After a weekend of indulging on Easter eggs National and AGP or should that be AGP and National group travelled over the Pennines to Leeds for their long course National qualifying meet. The meet has a slightly different format than some other meets with an extended morning session followed by a late afternoon finals session.
First up were the distance monkeys on Friday evening with Matthew Sawers the pick as he recorded a massive pb to win the gold in the 1500.
Session two on Saturday proved to be a long but rewarding one as swimmers worked hard to improve on their times from the last few weeks as well as trying to iron out any mistakes they had made previously whilst also attempting to qualify for the later finals session.
Competing against some of the top swimmers not just in the North of England but also the country in some events, targets in the final were to race hard, be brave but also improve from heat to final. Nineteen swimmers qualified for Saturday finals with the following medals won:- Matthew Sawers 400 free Silver Sam Grimes 400 free Silver Evie Cutter 200 free Silver Alice Holt 100 breast Silver James Vaughan 200IM Gold Alfie Owen 100 back Gold Matthew Tinkler 100 back Silver Ethan Maylor 100 free Bronze Nathan Healey 200 breast Bronze Evie Cutter 200 back Silver Sunday morning arrived and the group were determined to build on Saturdays achievements. The day followed a similar pattern but if anything the performances improved, a sure sign of a solid foundation, with 27 swimmers making finals and as per Saturday several fourth place finishes just missing out on another piece of metal for the top drawer. A great effort from all the swimmers who left tired but mostly happy as they conducted themselves admirably and were a credit to their families, BEST and also their community clubs.
Thanks again to the Three Amigos Jen, Jo and Mel for their unstinting help on poolside.
Well done all !!!!!!!!! WE GO AGAIN THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!
Sunday medals:-
Matthew Sawers 800 free Silver
Jorja Howard 400 free Bronze
Ethan Maylor 200 free Bronze
Sam Grimes 200 free Gold
James Vaughan 100 breast Silver
Nathan Healey 100 breast Bronze
Evie Cutter 200 IM Bronze
Chloe Ridge 100 back Silver
Rachel Hornby 200 fly Silver
Alfie Owen 200 back Silver
Alice Holt 200 breast Bronze
