Marieke Guehrer captures ten gold medals at the 2011 Australian University Games - Part 6
University of Melbourne’s Marieke Guehrer easily managed to remain in the spotlight of media after conquering six gold medals and putting forward five record-breaking performances on second day of the 2011 Australian University Games.
Despite her tight schedule, Guehrer finally got some rest, as three more events were scheduled to take place between 100m back-stroke and 4*100m freestyle relay meets. However, with the completion of the scheduled events, the champion reached the starting
blocks for her final event of the session, the 4*100m freestyle relay.
Being the second fastest swimmer of 100m freestyle, Guehrer was the starter of the relay event, whereas, Grace and Lyttle were listed to swim in second and third places of relay discipline. Similarly, Morrison being the expected top gem of 100m freestyle
was the closer of Melbourne’s relay squad.
The team was expected to face tough competition from University of Queensland, as their squad made the championship mark of the event by clocking a time of 4 minutes and 04.99 seconds in 2010. Queensland’s team had two changes this year as Rebecca Pegg and
Elise Hoyer confirmed their places in their relay squad.
At the start of the respective meet, Guehrer displayed her gruelling strategy by using powerful strokes in the initial-lap of the swim. Her sensational swim in first-lap crushed the hopes of her Queensland’s rival, Jessica Henshaw, who was furiously struggling
to pass the champion.
The interesting part of the swim was that after showing phenomenal pace in the first-half, Guehrer did not slow down in the second-lap. In fact, she kept swimming hard and ended the swim with a lead of one and a half body length lead over Henshaw. The race
was continued by Loh, who also remained unexpectedly strong and enhanced the lead while handing the race to Lyttle.
Unlike her team-members, Lyttle failed to add a significant amount of strength to the race, but she easily managed to sustain the lead. After Lyttle, Morrison took charge of the swim and shattered the hopes of every single swimmer in the pool.
Along with the efforts of her fellow swimmers, Morrison hit the wall in a new record time of 4 minutes and 02.82 seconds. In addition, the arena was stunned with the frenzy swims of Melbourne’s students, who were almost thirteen seconds ahead of their strongest
challenger, University of Queensland.
Queensland’s relay squad was able to secure a comfortable second finish in the event, as they submitted a time of 4 minutes and 15.67 seconds for silver medal. They were followed by relay team of Bond University, which remained 8.43 seconds behind their
former finishers and secured the victory stand for bronze medal with an effort of 4 minutes and 24.10 seconds.
Guehrer’s four gold winning swims on second day of the championship contributed a great deal in her points. After the completion of day two’s events, she topped the overall rankings chart with a fabulous score of 81 points, which included five individual
and two relay gold medals in the championship.
Her promising efforts in the first two days of the competition took her to a new level of swimming, while there was one more day left in the event.
Continued in Part 7.
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