Victorian Championships: First Portion of Meet Comes to Close

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 8. WHILE plenty of other age groupers will invade the pool starting Jan. 11 and finishing Jan. 15, the 2008 Victorian Championships closed shop on the first half of swimming with the top flight talent swimming on get-away day.

Belinda Hocking posted a Victorian record in the women's 100 back to complete one of the top swims of the day, while Felicity Galvez put a cap on a strong meet. The U.S. National Junior Team also enjoyed a strong final day of swimming.

Women's Events
400 IM finals
The U.S. dominated the final with eight of the top nine finishers. Madeline Dirado, 14, led the charge with a winning effort of 4:50.07. Teammate Kirstie Chen, 15, took third in 4:52.50. Sandwiched in between, Ellen Gandy, 16, of Great Britain finished second in 4:50.19.

100 back finals
Belinda Hocking, 17, surpassed her own Victorian standard of 1:01.02 set yesterday with a winning effort of 1:00.78 to eclipse the 1:00 mark for the first time in her career. Meanwhile, China's Zhou Yan Xin, 17, and Chen Wen, 15, completed the top three with times of 1:02.37 and 1:02.59.

200 breast finals
Lethal Leisel Jones made it two-for-three in the breaststroke events with a fine showing of 2:26.57 to win the longer distance event. She crushed the field, led by Sally Foster's second-place time of 2:30.66. Sarah Katsoulis picked up third in 2:31.61, while Tarnee White, the 50 breast winner, took fourth in 2:33.53.

200 free finals
Angie Bainbridge won a close battle in the 200 free with a readout of 2:00.04. Felicity Galvez experienced a rare loss at the meet with a second-place 2:00.38, while Kate Ziegler placed third in 2:00.50 as she continues her push for a place on the U.S. 800 free relay.

50 fly finals
Felicity Galvez bounced back from her loss in the 200 free, with a triumph in the sprint fly as the only sub-27 swimmer. She clocked a winning time of 26.90, while Marieke Guehrer took second in 27.12 and Alice Mills placed third in 27.33.

Men's Events
200 back finals
Daniel Arnamnart swept the backstroke events with a winning effort of 2:00.72. The U.S. took the next six spots led by Tim Johnson, 17, who finished second in 2:03.21. Max Murphy, 17, rounded out the top three in 2:04.64.

50 breast finals
James Stacy touched out Stuart Ferguson of the U.S., 29.59 to 29.64, for the victory, while Curtis Lovelace of the U.S. placed third in 30.01.

100 fly finals
Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini against experienced the top of the podium with a time of 53.33 in the 100 fly. Bobby Bollier of the U.S. finished second in 53.71, while Adam Pine took third in 53.76.

200 IM finals
SwimmingWorldMagazine.com special correspondent Nick Brunelli surfaced triumphant during the final day of the meet with a winning time of 2:05.17. He held off 16-year-old teammate Kyle Whitaker, who took second in 2:05.68. Travis Nederpelt comprised the rest of the podium with a third-place 2:06.88.

1500 free finals
Andrew Gemmell, 16, of the U.S. won the marathon event with a time of 15:38.91, while teammate Jackson Wilcox stopped the clock second in a time of 15:39.57. China's Xu Wen Chao and Dai Jun, 15, picked up the next two spots with readouts of 15:43.07 and 15:44.97, respectively.

Relays
The team of Cameron Prosser, Michael Papaioannou, Matt Targett and Grant Hackett won the men's 400 free relay in 3:21.12 to surpass the previous Victorian record of 3:22.84 set in 2000. Meanwhile, in the unorthodox women's 400 breaststroke relay, the team of Shayne Reese, Sarah Katsoulis, Talia Goddard and Leisel Jones won in 4:41.40.

Multi-Disability Events
Bryce Glover touched first in the men's 50 breast with a time of 32.14, while Ellie Cole won the women's 50 fly in 33.16. Prue Watt also hit the wall in 1:02.96 to win the women's 100 free.

Results: 2008 Victorian Championships – (01-04-2008 – 01-15-2008)

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