Dolphins name 35 swimmers for Para Pan Pacs in Cairns

 

Swimming Australia: July 5, 2018: A team of 35 swimmers – 21 men and 14 women – will represent the Australian Dolphins at next month’s Para Pan Pacs in Cairns from August 9-14.

The team was named after four-days of solid competition at the Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Championship Trials at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre and includes 17 Queenslanders, seven from NSW, five from Victoria, four from WA and two from SA.

Seven swimmers Blake Cochrane, Daniel Fox, Ellie Cole, Katja Dedekind, Braedan Jason, Logan Powell, Jacob Templeton, are all from the USC Spartans Swim Team on the Sunshine Coast.

The Dolphins will be led by Paralympic stars Lakeisha Patterson (Lawnton), Brenden Hall (Lawnton), Cole (USC Spartans, QLD) and Rachael Watson (Chandler, QLD) who will be joined by a host of new faces, unveiled during the Trials.

 

Seventeen swimmers from the 2014 Para Pan Pacs in the US will return for this meet, a strong signal that the Dolphins will again be super competitive.

 

North Sydney’s 31-year-old Matt Levy is the oldest member of the team and he will be included alongside his coach, former Australian and Canadian Commonwealth Games swimmer, Stephen Badger.

 

In tonight’s action Para Program Swimmer of the Year Yeronga Park’s Rowan Crothers showed his power when he smashed his time from the heats in the final of the men’s Multi Class 100m freestyle, clocking an impressive 51.69 (953pts) to send a message to the opposition that he means business in Cairns.

 

Crothers cruised to victory ahead of Kawana Waters swimmer Liam Schluter (54.04, 832pts) and USC Spartans swimmer Daniel Fox (54.15, 827)., with both swimmers in formidable form as they too joined Crothers on the Dolphins team.

 

In the corresponding women’s event, after making her debut on the Australian Swim Team in 2006 Cole (USC Spartans) showed why she isn’t going anywhere, with the 26-year-old picking up her second Australian Championship crown for the meet in the women’s 100m freestyle Multi Class tonight.

 

Cole who clocked 1:04.37 (847pts) admitted she had lost count of her title tally but was excited to still be swimming fast and to get the chance to once again pull on the green and gold for the Para Pan Pacs.

 

Sitting in second place was late addition to the team, Ashleigh McConnell (Melbourne Vicentre) in 1:04.54 (841pts) with Patterson (Lawnton) up on the podium once again for third in 1:05.40 (830pts), with McConnell joining Victorian team mate Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedos,)

 

Australian Dolphins Swim Team, Para Pan Pacs, Cairns, August 9-14, 2018: Men’s 2018 Para Pan Pacs Team:

 

MEN: Jesse Aungles (Marion, SA), Liam Bekric (Norwood, SA), Rohan Bright (Barker Aquatic, NSW), Blake Cochrane (USC Spartans, QLD), Rowan Crothers (Yeronga Park, QLD), Timothy Disken (PLC Aquatic, VIC),  Daniel Fox (USC Spartans, QLD), Brenden Hall (Lawnton, QLD), Guy Harrison-Murray (Westside Church Aquatic, WA), Timothy Hodge (Auburn, NSW), Braedan Jason (USC Spartans, QLD), Ahmed Kelly (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC), Mitchell Kilduff (SLC Aquadot, NSW), Matthew Levy (North Sydney, NSW), Jeremy McClure (South Shore, WA), Grant Patterson (Central Cairns, QLD), Rick Pendleton (Genesis Aquatic, QLD), Ben Popham (Arena, WA), Logan Powell (USC Spartans, QLD), Liam Schluter (Kawana Waters, QLD), Jacob Templeton (USC Spartans, QLD)

 

WOMEN: Ellie Cole (USC Spartans, QLD), Taylor Corry (Trinity Lismore, NSW), Katja Dedekind (USC Spartans, QLD), Katherine Downie (Perth City, WA), Jaime-Lee Getson (Melbourne Torpedos, VIC), Jasmine Greenwood (Bay & Basin, NSW), Paige Leonhardt (Yeronga Park, QLD), Ashleigh McConnell (Melbourne Vicentre, VIC), Monique Murphy (Lawnton, QLD), Lakeisha Patterson (Lawnton, QLD), Madeleine Scott (Nunawading, VIC), Keira Stephens (Fraser Coast, QLD), Tiffany Thomas Kane (Lane Cove, NSW), Rachael Watson (Chandler, QLD).

 

Para Pan Pacs Team Head Coach Leigh Nugent                   

 

Coaches:  Stephen Badger (North Sydney, NSW),) Clinton  Camilleri (Auburn, NSW), Harley Connolly (Lawnton, QLD), Nathan Doyle (University of Sunshine Coast, QLD), Gavin Stewart SLC Aquadot, NSW), Rob Van Der Zant (Yeronga Park, QLD),  Yuriy Vdovychenko (SAL National Training Centre )