Worcester Swimming Club enjoyed a very busy but hugely successful weekend of team competitions on 12/13th April

It began in less than auspicious style on the Saturday with most of the team stuck on the M5 on the way to Redditch for Round 3 of the PGL League! At the start of the gala, only 6 of the 33 swimmers had arrived… but the other teams very sportingly agreed a 30-minute delay which helped no end.

Whilst the first 25-30 events were manic with the race selections being determined by who had already arrived… team managers Dave Hughes & Sarah Matthews did a fantastic job… the swimmers responded brilliantly to the challenge of extra races, swimming up age groups, competing in less favoured strokes, etc and incredibly at the end of the evening, Worcester had won! The final points were Worcester 155, Redditch 150, Evesham 134 & Bromsgrove 103.

Buoyed by that success, Worcester entered Sunday’s Worcestershire Winter League Finals with great optimism… hoping to win the local bragging rights for the first time in a few years.

The “B” team got the day off to a great start with an excellent 2nd place in the B Final… finishing on 172 points, behind Orion (200) but well ahead of Halesowen “B” (149), Droitwich (138) and Redditch “B” (132).

First places were very hard to come by with only Ellie McGinnes (13’s 100m Butterfly), Amy Owens (13’s 100m Freestyle) and Emma Lovesey (Open 100m Freestyle) managing to secure a win. However, by finishing 2nd in 18 of the 40 events, the “B” team secured a well deserved 7th in the League, the highest placed “B” team in the competition.

Inspired by their team mates, the A squad put in a brilliant performance to run out narrow winners of a fiercely fought A gala, and finish as League Champions! The final points were Worcester “A” 187, Redditch “A” 176, Stourbridge “A” 164, Halesowen “A” 153, Pershore 118.

Unsurprisingly Megan Willetts (Backstroke), Tabitha Monkhouse (Butterfly & Breaststroke) and Alice O’Toole dominated the Open Ladies events… but it was the 15-year old girls that really caught the eye. Sophie Groves produced a stunning PB to win the 100m Backstroke for the team, Tazmin Pugh (back from boarding school at Ellesmere College) dominated the 100m Butterfly and Samantha Gearey showed incredible determination to win a finger tip finish in the 100m Freestyle.

There were also important individual wins for Jenny Gearey (11/u 50m Freestyle) and Plymouth-based Oscar Brain (13’s 100m Backstroke) together with invaluable 1st places for 3 of the 8 mixed relay teams, the Open Medley plus the 15/u Medley and Freestyle. However, again it was strength in depth and consistency that proved the real key, Worcester barely outside the top 3 places all gala.

The winning A team in full was: Jenny Gearey, Leyla Tayar, Olivia Fletcher, Yasemin Tayar, Alice Hayden Jones, Hattie Goff, Emily Stancer, Sophie Groves, Lucy Clayton, Tazmin Pugh, Samantha Gearey, Megan Willetts, Tabby Monkhouse, Alice O’Toole, Matthew Richards, Fraser Burgess, Aaron Cook, Oscar Brain, James Clews, Harry Bamforth, Ben Holmes, Alex Hughes, William Hadley, Mike Adair, Rupert Monkhouse and Anthony Redfern.

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