THREE GOLD MEDALS TO DOLPHINS ON NIGHT TWO IN GUAM
GUAM, January 9: Three gold medals to Australia and a history-making record highlighted an exciting second night's action at the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships at the Leo Palace Resort Aquatic Centre here tonight. IAN HANSON reports from poolside....
Western Australian Tomasso D'Orsogna in the 100m freestyle, Samantha Marshall in the women's 100m breaststroke and the all-conquering men's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Daniel Smith, D'Orsogna, Ned McKendry and Ryan Napoleon combined to smash the 2005 meet record from 2005.
Ellen Fullerton had earlier smashed Hayley Lewis' 1991 Australian 16 years record to finish second in the 400m individual medley.
D'Orsogna opened proceedings when he won the Dolphins first gold medal of the meet in the men's 100 metres freestyle, clocking a personal best time of 49.75 and team mate Daniel Smith also gave Australia its first quinella of the meet, claiming silver in 49.99.
Hayden McEvoy's win in the B final in a time of 50.39, the same time he clocked in the morning heat, will give Australia a distinct advantage for tomorrow night's 4x100m freestyle relay.
But Australia's cheering had barely died down before Sydney's Samantha Marshall claimed the Dolphins second gold medal of the session in the 100 metres breaststroke, in a new meet record time of 1:09.08.
Her team mate, Queenslander Tessa Wallace also swam her way onto the podium, claiming the bronze medal in a time of 1:09.41 in the closest contest of the meet, with just 0.83 seconds separating the eight finalists.
Gold Coaster Fullerton continued on her medal winning ways, claiming her second silver medal of the meet in the women's 400m individual medley, but it was the way she swam the race and her Australian 16 years record that was the talking point of the pooldeck.
Fullerton broke a 17-year-old record set by Hayley Lewis at the 1991 World Championships, with her time of 4:41.17 - 0.28 quicker than the time that won Lewis the silver medal.
It also moved Fullerton from 10th to third on the Australian All-time list behind world record holder and Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice and triple Olympian Jennifer Reilly.
"That's cool...I had no idea about that time," when National head coach Alan Thompson told Fullerton and her coach Denis Cotterell, who was also a coach on the team in Perth, that year.
"Hayley Lewis is a legendary swimmer and to break one of her records is a real honour."
Fullerton staged a neck-and-neck battle with the US find of the meet, Dagny Knutson, who beat Fullerton in last night's 200m freestyle final and she chased the US girl right to wall, with Knutson setting a new meet record of 4:40.10.
They were back at it again later in the evening when Knutson anchored the USA to gold and Fullerton chased her home to secure silver for the Dolphins, overtaking Canadian Heather McLean in the final 100m.
The Australian team of Ellese Zalewski (2:02.10), Tiffany Papaemanouil (2:01.63), Jessicah Ash (2:02.11) and Fullerton (1:59.05) put together an encouraging performance to clock a time of 8:04.89.
The second Australian record of the night went to South Australian Declan Potts, who has been in personal best form over the last two days, despite a painful ligament injury in his ankle, which severely hampered his preparation.
Potts clocked a time of 4:23.08 to finish a determined fourth in the men's 400m individual medley.
Australia finished night two with three gold, three silver and one bronze medal to lift their overall tally to three gold, nine silver and four bronze medals.
2009 JUNIOR PAN PACIFIC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS, RESULTS AFTER DAY TWO:
WOMEN
100m freestyle
Dagny Knutson (USA) 55.37 (Meet record)
Hannah Riordan (Canada) 56.03
Samantha Tucker (USA) 56.08
200m freestyle:
Dagny Knutson (USA) 1:57.73 (Meet record)
Ellen Fullerton (AUS) 1:59.32
Andrea Taylor (USA) 2:00.46
800m freestyle:
Haley Anderson (USA) 8:38.54
Amber McDermott (USA) 8:39.13
Blair Evans (AUS) 8:46.28
100m backstroke:
Shiho Sakai (JPN) 1:01.12
Grace Loh (AUS) 1:01.36
Sinead Russell (CAN) 1:02.32
100m breaststroke
Samantha Marshall (AUS) 1:09.08 (Meet Record)
Sayuna Sugiyama (JPN) 1:09.13
Tessa Wallace (AUS) 1:09.41
200m butterfly:
Camille Adams (USA) 2:10.18
Amy Smith (AUS) 2:10.55
Adrienne Bicek (USA) 2:11.20
400m individual medley
Dagny Knutson (USA) 4:40.10 (Meet Record)
Ellen Fullerton (AUS) 4:41.17 (Aust 16 years record)
Andrea Taylor (USA) 4:43.23
4x200m freestyle relay
USA 7:58.26
AUSTRALIA (Ellese Zalewski 2:02.10; Tiffany Papaemanouil 2:01.63; Jessica Ash 2:02.11; Ellen Fullerton 1:59.05)
CANADA 8:05.62
MEN
100m freestyle
Tomasso D'Orsogna (AUS) 49.75
Daniel Smith (AUS) 49.99
Daniel Bell (NZL) 50.59
200m freestyle:
Hassaan Abdel-Khalik (CAN) 1:49.55
Tommaso D'Orsogna (AUS) 1:49.57
Ryan Napoleon (AUS) 1:49.65
1500m freestyle:
Jumpei Higashi (JPN) 15:24.34
Christopher Ashwood (AUS) 15:25.89
Ryan Feeley (USA) 15:30.82
100m backstroke:
Daniel Bell (NZL) 55.11
Patrick Murphy (USA) 55.90
Takahiro Yamazaki (JPN) 56.66
100m breaststroke
Nicholas D'Innocenzo (USA) 1:02.99
Stuart Ferguson (USA) 1:03.62
Akihiro Yamaguchi (JPN) 1:03.88
200m butterfly:
Yuki Kobori (JPN) 1:57.66 (Meet Record)
Lachlan Staples (AUS) 1:59.19
Declan Potts (AUS) 1:59.92
400m individual medley
Yuya Horihata (JPN) 4:17.86 (Meet Record)
Keita Sameshima (JPN) 4:18.72
Andrew Gemmell (USA) 4:20.52
4x200m freestyle relay
AUSTRALIA (Daniel Smith, 1:49.98; Tomasso D'Orsogna 1:49.10; Ned McKendry 1:50.47; Ryan Napoleon 1:48.24) 7:17.79 (Meet record)
JAPAN 7:25.42
CANADA 7:25.43
POINTSCORE:
USA 182
AUSTRALIA 174
JAPAN 142
CANADA 87
NEW ZEALAND 49