Worcester Swimming Club hosted the leading Clubs in the West Midlands for the Second Round of the National Arena Swimming League on November 14^th.

The "reward" for a strong performance in Round One was a chance for the swimmers to test themselves against the best in the Region and whilst the overall points saw the Club finish well adrift of Boldmere and Coventry, the team was competitive in every race with many fine Personal Best Times recorded.

The final points were: Boldmere 253, Coventry 221, Chase 161, Stourbridge 156, Worcester 144 and Derby Phoenix 105.

Head Coach Mark Stowe was satisfied: " With five of the top twelve teams in the League having been drawn against each other, it was always going to be tough - especially with five key swimmers unavailable for selection - and whilst it was a tad disappointing to finish on the wrong side of a tight battle with Chase and Stourbridge, the swimmers all performed extremely well.  Without exception, they swam close to or inside their Personal Best Times - all a Coach can ever ask".

For the second round running, Worcester was oddly the only team not to win a single race!  However, there were many fine performances that stood out - with the 15 & Under Boys team of James Allen, Greg Everest, Jonathan Edwards and Luke McCluskey all excelling.

One minute is the "benchmark" for 100m Freestyle and having been knocking on the door for a few months, James knew he was ready to break the 60-second barrier.  However, on the night, he didn't so much as break it as smash it recording a brilliant 58.98!

Jonathan and Greg were in equally sparkling form.  Jonathan knocked 1.6 seconds off his 100m Butterfly with an impressive 1.06.72 while Greg reduced his PB for 100m Backstroke yet again to a very quick 1.08.04.

However, in many ways, it was Luke's performance that deserves most credit.  As in the previous round, swimming his least favourite stroke for the good of the team, he knocked an incredible 3.6 seconds off his 100m Breaststroke PB.  Although this only placed him fifth in his race, it was a really gutsy performance that typified the whole team's fighting spirit.

Two other swimmers to really catch the eye with great PB's were Lydia Tainty and James Marsh in the 13 & Under 100m Breaststroke.  After a string of recent PB's, they improved their best times further to record splendid times of 1.24.78 and 1.25.59 respectively.

Harry Sykes with PB's in both the 11/U 50m Breaststroke & Freestyle plus Sebastian Jerrum with a PB in the 11/U 50m Butterfly also shone whilst in the 15's age group, Tabitha Monkhouse - fresh from a National Qualifying Time on 200m Breaststroke the previous weekend - recorded a PB in the 100m Butterfly with team mate and fellow Breaststroke star Sarah Cowin notching up an encouraging PB on 100m Freestyle.

In the relay events, Worcester did typically well - outscoring Chase (48) and Stourbridge (47) with an excellent 50-point tally from those events.  The Girls open Medley Relay team came closest to notching up a win with Dani, Hunt, Hayley Weaver (both returning from University to represent the Club), Sarah Cowin and Hollie Horton narrowly failing to beat the powerful Boldmere squad.

The full team was: Francesca Daniels, Nixie Turner, Tazmin Pugh, Chloe Mabbett, Alice O'Toole, Becky Hodson, Lydia Tainty, Cara Lee, Sarah Cowin, Tabitha Monkhouse, Poppy Bramford, Hollie Horton, Dani Hunt, Hayley Weaver, Thomas Wong, Josh Smallman, Harry Sykes, Sebastian Jerrum, James Marsh, Sam Allen, Chris Edwards, Matthew Rochell, Jack Weston, Jonathan Edwards, Luke McCluskey, Greg Everest, James Allen, Simon Kitchen, Paul Tainty, Adam Whitaker and Rupert Monkhouse.