Worcester Swimming Club came away with 13 medals at this weekend’s ASA West Midlands (Age Group) Championships held at Coventry’s 50m international pool.
There were gold medals for Championship debutant Daniel Day (12) and Will Gearey (13), with other swimmers just edged into second place in several events in what was a very strong overall performance by the entire squad.
In the boy’s 11/12 year old age group, Day qualified easily through the heats in the 50m backstroke in second place in 34.56. In the final, Day started well, taking an early lead and managed to keep ahead of his Team Mercia rival to take the gold medal in 34.18. George Glover (12) made the finals of the 100m (1.31.13) and 200m breaststroke (3.16.96), coming sixth and seventh respectively.
Rebecca Yates (12) looks one to watch in the future, coming away with two podium places at her first major regional event. Competing in the girl’s 11/12 age category, Yates’s best performance came in the backstroke. She produced a 2.45.92 in the 200m backstroke heats, putting her into the final as second seed and then delivered a massive three second Pb (2.42.54) to claim a superb silver. Yates added bronze in the 100m back in 1.16.76.
Will Gearey (13) produced a series of outstanding performances in the boy’s 13 year old age group, winning three gold and three silver medals. Looking to climb up the rankings during the new British and Home Nations qualification window, Gearey had his sights set on improving his 200m IM and 100m freestyle times. Qualifying as fastest seed in the 200m IM heat, Gearey won gold in the 200m IM, with a new Pb time of 2.24.22. In the 100m free, he eased into the final with a Pb time of 58.35, and then went faster again in the final (58.24) to take the gold. His 100m free (long course) time now puts him as number one in the UK (end of year rankings) for 13 year old boys. Gearey then added his third gold in the 50m back, winning in 31.88. He was edged into silver medal positions on the touch in the 50m breaststroke (36.23), 100m breaststroke (1.18.20) and 100m fly (1.05.48).
Louis Doyle (13) also made the final of the boys 13 year old 100m freestyle final, producing a good swim to clock 1.05.21 and just outside the medals.
In the girl’s 13 year age group, Megan Annis bagged a brace of medals and also made several event finals. Annis (13) claimed her first ever regional medal in the 50m fly final, coming home a close second in 32.03 for silver. She added bronze in the 100m backstroke with another good effort, finishing strongly with a 1.12.40. Annis also made the 50m free final.
Matt Richards (14) produced a superb swim in the boy’s 14 year old 200m IM heats, going through as fastest seed in 2.20.71 against top quality opposition, and a time which put him in the top 10 in the UK rankings for 14 year olds. In the final, he produced another great effort (2.21.42) but couldn’t quite match his heat time, finishing a close second for silver. Richards also made finals of the 50m back (32.67), 100m fly (1.08.83), 100m free (1.02.85), 50m breaststroke (40.95) and was fourth in the 400m IM with another Pb time of 5.04.32.
Aaron Cook also competing in the boy’s 14 year old age group, got to two finals including the 100m breaststroke (1.20.69) and 200m breaststroke (2.49.95).
Olivia Fletcher (14) qualified as third seed in the girl’s 14 year old 50m free in 28.62, and then powered her way to bronze in 50m free final (28.56). Fletcher produced a series of strong swims during the weekend to make the finals of the 200m back (2.34.73), 200m free (2.16.27), 100m back (1.10.50) and 50m fly (31.43).
Other Worcester swimmers competing at the championships included Aimee Monks (11) competing in the girl’s 11/12 year old age group in the 50m fly (35.30) and 200m fly (3.13.72); Isaac Shepherd in 13 year 50m back (36.90); Amber Harrison (14) in 50m free (30.12), 100m back (1.12.56) and 50m fly (32.89); Jennifer Gearey (14) in 100m back (1.13.08); and Leyla Tayar (14) in the 200m fly (2.52.24).
Worcester’s head coach, Mark Stowe, said: “I was delighted with the performances from the entire squad and testament to how hard they train leading up to competitions such as these. Although it’s always difficult to pick out individuals swimmers, it was great to see young swimmers such as Daniel Day and Rebecca Yates getting on the podium on their championship debuts!”
Ends