SWIMMING Miss Lane Expected to Win Title Race

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1947, Page 9

SWIMMING Miss Lane Expected to Win Title Race

BRISBANE, January 15. The New Zealand swimmer. Miss Ngaire Lane is expected to win the Queensland 100 metres backstroke title at the State championships on January 16. In her first competitive appearance she finished third in the 50 metres freestyle won by the triple Australian champion, Miss Denise Spencer, who equalled the Queensland record time. Miss Lane was billed to compete on the opening night in the 100 metres free-style, but was allowed to withdraw when she explained that she was not a free-style exponent. Instead she gave an impressive backstroke exhibition. The American swimmer, Ralph Wright, established two Australian records when he won the New South Wales 220 yards breaststroke championship at the Olympi'* Pool last night. Winning the event by almost 20 yards, he recorded 2min 50 2-ssec for the full distance. His time for 200 yards automatically established a record, as it was the first time that such a distance had been officially clocked z here, and his time for the 220 yards broke the Australian record of 2min 51 9-10 sec, held by the Englishman, J. G. Davies, since the Empire Games in 1938. i Before the race it was announced that Wright intended to attack the world record fob 200 metres of 2min 35 3-ssec, held by J. Verdeur, of America, but this attempt just-failed. Misses U. Crittenden 'and Noehne Maclean have been, chosen to tour New Zealand after attending the Australian championships at Adelaide.