Event: Swim England South West Regional Youth and Age Group Championships
Venue: Plymouth Life Centre / Bristol Hengrove / Millfield
Date: 5th to 7th May 2018 (Youth), 12th, 13th, 19th & 20th May 2018 (Age Groups)
The Swim England South West Regional Swimming Championships took place across three weekends in May, with Swindon Dolphin having a strong presence at both the youth and age-group competitions.
Plymouth Life Centre was again the setting for the youth championships, held across the three days of the May Bank Holiday.
Megan Adamson was in particularly good form, achieving personal bests in all but one of her swims. Adamson made finals in both the 200m individual medley and the 100m freestyle, swimming faster than the heat on both occasions. A new age group club record in the medley and silver medals in the 400m individual medley, 800m freestyle and 1500m freestyle were just rewards for the 15 year old.
Denice Gardo made finals in both the 50m and 100m backstroke, the latter courtesy of a superb heat effort that saw her set a new club record in a time of 1:06.21.
Henry Rideout’s freestyle came back on form as he swam personal bests in both the 100m and 200m events, lowering his time again in the final of the 200m event. Rideout was also delighted to have swum a personal best in the 50m breaststroke.
Also achieving personal bests were Gareth Sutherland in the 50m butterfly, Oscar Pearcey in the 50m and 200m breaststroke, Regan Jefferies in the 50m breaststroke and Cathy Naus 50m breaststroke and 1500m freestyle. Naus and Pearcey also made finals in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke respectively. Other finalists were Ethan Fowler and Alice Lockey, both in the 200m butterfly.
The age group competition was spread across two weekends at Bristol and Millfield. There was an abundance of personal best swims with most swimmers stepping up to the challenge of racing long course for the first time this season.
Achieving a full house of personal bests were Aimee Masters, Ben Tait, Ben Hunt, Erin Parker, Ethan Gough, Freddie Carter, James Hawkins, Lucas Pearcey, Lyra Sheppard, Noah Parker, Olivia Gough, William Leonard and Zak Parker.
Caitlin Gulliver made the finals in the 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly, swimming faster than her heat swim in each and earning a bronze medal in the freestyle. A further two bronze also came in the heat declared 400m and 1500m freestyle events.
Emilie Gulliver reached finals in four events, although medals were elusive until the heat declared 1500m which resulted in a hard earned silver medal. Gulliver also set a new club age group best time in the 200m individual medley.
Erin Henly has made consistent progress with her 200m breaststroke swims throughout the season and it was inevitable that she made further improvement in the event this time, resulting in a new 13 years and under age group club record time of 2:44.20, and a bronze medal.
Lucy Adamson went into the 200m breaststroke final ranked 3rd, but a stronger second 100m in the final saw the 12 year old finish in the silver medal position. Adamson also finished 7th in the final of the 200m butterfly.
Lucas Pearcey found himself in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke finals and like Adamson, found another gear in the 200m event, improving his 4th ranked place to take the bronze medal.
Freddie Carter’s first regional championships resulted in final appearances in the 200m individual medley and the 200m butterfly. Carter went into the medley final ranked 8th, and managed to pick up a place, finishing in a creditable 7th. There was however a reverse of fortunes in the 200m butterfly final, where despite being ranked 3rd, and being in this position for the majority of the race, he was touched out into 4th place on the finish.
Regional medallists ~ Megan Adamson, Caitlin Gulliver, Lucas Pearcey, Erin Henly, Lucy Adamson, Emilie Gulliver
