Midland Short Course Championships 2009
Corby East Midlands International Pool
7^th & 8^th November 2009

Record Smashing Weekend for Deepings Swimmers

Two New County Records for Luke DeMoya in the 50m Freestyle & 50m Backstroke (subject to ratification)

Six New Club Records smashed by Tom Lane, Marcus Cook & Lauren Wray!

8 New PBs & 19 New CQTs

Following the excellent successes achieved by Deepings swimmers earlier this year in the Midlands BAGCAT and Youth Championships, a small group of swimmers seized the opportunity to compete at a more senior level at the Midland Short Course Championships which took place over the weekend. This year’s championships, held at the East Midlands International Pool at Corby, saw Deepings Luke DeMoya, Thomas Freeman, Tom Lane, Oliver Perkins, Marcus Cook and Lauren Wray compete against the very best of the Midlands swimmers.

Tom Lane had a busy but successful weekend.  He showed fine form in the all his events at the new Corby pool, having moved up into the open category for the first time this year. The 16 year old comfortably improved on three of his current club records the 50m Freestyle, 50m Fly & 200m IM in his age group giving him a hat trick. Tom, an experienced swimmer, has already qualified for next year County Championships in these events and took advantage on his good form by improving on his rankings on this occasion by obtaining 6 new County times and setting 4 PBs – Excellent News Well Done!

Congratulations to Oliver Perkins who swam in his first ever Midland Championship on Sunday. He first qualified for the 200m Backstroke at Bradford in July. Since swimming at the Counties earlier this year he has been quietly improving and can now mix it with some of the bigger names in the County and has show he can has the confidence to take on some of the best at the Midlands too. On Sunday he finished just behind Marcus Cook where the boys to 14^th & 15^th place in the 15/U age group. A brilliant achievement, I’m sure his name will crop up more and mover over the coming months. - Well done on your achievements!

Daniel Luff also stepping up into the men’s category for the first time had a good quality swim in the 100m Freestyle posting his second fastest time of the year and securing his place at next year County Champs.  His 50m split time equalled the time he set at Counties back in March and has now qualified him to swim to swim that event too, which is excellent news. Keep up the good work and well done!

Deepings newcomer Luke DeMoya set two new Lincolnshire’s Age Group Record (subject to ratification) in the men's 50m freestyle heats he set a time of 25.00 & in the 50m backstroke a time of 29.96 what a start he has made in his first major competition for Deepings club. Luke in his younger days swam for Deepings and started breaking club records at the age of 11 - until he changed clubs.  Now as a young man I am delighted to see him back and making his mark again. He made a splendid start in the heats of the 100m Freestyle setting a personal best time of 54.30 which now makes him the clubs fastest male100m Freestyle swimmer, sadly he was just outside the clubs record in both 50 & 100m Freestyle which have stood since 2002 - but looking at his current form those records could well be in danger in the coming months. Superb start - Congratulations!

Tom Freeman another newcomer to the club had two good solid swims in the 200m IM & 200m Breaststroke. He got off to an excellent start in the hearts of the 200m IM setting a county qualifying time during his 50m fly leg. In his Breaststroke event I am delighted to report he secured county times at 50m, 100m and 200m which is an excellent start.  Hopefully Tom is enjoying his time with us and will go on to achieve many of his goals. Well Done!

Yet again, Marcus Cook did not only swim very well in all six events, he also produced two exceptional results. First was in the heats of the 400m Freestyle which saw him set a new personal best time and a New Club Record in the 14/U age group. Not content with that he came out to a blistering start in the heats of the 400m IM setting a time of 4.52.62 to finish in 4^th in the 15/U category but joint 8^th in the Open event. If any one of the finalists had withdrawn Marcus would have been faced with the prospects of having to compete in a swim off to make the final – a problem for anyone, even someone of Marcus’s calibre as he was also competing in his first senior competition. The coach didn’t want to sacrifice his 200m backstroke event which he still had to swim, so the decision was made that he would not be involved in a swim off. Unfortunately the other reserve withdrew too, and so did a finalist ... but you win some and you lose some!!!   Telepathy and fortune telling are not part of his skill set!!! Marcus should be pleased he came very close to making a senior final at his first appearance.  The time did, however, give him his second Club Record. This also made him our highest placed swimmer of the competition. Congratulations!

Also in action this weekend was Lauren Wray who competing in six events, where she produced some consistent, high quality swims which were all around her current PBs.  But it was in the 200m Backstroke that she had her success finishing 11^th in the 15/U age group and securing another Club Record in a time of 2.25.85. Congratulations!  Laura has already qualified for the County Champs in these events but was unable to improve on her rankings on the other five on this occasion. 

Well Done Swimmers!