August 18, 2022
Three Bond University swimmers trade their homework for Hawaii to compete in the Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
High school students Milla Jansen, Jesse Coleman and Flynn Southam will be with Bond Biomedical Science student Joshua Collett in Honolulu from August 24-27.
Jansen, who is in Year 10 at Somerset College, is competing in 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle and hopes to be named in the 4x100m relay team.
“I’ll miss school a bit, but I’ll be fine,” the 15-year-old said with a shrug.
“I’m really excited, especially because it’s in Hawaii and it gets hot there!”
University head coach Chris Mooney, who used to live in Hawaii, is the Australian team’s main mentor.
“I first started with Mooney when he came here last October, so it’s now up to a year,” says Jansen.
“I love him! He’s really good.”
Coleman, 18, is looking forward to wearing the green and gold and testing himself at a ‘really high level’ against other nations.
“It’s pretty cool, it was pretty exciting to get all the team gear, it was cool to see the colors and ‘Australia’ on it,” he said.
“The Americans look strong, so it will be great to take on them, test my skills and see how it goes.”
The Kings Christian College year 12 student will line up in the 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle.
“I would like a personal best, that would be nice, that’s all you can ask for,” he said.
The teenager hopes this is the first of many international encounters for him.
“I would do anything for it, represent Australia at a high level, go to the Olympics and the World and Commonwealth Games.”
The team will have a week-long internship camp at the Mecure Gold Coast Resort in Carrara before heading to Hawaii.
