County Championships Report 2019

28 Feb 2019

11 RATS swimmers represented the club at the recent Hampshire County Championships with some excellent swims reflecting the work that all the swimmers had been putting in. Jay Turner achieved a 3rd place in the 15 years 50m Breaststroke improving from 7th in 2018. His time of 32.32 ranks him 41st in England and will hopefully result in him receiving an invitation to compete in the National Championships in July. He also recorded a 4th place and 5th place on 100 and 200 Breaststroke respectively. All of Jay’s performances were personal best times and he demonstrated superb control in improving his times from heats to finals. Emily Brine also competing in breaststroke races surprised herself with a 4th place in the 200 for 17+ girls as well as a 5th place finish on the 100 and 9th on the 50.
The surprise performance of the championships came from Harry Collins, who in his first swim at Championship level, achieved a superb 4th place in the boys 10 years 50 Backstroke in a personal best time. Daniel Williams recorded a 7th place making the final of the 14years boys 200 Backstroke as well as 9th and 11th on 100 and 50 Backstroke respectively. The busiest swimmer was Amelia Lambert whose 8th place in the 100 Freestyle for girls 10 years was the best of her 7 individual swims. Of those 6 other swims she achieved 2 10th places 2 11th places and 2 12th places. This was the first year that Amelia had been eligible to compete at Championship level so this set of results were a small measure of the success she could expect in future. The other swimmers who competed as individuals were Cameron Dyer who did his very best to compete even though he had been unwell in the week leading to the championships, Eleanor Oakley, Esme Briggs, Tabatha Hall, Lara Scott and Dylan Bessey. All achieved at least 1 personal best time but finished outside the top 8. For many of the swimmers who competed as part of the relay teams it was a chance to experience swimming in a 50metre pool for the first time, I expect to see some of these individuals competing next year. All those who swam recorded personal best times so congratulations go to Chloe Nash, Imani Payne, Izzy Hall, Ana Rangecroft, Maja Edwards, Siobhan Boyce and Erin Gilson all of whom joined Amelia to compete in the girl’s 10-12 teams, Lucas Perks and Ed Greenaway who combined with Cam and Harry to compete in the 10-12 boy’s teams. Natalia Gair, Natasha Mitchell and Chloe Nash joined Eleanor Oakley to complete the girls under 14 team while Daniel Williams was joined by Fin Weatherdon, Joey Hart and Miles Brine in the under 14 boys. The under 16 teams saw Tabatha Hall and Lara Scott accompany Maddy Sawyer and Rebecca Mitchell and Dylan Bessey and Jay Turner were joined by Freddie Ravenscroft and Tom Hockley to complete the under 16 boy’s teams. For a small club these results are highly commendable and if the swimmers continue to commit to the required training many more will compete as individuals in years to come.
Well done on a superb effort!
Steve Harrison
Head Coach Romsey and Totton Swimming Club

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