26 Swindon Dolphin swimmers from Regional, County and Dolphin Academy Squads travelled the short distance down to Gloucester on 2nd/3rd December to compete in the Soundwell L3 County Qualifier Open Meet.
For many swimmers this was their last chance to achieve their County Qualifying times for 2018, whilst at the same time, for the Regional Squad swimmers, this was their first opportunity to target the faster Regional Qualifying Times.
In the Boys 200m Butterfly, Ben Tait, Freddie Carter and Lewis Kane were all aiming to better their PB’s set just 6 weeks earlier. Ben smashed 22 seconds off his PB taking Gold in the Boys 9 – 10yr age group, while Freddie and Lewis reduced their PB’s by 14 and 13 seconds respectively. Freddie’s new PB of 3:04.98 was fast enough to not only take Gold in the Boys 11yr age group, but also guarantee Freddie a place at next year’s Regional Championships with his first Regional Qualifying Time of the year. Lewis’s time earned him a very credible Bronze in the Boys 11yr age group.
Back row (left to right): Erin Parker, Ben Tait, Eloise Foster. Front row (left to right): Lily Hunt, Freddie Carter.
Podium places and PB’s followed in quick succession with Katie Stratford taking Silver and Sophie Leonard taking Bronze in the Girls 200m Freestyle 9 – 10yr age group. Erin Parker narrowly missed her 200m Freestyle PB, although did manage to take Gold in the Girls 11yr age group while Juliette Hudson picked up Gold in the 15yr age group and Hannah Bailey picked up Bronze in the Girls 200m Freestyle 16yr and over age group.
The theme of the weekend seemed now to be set with the Dolphin swimmers now hungry for faster times. In the Boys 50m Backstroke, Lucas Carter reduced his PB to win a Bronze in the boys 9 – 10yr age group, while Ethan Gough took Gold in the Boys 11yr age group. Although one of the youngest in her age group, Megan Watts took Gold in the Girls 9-10yr 50m Butterfly. Event 6 moved on to the Boys 100m Backstroke, with yet more PB’s and medals, this time Theo Hancock taking Bronze in the boys 11yr age group. In another Silver/ Bronze age group finish, Katie Stratford just pipped Sophie Leonard in the girls 100m Freestyle with Millie Davies just missing out on a podium finish by less than 1 second.
In Event 8, the Boys 100m Breaststroke, Ben Tait looked impressive, reducing his PB by over 5 seconds to win Gold in the Boys 9 – 10yr age group, but more importantly his first Regional Consideration Time for 2018. Freddie Carter went one better by also reducing his 100m Breaststroke PB by over 5 seconds, taking Gold in the 11yr age group and also hitting his second Regional Qualifying Time of the weekend. Will Leonard took Bronze in the same age group with a new 4.5 second PB – and this was only the 1st of the weekends 4 sessions at Gloucester.
The afternoon on Saturday opened with the Boys 400m IM with Ben Tait, Dolphin’s only competitor in this event taking Gold in the Boys 9 – 10yr age group. The medals and PB’s continued to come through Session 2 with the following results:
Katie Stratford – Gold in the Girls 9-10yr 200m Butterfly.
Kerry Rutherford – Bronze, Girls 14yr 200m Butterfly.
Ben Tait – Silver, Boys 9-10yr 200m Freestyle.
Gold, Silver and Bronze for Freddie Carter, Ethan Gough and Lewis Kane respectively in the Boys 11yr 200m Freestyle.
Megan Watts – Silver and Katie Stratford – Bronze. Girls 9-10yr 50m Backstroke.
Erin Parker – Silver Girls 11yr 50m Backstroke.
Freddie Carter – Gold 11yr Boys 50m Butterfly.
Katie Stratford – Silver Girls 9 – 10yr 200m Backstroke.
Erin Parker – Gold, Grace Whitehouse Bronze in the Girls 11yr 200m Backstroke.
Freddie Carter – Gold, Lewis Kane – Silver in the Boys 11yr 100m Freestyle.
Millie Davies – Silver Girls 9-10yr 100m Breaststroke.
Grace Whitehouse – Gold Girls 11yr 100m Breaststroke.
Juliette Hudson – Bronze Girls 15yr 100m Breaststroke.
This brought a very successful Saturday to a close, now if only Sunday could be half as good.
It would appear the swimmers were as eager to race on Sunday as they were the day before. Eloise Foster and Lily Hunt started things off finishing 2nd and 3rd in the Girls 400m 9-10yr Freestyle with Eloise’s Silver finish also achieving her first County Consideration Time.
In the following event, Lucas Carter picked up a Bronze in the 9-10yr age group while his older brother Freddie picked up Gold in the 11yr age group 200m Breaststroke. It was a 1-2-3 podium finish in the girls 50m Freestyle 9-10yr age group with Megan Watts taking Gold, Sophie Leonard taking Silver and Millie Davies taking Bronze. The Boys 50m Breaststroke saw Ben Tait taking Gold in the 9-10yr Age Group while Freddie Carter took Gold in the 11yr Age Group. Ben’s 50m Breaststroke also dipped under the Regional Consideration Time.
Medals and PBs continued to flow with Megan Watts taking Silver and Mille Davies taking Bronze in the Girls 200m IM. Not content with just medals, Freddie Carter achieved his third Regional Qualifying Time while also taking Gold in the Boys 11yr age group 100m Butterfly, while Ben Tait picked up Silver in the 9-10yr age group.
The Girls 100m Backstroke saw Sophie Leonard pick up Bronze in the 9-10yr age group while Erin Parker picked up Gold in the 11yr Age Group while also dipping under her first Regional Consideration Time.
Heading into the final session of the weekend, Ben Tait continued his success over the weekend taking a Gold in the Boys 9-10yr age group 400m Freestyle, while Theo Hancock took Silver in the 11yr age group. Next up was the Girls 200m Breaststroke with medal finishes for Millie Davies- Bronze 9-10yr age group, Grace Whitehouse – Silver 11yr age group and Juliette Hudson taking silver in the 15yr age group. Although outside of the top 3 in this event, Lily Hunt achieved her first County Consideration Time. Other podium finishes from session 4 included:
Lewis Kane – Gold Boys 11yr age group 50m Freestyle.
Freddie Carter – Silver Boys 11yr age group 50m Freestyle.
Megan Watts – Silver 9-10yr age group 50m Breaststroke.
Grace Whitehouse – Gold 11yr age group 50m Breaststroke.
Juliette Hudson – Silver 15yr age group 50m Breaststroke.
Freddie Carter – Gold 11yr age group 200m IM.
Ethan Gough – Silver Boys 11yr age group 100m Backstroke.
So all in all, this was a very successful and well run meet in the GL1 pool hosted by Soundwell Swimming Club, making the 8-9 hours per day poolside well worth the effort and time seeing so many swimmers improve. With the Dolphin swimmers achieving 117 PB’s from 167 swims, it’s exciting to see how so many swimmers have progressed so well over the past 6 weeks since the Club Championships at the end of October.
