Chang Hong Liang (张泓量)3 reconstruction(s)comment at the time:
Two lucky official solves in a row, aka getting lucky isn't a crime.
((TL NOTE: I was averaging around 28-30 at the time))
Didn't find a good solution for #3, so whatever. "Lucked out" on a 28-move ab3c (insertion cancelled two moves) near the end of the hour, because my backup solution was 40 moves long (lol). It's still a good mean by my standards.