old was the 200m individual medley and the winner of the 100m butterfly the previous night wasted no time setting a cracking pace.

Peiniger went for broke with a 26.73 opening butterfly leg before a backstroke split of 31.12, breaststroke (37.30) and freestyle (31.21) for a combined personal best time of 2:06.36 – becoming the third fastest ever Australian.

Only triple Olympian and one of Australia’s greatest all-rounders Emily Seebohm (2:05.46) and five-time Olympic medallist from 2012, Alicia Coutts (2:05.63) have swum faster – becoming the fastest ever 17-year-old over short course 200IM.

But with hardly enough time to catch her breath and squeeze in a swim down and a few encouraging words from coach Nick Veliades, the teen machine was back behind the blocks for the 200m freestyle.

Rare sweep for Kiah Melverton

Lining up against the in-form middle distance freestyler at the meet in World Championship finalist Kiah Melverton (TSS Aquatic) who had already won the 400 and 800m freestyle before securing the 1500m crown yesterday morning.

A rare sweep of the 200, 400, 800 and 1500m freestyle awaited Melverton, but the girl from MLC wasn’t going to hand her the fourth title on a platter.

Peiniger pushed Melverton all the way to the finish – Melverton taking her slice of history in 1:57.75 with Peiniger winning the silver, storming home to clock 1:57.06 with the ever-present Elyse Woods (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) third in 1:58.06.

The girl who was a relay alternate in Australia’s two silver medal winning relays at the World’s in Budapest wasn’t done with these SC Nationals and neither were her MLC Aquatic team mates.

The foursome of Olivia Lefoe, Phoebe Ricker, Bethany Dalgleish and Peiniger combined to win the 4x100m medley relay – beating big brothers Nunawading and Australian pointscore champions TSS Aquatic to finish the three-day meet on a high.

Veliades is a young developing coach, ear marked and identified as a future High Performance coach and guided by the likes of coaching generals, Leigh Nugent, Rohan Taylor, Wayne Lawes, Ron McKeon and Glenn Beringen.

THUMBS UP FOR TOMAHAWK: Gold Coaster Thomas Hauck comes up trumps at Short Course. Photo Courtesy:Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

Hauck, coached by Ken Sabotic at All Saints on the Gold Coast, started the meet in fine style with a solid gold victory in the 400m freestyle (3:43.38) and like Peiniger winning his first National open title and backed up, with another in the 200m freestyle (1:45.42) the following night before pushing David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic) all the way in the 400IM in 4:09.74.

The lanky all-rounder from the Gold Coast is another multi-talented teenager with the world at his feet in a sport that is crying out for young talents who can turn their hands to anything.

It was a surprising weekend for Melverton who won a rare sweep of all four freestyle events between 200 and 1500m – saying she did not expect it – especially taking the 1500m in the morning and the 200m in the afternoon.

EYES ON THE PRIZE: TSS Aquatic’s Kiah Melverton has her sights set squarely on Tokyo 2020. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

“It was nice to still have something in the tank for the 200m and I knew if I was out with them over the first 100m then it was anyone’s game,” said Melverton, coached by former British Olympic coach Chris Nesbitt at The Southport School on the Gold Coast.

“But I surprised myself and didn’t expect it and swimming pbs.”

Melverton, like so many in the Australian middle-distance and distance ranks, will be a valuable commodity, but believing the 1500m will be her best chance of making the team for Tokyo.

Sam the breaststroke Aquastar

Among the other new players will be Victorian 21-year-old breaststroker Samuel Williamson (Firbank Aquastars, VIC) and coached by Jason Cooper, who wrapped up an impressive weekend with his third gold in the 200m breaststroke in 2:07.43.

Williamson edged out Commonwealth Games representative James McKecknie (2:07.86) in a real nail-biter, with Daniel Cave (Melbourne Vicentre) 2:10.37 third.

It came after his Australian All-Comers record in the 100 metres (57.62) yesterday morning, which places him in the top echelon moving towards the long course season and next year’s Tokyo Trials – only former long course world record holders for 200m, Christian Sprenger and Matthew Wilson and Olympian Jake Packard have swum faster.

SLAMMIN SAM: Firbank Aquastar Samuel Williamson took the breaststroke 50,100 and 200m treble. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

And despite all bases appearing to be loaded in the Australian female backstroke ranks, it hasn’t phased former World Championship team member, ex-Victorian Hayley Baker, now in Canberra and the Gold Coast’s former Wisconsin Bagder Jessica Unicomb from putting their hands up.

The pair lined up in all three backstroke finals and it was Baker who won the treble and short course specialist Unicomb, now with Michael Bohl at Griffith University, who was a close-up second on every occasion.

BACKSTROKE DOUBLE ACT: Hayley Baker (left) and Jessica Unicomb shared gold and silver in all three backstroke events. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

In the men’s 100m butterfly, TSS Aquatic’s David Morgan (51.06) claimed his sixth consecutive 100m butterfly title and his 14^th National crown ahead of fellow Dolphin Matt Temple (Nunawading) who secured the silver in 51.37 and Nicholas Brown (UWA West Coast) who touched for bronze in 51.79.

His TSS Aquatic team mate and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Laura Taylor (2:07.14) had to pull out all-stops to defend her title in the women’s 200m butterfly, holding out Games team mate Meg Bailey (Hunter) who pushed her all the way to the wall.

Bailey (2:07.25) added a silver to her two golds won earlier in the meet in the 100 and 400IMs, with Tea Tree Gully’s Brittany Castelluzzo (2:09.31) picking up the bronze.

Earlier this morning, Paralympian Ahmed Kelly (SM3) smashed the world record in the Men’s 150m Individual Medley Multi-Class to take gold and the title.

WORLD RECORD SMILE: Nelson Bay’s Taylor Corry all smiles after her world record swim in the Multi–Class 100m freestyle. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)

His exceptional swim of 2:55.11 (1195 points) saw him swipe nearly 10 seconds off the record, which has been held since 2015 by his best mate Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson.

After breaking the world record in this morning’s heat session in the women’s 100m butterfly Multi-Class, Nelson Bay’s Taylor Corry (S14) carried her momentum into the final to claim her third gold medal of the meet.

The butterfly specialist powered home in 1:07.04 (994 points), to take the top honour ahead of Traralgon’s Ruby Storm (S14) who clocked 1:10.73 (847 points) and Emily Beecroft (S9) who touched in 1:13.99 (750 points).

In the corresponding event for the men, University of Queensland’s Jack Ireland (S14) (59.54, 896 points) claimed his sixth medal of the meet after taking out top spot in the men’s 100m butterfly.

At the end of the three days it was Gold Coast club TSS Aquatic and head coach Nesbitt who were comfortable winners in the overall pointscore on 658 points from Melbourne powerhouses Nunawading (468) and Melbourne Vicentre (422), with MLC Aquatic (251) fifth in a top 10 that saw a spread of clubs from Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and NSW.

TOP TEN POINTSCORE

TSS Aquatic , QLD (658)
Nunawading, VIC (468)
Melbourne Vicentre, VIC (422)
Uni Of Queensland, QLD (326.50)
Griffith University, QLD (274)
MLC Aquatic, VIC (251)
Yeronga Park, QLD (232)
UWA West Coast, WA (226)
Marion, SA (223)
Ravenswood , NSW (215)

2019 HANCOCK PROSPECTING AUSTRALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, Melbourne Sports And Aquatic Centre:

WOMEN

200m freestyle

GOLD: Kiah Melverton (TSS Aquatic) 1:56.75

SILVER: Gabriella Peiniger (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 1:57.06

BRONZE: Elyse Woods (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 1:58.06

1500m freestyle

GOLD: Kiah Melverton (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 16:01.22

SILVER: Moesha Johnson (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 16:08.21

BRONZE: Mikayla Messer (Nudgee College, QLD) 16:22.96

50m backstroke

GOLD: Hayley Baker (Canberra, ACT) 26.90

SILVER: Jessica Unicomb (Griffith University) 27.34

BRONZE: Emily Jones (Hunter) 27.44

50m breaststroke

GOLD: Leiston Pickett (Southport Olympic) 30.60

SILVER: Jessica Eriksson (Sweden) 30.76

BRONZE: Mikayla Smith (Nunawading, VIC) 30.77

BRONZE: Jenna Strauch (Bond, QLD) 31.28

200m butterfly

GOLD: Laura Taylor (TSS Aquatic) 2:07.14

SILVER: Meg Bailey (Hunter) 2:07.25

BRONZE: Brittany Castelluzzo (Tea Tree Gully) 2:09.31

FLYING FINISH: TSS Aquatic’s Laura Taylor surges to gold in the 200m butterfly. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

200m IM

GOLD: Gabriella Peiniger (MLC Aquatic, VIC)

SILVER: Meg Bailey (Hunter, NSW) 2:09.42

BRONZE: Tess Wallace (Pelican Waters, QLD) 2:11.16

4x100m medley relay

GOLD: MLC Aquatic, VIC (4:04.49)

SILVER: Nunawading, VIC (4:05.81)

BRONZE: TSS Aquatic, QLD, (4:08.67)

MULTI-CLASS

100m breaststroke

GOLD: Ruby Storm (Traralgon, VIC) 1:18.77

SILVER: Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedoes) 1:20.93

BRONZE: Zoe McKenzie (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 1:22.88

100m butterfly

GOLD: Corry Taylor (Nelson Bay, NSW) 1:07.04 (Heat swim of 1:06.88 was a WR)

SILVER: Ruby Storm (Traralgon, VIC) 1:10.73

BRONZE: Emily Beecroft (Traralgon, VIC) 1:13.99

50m backstroke

GOLD: Corry Taylor (Nelson Bay, NSW) 31.58

SILVER: Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedoes) 32.34

BRONZE: Nicole Fielden (UQSC) 33.70

MEN

50m freestyle

GOLD: Tzen Wei Teong (Singapore) 21.41

GOLD: Ashton Brinkworth (UWA West Coast, WA) 21.93

SILVER: Grayson Bell (TSS Aquatic) 21.98

BRONZE: David Morgan (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 22.06

1500m Freestyle

GOLD: Josh Parrish (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 14:55.49

SILVER: Ben Roberts (Breakers, WA) 14.58.31

BRONZE: Adam Sudlow (UWA West Coast,WA) 15:01.04

TATTS GOLD: Josh Parrish shows off his “Spiderman” high elbow action on his way to victory in the men’s 2500m freestyle. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

100m butterfly

GOLD: David Morgan (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 51.06

SILVER: Matthew Temple (Nunawading, VIC) 51.37

BRONZE: Nicholas Brown (UWA West Coast, WA) 51.79

100m backstroke

GOLD: William Yang (Loretto Normanhurst, NSW) 51.54

SILVER: Travis Mahoney (Marion) 52.03

BRONZE: Bradley Woodward (Mingara, NSW) 52.04

200m breaststroke

GOLD: Sam Williamson (Firbank Aquastars, VIC) 2:07.43

SILVER: James McKechnie (Starplex, SA) 2:07.86

BRONZE: Daniel Cave (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 2:10.37

100IM

GOLD: Andrew Hemsworth (Knox Pymble, NSW) 54.18

SILVER: David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 54.57

BRONZE: James McKecknie (Starplex, SA) 55.00

400IM

GOLD: David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 4:07.47

SILVER: Thomas Hauck (All Saints, QLD) 4:09.74

BRONZE: Kieren Pollard (North Coast, WA) 4:12.34

LOOKING SCHLICHT: MLC Aquatic’s David Schlicht’s slick turns made the difference in his gold medal swim in the 400IM. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).

4x100m medley relay

GOLD: UWA West Coast (3:34.88)

SILVER: Ravenswood, NSW (3:36.87)

BRONZE: Nunawading, VIC (3:37.75)

MULTI-CLASS

100m breaststroke

GOLD: Matthew Levy (North Sydney, NSW) 1:21.58

SILVER: Ahmed Kelly (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 1:51.23

BRONZE: Jesse Aungels (Marion, SA) 1:19.53

MATT FINISH: For Paralympic stalwart Matt Levy in the 100m breaststroke Mult-Class. Photo Courtesy: DellY Carr (Swimming Australia).

100m butterfly

GOLD: Jack Ireland (UQSC) 59.54

SILVER: Daniel Fox (TSS Aquatic, QLD) 1:00.45

BRONZE: Col Pearse (Melbourne H2O, VIC) 59.23

50m backstroke

GOLD: Rod Welsh (National Training Centre) 28.11

SILVER: Dylan Logan (Geelong, VIC) 28.41

BRONZE: Patrick Donachie (Campbelltown, NSW) 32.83

150m IM

GOLD: Ahmed Kelly (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC) 2:55.11 (WR)

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Mani Mani

4 years ago

Vvvvvvgoood

Ken Sabotic

4 years ago

Thanks Ian was a great for Tom