At Worcester, Saturday 8th November 2014
Worcester Swimming Club continued its excellent 2014 by securing a place in the West Midlands Final of the National Swimming League, sponsored by Arena.
This is the most prestigious Club competition of the year and competing in the Premier Division, the standard of swimming is exceptionally high… with the successful Worcester team now looking forward to a Final at which they will compete against the best of the best… including for City of Derby, double Commonwealth and European champion on 100m Breaststroke, Adam Peaty!
Round 2 saw Worcester renew its rivalry with Bicester (Round 1 winners, 6 points ahead of the Home club) plus 2013 League Champions, Boldmere, who proved worthy runaway winners on the night.
With a place in the Final for the top two teams only, it was always going to require a special effort and the Worcester swimmers duly obliged, really stepping up on an excellent Round 1 performance to go even better, swimming faster in 66% of the 50 races
In the end, it came down to the narrowest of margins… with Worcester pipping Bicester by just 1 point for that invaluable 2nd place! The final points were Boldmere 248, Worcester 178, Bicester 177, Stourbridge 152, Chase 148, Long Eaton 142.
Victories were very hard to come by, with just 5, all in the 13/u age group!
Olivia Fletcher continued her rich run of form with a remarkable 1:02.91 to win the 100m Freestyle whilst Sophie Davis produced a stunning Personal Best time of 1:22.52 to win the 100m Breaststroke, critically turning over the Bicester swimmer who narrowly had the better of her in Round 1.
Unsurprisingly, the girls were unstoppable in the 13/u relays, taking both the Medley and Freestyle… Jenny Gearey, Amy Owens, Charlotte Hall and Ellie McGinnes combining successfully with Olivia and Sophie to dominate the relay races.
The only other win came in the Boys 13/u 100m Freestyle, Kai Gooden-Morris leading all the way to record a big PB and earn his team 6 vital points.
There were many other fine performances too… highlights including George Glover (2nd 11/u 50m Breaststroke), Lucy Clayton (2nd 15/u 100m Breaststroke), Megan Willetts (2nd Open 200m Individual Medley & 100m Backstroke) and Robin Williams (2nd Open 100m Butterfly)… plus the excellent 11/u boys Daniel Day, Tom Cox, Max Rice, Sam Hartley & Isaac Shepherd who finished 2nd in both their Freestyle and Medley relays.
Overall Worcester finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd in exactly half of the 50 events… but based on top 3 places alone, the team would have finished well behind Bicester. It was strength in depth… many swimmers willing to turn out for just one relay so that their Club could do its very best… and the happy knack of winning the close finishes, swimmers finishing 4th instead of 5th or 5th instead of 6th, that saw the Club squeeze home narrowly ahead of a talented Bicester squad. A real team effort!
The full team was: Izzy Trow, Georgia Hill, Imogen Rhodes, Megan Bury, Becky Yates, Sophie Pettit, Ellie McGinnes, Sophie Davis, Amy Owens, Charlotte Hall, Olivia Fletcher, Jenny Gearey, Lucy Clayton, Yasemin Tayar, Hattie Goff, Emily Stancer, Caitlin Adair, Freya Lines, Megan Willetts, Sophie Groves, Ellie van Vuren, Emma Lovesey, Samantha Gearey, Lizzie Bentley, Issac Shepherd, George Glover, Max Rice, Danial Day, Sam Hartley, Tom Cox, Kai Gooden-Morris, James Clews, Matthew Richards, Sam Clayton, Toby Elston, Alex Hughes, Sam Hall, Ben Holmes, Oscar van Vuren, Mike Adair, James Marsh, Robin Williams, Anthony Redfern, William Hadley, Luke McCluskey and James Allen.