Night six of the Senior State Age Swim Championships saw heart-stopping finishes and surprise golds
Regular podium finishers qualifying out of place on night six of the NSW Senior State Age Championships led to photo finishes and an electric atmosphere. Check out the highlights!
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NIGHT six of finals at the NSW Senior State Age Championships seemed to feature a lot of golden regulars qualifying lower in the field.
It resulted in heart-stopping races and photo finishes, and a roaring crowd.
Here are all the highlights from the penultimate night!
Charli Barbour - Photo finish
Manly’s Charli Barbour has been going from strength to strength throughout the championships and reached another level on night six.
The girl’s 12-13 years 100m freestyle final was as close as it could get, with most of the field completely level at the end of the first lap.
The final leg was a fight to the wall, with Charli finishing in 59:58, just barely ahead of Warringah’s Jaslyn Plummer in 59:63.
Lachlan Davies - Clinical victory
Warringah Aquatic’s Lachlan Davies didn’t let the disappointment from second place the previous night rattle him as he took his mark for the boys 13-14 100m freestyle final.
He was the quickest qualifier for the event and the only one under 55 seconds.
The field was tight heading into the first interval, but Lachlan was just a head above the rest.
The final push was clinical, and Lachlan claimed gold by over one second to his rivals in 53:62.
Jessica Cole - Final lap sprint to gold
Wests Illawarra’s Jessica Cole was in a heated battle with Warringah’s Dominique Melbourn for the girls 15 years 200m freestyle final.
The girls were neck and neck from the start, with Jessica getting a slightly better reaction time off the block.
Jessica narrowly led at the first interval over Dominique, but came alive as she stormed towards the finish.
She took gold in 2:04:73, and added a bronze medal later in the night from the 50m butterfly final.
Luke Higgs - Come from behind victory
Luke Higgs qualified out of place for the 13-14 200m individual medal, setting the fourth fastest time.
The Warringah swimmer also seemed to fall behind at the start, trailing just out of the podium places for much of the race.
But the final freestyle leg, Luke reached another leg.
He powered through the field and made up places, eventually sealing the NSW State Age title in 2:12:90.
Lillie McPherson - Dominant
From start to finish, Lillie McPherson dominated the girls 14 years 400m individual medley.
She had a comfortable lead by the end of the opening butterfly leg and only extended it from there, looking confident in each discipline.
By the time the freestyle came around, the Manly swimmer was well ahead and took victory with a five second gap to her closest rival.
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