Busy National meets to end another successful season!
BRITISH CHAMPS - TOLCROSS POOL, GLASGOW
Swimmers - Alec White, Katie Walton, Katie Townsend, Aliyah-Mai Webb, Olivia Burrow, Flora Perkin
Coach - Jo John
We started our Nationals weeks with our swimmers competing in the British Champs at Tolcross Pool in Glasgow between . It was a successful week, with Flora Perkin, Olivia Burrow, Alec White and Aliyah-Mai Webb competing for us in 16 individual events. 5 finals were achieved. There were numerous PB's achieved.
Alec White 50m Freestyle - 5th place, 100m Butterfly - 4th place, 50m Butterfly - 1st Place
Olivia Burrow 200m Backstroke - 9th place
Flora Perkin 100m Breaststroke - 9th place
The Women's 4 x 200m relay team of Katie Townsend, Katie Walton, Aliyah-Mai Webb and Olivia Burrow finished 11 seconds quicker than their seed time in an impressive swim, moving up the rankings in the process from 20th to 16th.
(Pictured below) Katie Walton part of the Women's Relay Team
On the final day of the British Champs, Alec White qualified joint fastest for the final of the Mens 17/18 years 50m Butterfly in a new PB time of 25.15 seconds. He then swam an amazing final to win Gold on the touch in his first time sub-25 seconds, to PB again 24.89 seconds!
(Pictured below) Alec White with his Gold Medal.
WELSH NATIONALS - WALES NATIONAL POOL, SWANSEA
Swimmers - Izzy Crocker, Jack Aldridge, Anatole Kacar, Liam Jordan, Katie Townsend, Honey Drury, Amelia Ashelford, Grace James, Jake Ashelford, Ella Lamont-Tuckett, Felicity Lamont-Tuckett, Brooke Leaman, Jess Swanston, Enzo Robertson-Moro
Coaches - Jo John, Rich Crocker, Helen Townsend
We then moved on to Swansea for the Swim Wales National Open Meet between Monday 29th July and Friday 2nd August.
15 swimmers swam a total of 60 races at this meet, with 15 making finals with 12 times faster than heat swims, which is really impressive and shows excellent conversion from heat to final.
The standout results were as follows;
Gold for Milly Rawles in 200m Backstroke, especially after missing so much swimming recently with a broken foot.
Silver for Liam Jordan in 50m Breaststroke
(Pictured below) Liam Jordan with his Silver Medal and Milly Rawles with her Gold Medal)
Silver for Enzo Robertson-Moro in 200m Backstroke
Bronze for Amelia Ashelford in 100m Backstroke
A total of 28 new PB’s were set at this competitive and action packed meet.
ENGLISH SUMMER NATIONALS - PONDS FORGE, SHEFFIELD
Swimmers - Josephine Klein, Ella Osborne, Keely Ware, Sam Arrowsmith, Bryher Shears, Flora Perkin, Aliyah-Mai Webb, Olivia Burrow
Coaches - Gordon Rea, Glenn Currie
The mottos for the week were "swim with a smile on your face and get in and race".
In summary we had 2 x 1st, 1 x 3rd, 2 x 4th, 3 x 5th, 2 x 7th, 2 x 8th and 1 x 9th place finishes out of the 18 swims entered. Everyone who made a final progressed and swam faster. There were a total of 17 personal bests swam, several doubled up their PB's from heats to finals.
Wednesday
400m I.M. Ella Osborne (12/13) Heat 5.15.29 Final 5.11.16 Placed 4th with total PB on day of over 8 secs.
Thursday
100m Butterfly Josephine Klein (14) Heat 1.06.69 Final 1.05.07 Placed 3rd with PB of over 2 seconds.
(Pictured below) JK with her Bronze Medal!
Friday
50m Backstroke
Aliyah-Mai Webb (17+) Heat 30.55 Final 30.54 Placed 4th Olivia Burrow (17+) Heat 31.30 finished 12th missed final by just 0.07
400m Freestyle
Ella Osborne (12/13) Heat 4.38.95 Final 4.36.77 Placed 5th PB by over 4 seconds Josephine Klein (14) Heat 4.39.95 Final 4.38.30 Placed 8th with PB by over 3 seconds 200m I.M.
Ella Osborne (12/13) Heat 2.31.64 Flora Perkin (16) Heat 2.23.67 Final 2.22.18 Placed 1st with PB by over 2 seconds (came from around 7m behind at halfway point to win by a convincing margin). Aliyah-Mai Webb (17+) Heat 2.25.18 Final 2.24.28 Placed 7th Her fastest time for well over a year.
Saturday
200m Butterfly
Josephine Klein (14) Heat 2.30.48 Final 2.30.40 Placed 9th for PB by over 1 sec Keely Ware (14) Heat 2.31.51 Final 2.30.30 Placed 8th PB by 0.04 Bryher Shears (16) Heat 2.32.42 Placed 11th just missing the final Sam Arrowsmith (16) Heat 2.12.46 Final 2.11.65 Placed 5th with PB by over 2 secs 50m Breaststroke
Flora Perkin (16) Heat 34.61 Final 33.83 Placed 1st with her fastest time for over a year 100m Freestyle
Josephine Klein (14) Heat 1.01.10 Final 1.00.79 Placed 8th PB by 0.22
(Pictured below) Flora with one of the two Gold Medals she won!
Sunday
800m Freestyle
Ella Osborne HDW 9.36.07 Placed 5th with PB by nearly 8 seconds 200m Backstroke
Ella Osborne Heat 2.30.42 Final 2.27.71 Placed 7th with PB by over 2 seconds 50m Butterfly
Jopsephine Klein Heat 30.74.
All in all we had 31 swims, heats and finals resulting in 18 personal best times and every swimmer that made a final improved on their heat time, which is really impressive. Out of 18 events we made 14 finals or finished in the top 5 for the HDW event. This equates to a 58% PB to swim ratio, 77.7% final conversion and 100% heat to final improvement ratio.
Everyone really enjoyed the week at Ponds Forge and some new friendships forged with Toronto Swim Club all the way from Canada.
OPEN WATER NATIONALS - THRYBERGH COUNTRY PARK, ROTHERHAM
Swimmers - Gemma Owen, Honey Drury, Jack Willis
Coach - Gordon Rea
A lovely sunny day at the lake just down the road from Sheffield where the pool events had been held leading up to this event. First up to swim was Gemma Owen who took part in the Women's 19 years 5K swim finishing an impressive 12th. Then it was the turn of Honey Drury who competed in the Women's 14 years 3K swim at her first Nationals, finishing in 34th in a strong field. Then finally Jack Willis competing in his first Nationals as well in the Men's 13 years 2K swim, where he finished 4th, narrowly being pipped for the Bronze Medal. A great experience for all the swimmers and Coach Gordon Rea was impressed with how they did in this tough event against top competition.
(L-R) Coach Gordon Rea, Jack Willis, Gemma Owen, Honey Drury
