{"id":415468,"date":"2020-02-15T08:15:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T15:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=415468"},"modified":"2020-02-15T18:59:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T01:59:13","slug":"saturday-nights-alright-alright-but-no-finals-sunday-for-mcloughlin-and-stubblety-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/saturday-nights-alright-alright-but-no-finals-sunday-for-mcloughlin-and-stubblety-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Night’s Alright Alright But No Sunday Finals For McLoughlin And Stubblety-Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chandler Olympic hopes Jack McLoughlin<\/strong> and Zac Stubblety-Cook<\/strong> will head home to Brisbane tomorrow after their successful hit and run mission to the Victorian State Championships Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\"Jack

CLOSE SHAVE: Jack McLouglin claim gold in the 200m freestyle…just. Photo Courtesy: Martin Philbey Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

The 25-year-old McLoughlin added his second and third wins of the meet in the 200m (1:50.39) and 800 metres freestyle (7:56.96) to his opening night victory in the 400 metres (3:50.38) while 21-year-old Stubblety-Cook was an impressive winner in the 100m breaststroke (1:00.52).<\/p>\n

But instead of staying in Melbourne for the last finals session, McLoughlin, Stubblety-Cook and coach Vince Raleigh<\/strong> will return home to resume training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t be swimming the PM finals and will return home at lunch time to resume training on Monday morning,\u201d said Raleigh.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll get Sunday morning off to go and have breakfast by the Yarra River \u2013 they\u2019ll both swim the final heats in the morning, with McLoughlin swimming the 50m freestyle and Stubblety-Cook his favoured 200m breaststroke.]<\/p>\n

You can rest assured Stubblety-Cook won\u2019t miss an opportunity to pull out another good swim after taking the 50m (28.19)\/100m (1:00.52) breaststroke double.<\/p>\n

Those swims have come after Stubblety-Cook\u2019s career best times the QLD State Swimming Championships in December where he clocked his Queensland State Open and All-Comers record of 2:07.28 in the 200m breaststroke and a personal best time of 59.83 \u2013 his first time under the minute and the fifth fastest time by an Australian in the 100m.<\/p>\n

He will want to post a solid time before heading back to the grind and the next training block before heading to Sydney next month for the NSW State Championships and then the Sydney Open in May for the last hit out for most Olympic aspirants, before the Trials in Adelaide in June.<\/p>\n

McLoughlin played the waiting game in 800m with emerging young New Zealander Zac Reid<\/strong> charging out of the blocks to lead through the first 400m.<\/p>\n

But McLoughlin\u2019s slow and steady stroke eventually saw him power past Reid through the 600m mark before the 400m Pan Pac champion pulled out the afterburners for the final 200m to record another impressive in work performance.<\/p>\n

Twenty-year-old Reid was second in 7:59.01 with Olympic 400m champion Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre), who struggles to find his mojo in heavy training, third in 8:07.34.<\/p>\n

There was no rest for the boys and they were soon back in the water for the 200m freestyle final, with McLoughlin again timing his finish to perfection to edge out last night\u2019s 100m winner Cameron McEvoy<\/strong> (1:50.55) in a blanket finish with Malaysian Welson Sim<\/strong> (1:50.73) in third, followed by Horton (1:50.93) and another Kiwi, the leader<\/p>\n

\"Cam

OUTSTRETCHED: Dual Olympian Cameron McEvoy stretched to the limit. Photo Courtesy: Martin Philbey Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

through the 100m, Daniel Hunter <\/strong>(1:51.69).<\/p>\n

And in a real eye-catcher, visiting 16-year-old New Zealand prodigy and 2019 World Junior champion over 200m freestyle, Ericka Fairweather<\/strong> from Dunedin continued her record run, winning the women\u2019s 400m freestyle in a canter, clocking 4:07.23.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi teen sensation has been one of the rising stars of the Kiwi swimming, rising through the National Age ranks into last year\u2019s World Championship team.<\/p>\n

Her winning 400m freestyle time not only lowered her own New Zealand Age record of 4:08.58 (set just last month) to 4:07.23 (28.81; 59.74; 2:02.49; 3:05.58) but also established a new Victorian All-Comers record \u2013 beating the time of 4:09.23 set by Molly Batchelor in 2017. A time which would also have seen her ranked in the top 25 in the world last year.<\/p>\n

\"Jess

SMILES OF GOLD: Nunawading’s Jessica Hansen adds further gold in the 200m breaststroke.\u00a0 Photo Courtesy: Martin Philbey Photography.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was also a big night for leading Victorian club Nunawading with:<\/p>\n