Event: Wiltshire County BAGCAT Championships
Venue: Link Centre
Date: 13th, 26th and 27th March 2011
The Wiltshire County Championships concluded last weekend with final block of BAGCAT (9 to 14 years) competition at the Link Centre. Around 350 youngsters from 15 clubs across the county were at the event along with their coaching teams and supporters for what proved to be a busy and exciting three days of competition.
Top finishers for Swindon Dolphin were Joanna Farley (7 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) and James Watson (7 gold). Farley also picked up her first regional qualifying time in the 100m backstroke and Watson added the 200m butterfly to his growing list of QTs as well as coming within a few seconds of his first national time in the 200m backstroke. Other top Dolphin medallists were Alex Chantler-Mayne (4 gold), Ben Sararchi (2 gold, 5 silver), Georgia Dicks (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze), Adam Coleman (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze) and Georgina Pitts (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze).
Regional qualifying times came thick and fast with Adam Coleman, Alex Chantler-Mayne, Ben Sarachi, Georgia Dicks, Georgina Pitts and James Watson all now going into the South West Championships with swims in all categories and a real chance of further success. Lauren Matthews, who makes the move to youth competition for the regionals, also swam superb throughout the competition with nine swims under the regional standard. Joanna Farley, Millie Jeans and Abigail Ross also added their names to the growing number of Dolphin regional qualifiers which now stands at 40.
The relays provided some nail-biting races with Trowbridge, whose swimmers excelled in many of their individual performances, winning two of the four events. The Dolphin girls, however, had their moment of glory winning the 4 x 100 freestyle, helping to ensure Dolphin won the top team trophy for the best overall relay performances across the entire Championships.
In the final overall BAGCAT awards, James Watson and Joanna Farley both picked up gold in their respective age groups. Other top 6 awards went to Joshua Fox (4th), Aaron Knight (6th), Denice Gardo (3rd), James Chantler-Mayne (5th), Georgia Dicks (3rd), Ben Sarachi (3rd), Rebecca Matthews (2nd), Abbie Hawkins (6th), Adam Coleman (3rd), Alex Chantler-Mayne (5th), Noah Kirby (6th), Lauren Matthews (5th), Georgina Pitts (6th).
Full results are available on the competition page.
