May has been a very busy month for galas with the start of the North East Regional Long Course Championships, the frenetic competition to secure a top 25 time during the qualifying window for the new British Summer Championships and the opportunity for our younger swimmers to gauge their improvement in the Dartes B Grade meet. There have been so many excellent performances and it is not always possible to mention everyone. So to everyone who competed, a big "Well Done!"
ASANER Youth and Senior Championships 2015 (Long Course)
The ASA North East Region 2015 Long Course Youth and Senior Championships were held at Sunderland Aquatic Centre on 9 and 10 May 2015. Three of our swimmers achieved the qualifying times and competed: Holly Milnes in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly finishing in 34th and 24th places respectively; and sisters Corinne and Alanah Hill who both swam in the 200m butterfly finishing in 30th and 35th places respectively.
Doncaster DARTES Level May Day Meet (Long Course)
The new Dartes May Day Meet was held at John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of May 2015. As no coach was able to be present a big "thank you" to the parents who helped on poolside. This gala provided a relatively rare opportunity for our swimmers to take on the 800m freestyle (girls) and 1,500m freestyle (boys). Jessica Richardson, Matthew Selous, Nathan Billingham and Greg Lugton rose to the challenge with Nathan and Greg competing in this event for the first time. Congratulations to everyone for finishing and to Greg for Gold Medal in the 13 year boys age group.
Other top 3 medal winners were Harriet Ostrowski-Jones with Bronze Medal in the 11 year 100m Backstroke and Lewis Baker in the 10 year age group with Gold Medals in 100m Backstroke, 200m IM, 200m Freestyle, 200m Breaststroke and 400m IM; Silver Medals in 50m and 100m Freestyle, 100m Breaststroke and 200m Backstroke; and Bronze Medals in 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke.
Medals were also awarded for 4th to 6th places up to the 12 year age groups so congratulations to Lauren and Megan Sharp, Matthew Selous, Jessica Richardson, Harriet Ostrowski-Jones and Lewis Baker and also congratulations to all who achieved a PB or who tried hard but narrowly missed out.
Rotherham Metro Swimming Club Level 1 Meet (Long Course)
The Rotherham Metro Level 1 long course meet was held at Ponds Forge Sheffield on 16th and 17 May 2015.
This meet attracted a very strong field as it fell within the qualifying period for the new British Swimming Summer Championships (for swimmers from the 13/14 age group upwards) and with the qualifying window due to close on 31 May the competition was fierce. In addition competition was also strong for the younger age group swimmers.
11 Swimmers took part including our British Championship swimmers Libby Turner and Tom Speed who were looking to improve their personal best times. Libby gained 1 PB from her 5 swims in the 13 year age group and picked up a Silver Medal in the 200m IM and Bronze Medals in the 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly; and Tom (swimming in the 15 years and over section)gained 2 PB's from his 3 swims. Also swimming in the older age groups and gaining PB's were Lucy Hatfield in the 13 year age group and Alanah and Corinne Hill in the 15 and over age group.
In the younger age groups Lewis Baker was again prolific in the boys 9/10 section winning Gold Medals in 400m IM and 50m breaststroke, Silver Medals in 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle and Bronze Medals in 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m breaststroke as well as gaining 6 PB's.
Other PB's were achieved by Lola Yoxall, Macy Yoxall, Megan Sharp and Phoebe McNicholas in the 9/10 age group.
City of Sheffield Swim Squad Level 1 No Frills Meet (Long Course)
Libby Turner was again in action at Ponds Forge at the COSSS No Frills meet held on 23 May and 24 May 2015 finishing with Silver Medal and a PB in 400m IM, Silver Medal in 200m IM and also competed in 100m breaststroke and 200m backstroke.
Doncaster DARTES Level 3 B Grade (Short Course)
On 31 May 2015 a relatively young and inexperienced squad made the short journey to Adwick and enjoyed a very successful gala amassing a superb 59 short course PB's from 79 swims in total: a fantastic effort with the club finishing 6th out of the 19 clubs taking part and with two swimmers, Robyn Sykes and Roman Wallace making their competitive debuts.
With trophies for the top girl and top boy swimmer in each age group as well as individual medals Megan Sharp secured the 9 year girl's trophy with Gold Medals in 50m Free, 50m Butterfly and 100m IM together with Speeding Tickets in 50m Backstroke and 50m Breaststroke and 5 PB's from 5 swims; Eleanor Valentine-Bull was 5th overall in the same age group with Silver Medal in the 50m Breaststroke and Bronze Medal in the 50m Backstroke with 3 PB's from 3 swims; in the 10 year and 11 year girls age groups Phoebe Wells, Lucy Bratley, Lucy Gray, Amy Guettat and Holly Northam secured PB's in all of their swims whilst Maea Hamby, Isabelle Speed, Freya Waller, Lucy Redfern and Lauren Sharp all contributed to the PB haul. For the boys Daniel Miles (9) won Bronze Medal in 50m Breaststroke, Kalum Smart (11) won Gold Medal in the 50m Backstroke and together with Roman Wallace (11) the boys secured 10 PB's from 12 swims.
For the older swimmers Rebecca Sanderson won the top girl trophy in the 16 year age group with Gold Medals in the 100m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle and Silver Medals in the 50m Butterfly and 100m IM; Jess Richardson was 2nd overall in the girls 12 year age group with a Speeding Ticket in 50m Breaststroke, Gold Medal in 50m Freestyle, Silver Medal in 100m IM Bronze Medal in 50m Butterfly and 4 PB's from 4 swims; Millie Hamby was 5th overall in the girls 12 year age group with a Speeding Ticket in 50m Backstroke and Bronze Medals in 50m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle together with 5 PB's from 5 swims; and Tom Speed made a cameo appearance in the 100m IM.
Finally "Good Luck" to all our swimmers who are taking part in the ASANER Age Group Championships on the weekend of the 6 & 7 June and 13 & 14 June.
Carly Herbert
Head Coach
