Chris Licciardi and Taylor McKeown clinch gold medals – Australian State Teams Age SC Championships
Chris Licciardi of Victoria (VIC) and Taylor McKeown of Queensland (QLD) earned gold medals of 100m butterfly and 200m Individual Medley (IM) in the Girls 15-16 years old category, on the last day of 2011 Australian State Teams Age Short Course Championships.
The meet concluded on September 19, at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Canberra.
Two more events, the 200m butterfly and 200m breast-stroke were scheduled to take place in the 14-15 years old age group.
The 15-year-old Licciardi presented a scintillating effort in the four-lap butterfly discipline, as she posted a time of 1 minute and 00.59 seconds for gold medal. The second spot of the race was obtained by Megan Gianotti of QLD, who remained 0.46 seconds
behind her preceding swimmer and stepped on the podium for silver medal with a timing of 1 minute and 01.05 seconds. With her noteworthy effort, Gianotti remained 0.26 seconds ahead of Georgia Miller of New South Wales (NSW), who ended up third with a timing
of 1 minute and 01.31 seconds.
The next event of the session was 200m IM, where McKeown earned the title of the race by submitting a time of 2 minutes and 13.52 seconds. She was followed by Carla Buchanan of QLD, who remained prominently away from the gold medallist and clocked a time
of 2 minutes and 16.95 seconds for silver medal. Buchanan was trailed by Hayley Baker of VIC, as she was 0.91 seconds slower and reached the podium for bronze medal with a timing of 2 minutes and 17.86 seconds.
In the meantime, 15-year-old Bria Throssell of Western Australia (WA) proved her dominance for the crown of 200m butterfly. Throssell clocked a sterling time of 2 minutes and 11.81 seconds and improved the age group mark of 2 minutes and 12.22 seconds, set
by Madeline Groves in 2010. Nevertheless, she was nearly two seconds ahead of NSW’s Ely Gasparotto, who surfaced as the silver medallist with a timing of 2 minutes and 13.39 seconds. Kaelyn Hann of QLD was the third position holder, as she clocked a time of
2 minutes and 15.44 seconds.
The last event of the session was 200m breast-stroke, where VIC’s Jessica Hansen displayed a dazzling effort of 2 minutes and 28.65 seconds. She was followed by McKeown, who completed his swim in a time of 2 minutes and 29.96 seconds. Emma Newell of Tasmania
appeared as the third finest swimmer and produced a time of 2 minutes and 35.09 seconds.
The session ended after the impressive swims of all participants, while the winners were awarded accolades for their remarkable efforts after the session.
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