Hutchins takes hat-trick of records

Swimming Victoria
Published: Jul 4, 2012 09:17:48 AM Updated: Aug 7, 2012 03:33:45 PM

New Zealand swimmer Matthew Hutchins has taken three records from three meets at the 2012 Trans-Tasman tour.

On the first night of competition in at the OASIS Regional Aquatic centre in Wagga Wagga, the New Zealand swimmer took his third record with a win in the men’s 200m IM in a time of 2:02.73, erasing Jayden Hadler’s 2009 meet record of 2:02.84.

The 17-year-old was a part of the 4x50m freestyle relay team that broke the 2008 record set by London bound Olympian’s James Roberts and Jayden Hadler. On the second day of competition the Kiwi broke the men’s 400m freestyle record, taking his record tally to two.

Hutchins records are even more impressive after glancing at his packed schedule, which tonight included the 50m freestyle skins, the 200m freestyle, the 200m IM and the 4x50m relay.

This is Hutchins’ second Trans-Tasman tour and after sussing out the schedule the youngster was hoping to make his mark.

“At first I wasn;t even sure if there were records, but after I saw the program there were a couple of races I tried to target, knowing they were within my reach. In saying that, the 200m IM tonight was a bit of a surprise,” Hutchins said.

The Kiwi has also set his sights on a few more records for the remainder of the meet.

“I’m really hoping I can get the 200m freestyle one, I’ve been within half a second both times I’ve raced and then maybe take the records I’ve already broken a bit faster as well!” he said.

Australian Age Champion in the 200m breaststroke Karlene Pircher broke her second meet record of the series, in the same event, when she took out the 200m breaststroke in 2:28.02. Pircher took 0.44 of a second off the record she set at yesterday at the AIS in Canberra.

Breaststroke sprinter Jenna Strauch (2:30.97) came in second, with Kiwi swimmer Emily McGill seven seconds behind for third in 2:37.05.

Dual Australian Age Champion for 2012 Jemma Schlicht has defended both her titles from the series, with a win in the women’s 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly hitting the wall in 55.83 and 59.93 respectively. The 15-year-old was the only swimmer to go under one minute in the 100m butterfly.

Megan Gianotti (1:00.88) came a close second in the butterfly with Lucia Lassman (1:01.16) third. Australia also took a clean sweep in the women’s 100m freestyle with Australia Green’s Shayna Jack (56.19) taking the points ahead of Australia Gold’s Brooke Thornton (58.15).

After taking the title for the 200m backstroke at the Australian Age Championships in April, 14-year-old Amy Forrester scored some much needed points for Australia Gold, taking out the event in 2:13.03. Australia Green’s Lauren Rettie spoiled Gold’s hopes of first and second when she touched ahead of Meg Bailey (2:14.09) in 2:13.15.

After breaking the 50m backstroke record in the skins yesterday, Australia Green’s Edward Marks had to settle for third place in the 100m backstroke behind Kiwi Julian Weir in 56.44 and six-time Australian Age Champion Nicholas Groenewald in 57.12.

Australia Green swimmer Eliza Ham couldn’t be caught in the women’s 400m freestyle. The 15-year-old was too strong for Australia Gold teammates Emma Reid (4:19.24) and Bonnie Zhang (4:19.34) finishing nearly six seconds in front.

It came down to the touch in the men’s 100m breaststroke, with just over half a second separating the top three finishers. Ben Walsh from New Zealand took the win ahead of Australia Gold’s Jesse King had in second and George Schroder also from New Zealand in third.

Dual medallist from the Australian Age Championships Mitchell Pratt proved too strong in the men’s 200m butterfly. Pratt hit the wall in 2:01.52 to beat home Australia Gold’s Joachim Bardrum in 2:04.27 as well as his Green teammate Jacob Hansford in 2:04.79.

It was a Green and Gold battle in the women’s 400m freestyle as Green team’s Alanna Bowles and Gold team’s Taylor Green went stroke for stroke to the wall. Australian Age champion for the event Bowles took the win in the touch with a time of 4:47.10, relegating Green to second in 4:47.85. Meg Bailey was third in 4:49.67.

The women’s 4x50m medley relay was taken out by Australia Gold who are making their way up the leader board in a time of 1:55.75.

In the men’s 4x50m freestyle relay the points again went to the New Zealand team who finished in 1:33.09 and currently hold the meet record for the event.

Skins:

The following swimmers will progress through to the next round of skins tomorrow morning:

Women’s 50m freestyle skins