Yorkshire County Championships
Ponds Forge, Sheffield
Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th October 2014
Kingston upon Hull Swimming Club travelled to Ponds Forge international pool in Sheffield to compete against Yorkshires finest swimmers in this two day County Championships.
National Squad
Aleah Ross 13 years had a fantastic weekend securing a silver medal in the 100m freestyle with a personal best time, her success continued resulting in a further four top ten finishes again with personal bests in all her swims. Continuing to perform well for the girls was Shannon McGahey aged 15 years who competed in all five events. Shannon produced two personal bests in the 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke, her breaststroke swim saw a massive 4 second personal best and a North East Regional Qualifying time for December.
Abi Stringer 15 years gained a clean sweep of personal bests in all her events, despite a recent foot injury. Alexandra Stringer 14 years had a successful weekend and gained a number of long and short course personal bests in all her five swims.
The boys demonstrated their prowess by attaining personal bests all round, Adam Alcock showed that with hard work you can reap rewards. Adam gained a further two North East Regional qualifying times in the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke both with personal best times. Adding to this he swam a further two personal bests and gained Yorkshire qualifying times for March in the 100m freestyle and 200m IM.
Elliott Stephenson aged 15 years, performed well after a recent illness, gaining three personal bests with the biggest improvement coming in the 200m IM where he took nearly 5 seconds off his short course personal best. Bailey Hairsine continued his recent good form in the 15 years and over age group with four personal bests in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 200m IM. Will Costello did not disappoint either with two personal bests in his three events, his 100m freestyle producing a great time of 57.45.
Junior A Squad
First to swim for the girls was 11 year old Megan Gray competing in the 100m breaststroke where a new PB time earned her an NER qualifying time. Another NER time and 4 second PB was achieved soon after in the 100m backstroke. In the 200m IM Megan finished in 7th place with a 7 second Pb and her third NER time of the day. A 4th Pb was earned in the 100m fly but saving the best till last Megan swam the 100m freestyle in an impressive time of 1.05.47 finishing in 4th place.
12 year old Evie Lees swam 5 personal bests from her 5 races. In the 200m medley a 2 second pb was enough to secure an NER qualifying time, while in the 100m freestyle, her 1.5 second pb put her into an 8th place finish in a time of 1.05.03. Evie finished the 100m breaststroke in a new time of 1.23.49 and the 100m butterfly in a 1.17.18.
12 year old Frances Luckup achieved a strong 2 second Pb in the 100m backstroke finishing in a time of 1.17.93. In the 100m freestyle she swam a 1.10.96 taking over a second off her previous PB time.
12 year old Hollie Verity started the weekend with the 100m backstroke where a time of 1.16.29 and a 2 second Pb was enough to secure a 2015 Yorkshire qualifying time for the spring meet. The 200m IM also gave Hollie a 5 second Pb with 3 second Pb’s following in the 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. A 5th Pb of the weekend came in the 100m freestyle finishing in a time of 1.10.13.
Elizabeth Hawkard led the way for the 12 year old Kingston girls in the 100m backstroke finishing in a time of 1.15.95 earning her a NER qualifying time. In the 100m freestyle she finished in a 1.08.89 and another Pb time. Finally in the 100m breaststroke, she finished the day with a 2.5 second Pb in a time of 1.30.03.
12 year old Jolie Bull achieved 2 personal best times from her 2 swims, the first coming in the 200m IM. In the 100m freestyle she knocked 2 seconds from her previous time finishing in a 1.10.30.
The biggest Pb from the squad was set by 13 year old Zeita Tootle in the 200m IM, her time of 2.44.98 was 13 seconds off her entry time. Another Pb was set in the 100m freestyle finishing in a time of 1.06.51.
First up for the boys was 12 year old Joe Basdeo-Taylor where a time of 1.24.30 in the 100m breaststroke saw him finishing in third position. In the 200m IM Joe achieved his second top ten finish of the day finishing in 4th place with a new Pb and an NER qualifying time. In the 100m fly Joe swam a time of 1.12.65 which was another 4th place finish before his 100m freestyle swim gave him 4 top ten places from 4 swims.
13 year old Lewis Collins didn’t disappoint either, gaining 5 new personal best times from his 5 races. In the 100m backstroke he finished in a 1.10.05 narrowly missing a top 10 placing. The biggest improvement came in the 100m breaststroke with a 4.5 second Pb. Both the 100m fly and 200m IM saw 2.5 second improvement with the IM a qualifying time for NER championships. The highest placing of the day came in the 100m freestyle where a new time of 1.00.28 placed Lewis in 5th position. 12 year old Alex Everson was showing his continuing improvement with a massive 11 second PB in the 200m IM. A further Pb in the 100m backstroke saw Alex finish in 8th place with an NER qualifying time. His second top 10 finish of the weekend came in the 100m butterfly with a new Pb time of 1.17.66.
Junior C Squad
9 year old Libby Ackrill swam in two races over the weekend. In the 100m Backstroke she achieved a three sec Pb and an 11 year old Winter Yorkshire time for next year in 1:28.08. Libby knocked 5 seconds off her 100 freestyle Pb, gaining another 11 year old Winter Yorkshire time for next year in 1:19.83. Tayla Ross, age 9, took part in four events, swimming her way to a two sec Pb in the 50 breaststroke. Ten year old Hollie McMullen knocked four seconds off her 100m freestyle time gaining a new Pb and, despite losing her goggles in the 100m backstroke, carried on regardless to achieve a two second PB.
For the boys Alistair Lovel swam in 3 events in the 9 year old age group, gaining Pb’s in each event. Alistair achieved 6th place in the 50m freestyle with a time of 36.35, gaining him a 10 year old Yorkshire time. Alistair’s 50m breast stroke time of 50.55 gained him a second 10 year old Yorkshire qualifying time.
Regional A Squad
The girls produced some fantastic performances over the weekend. Melissa Machin, 14, had a great weekend producing 4 new Pb’s from her 5 races, the best coming in the 100m breaststroke where she knocked 3 sec off her previous best. Darcey Hambly, 14, swam her way to new Pb’s in the 100m freestyle and 200m IM. Megan Batterbee, 13, achieved Pbs in all 3 of her races the biggest one being 3sec Pb in the 100m backstroke. Kennedy Akrill, 13, also gained PBs in all 3 of her races; the biggest improvement was a 4sec Pb in the 200m individual medley. Antonia Brittian, 15, gained a 2 sec Pb in 100m freestyle. Other strong performances were demonstrated by Leoni Bull, 14, Molly Marritt, 13, and Emma Newmarch, 14.
Jack Woodcock, 14, had 4 races over the weekend with his best performance being a 2 sec Pb in the 100m backstroke. Jake Conlon, 13, had 3 events gaining PBs in 2 of them. Liam Spence, 13, gave his best performance in the 100m freestyle gaining a 2sec Pb. Ethan Kingdom, 13, improved his PB by a 1sec in the 100m freestyle.
