Deepings gets County Champs underway with four medals in Grantham
30 Jan 2023
Deepings Swimming Club got its 2023 Lincolnshire County Championships campaign underway in style with four medals and numerous personal bests as the squad of 12 combined to make 13 finals.
James Cash, Jacob Briers and Penelope Baxter represented the club in the 400m freestyle and 400 individual medley (400IM) on Saturday afternoon, racing against Boston, Gainsborough Dolphins, Grantham Swimming Club, Lincoln Pentaqua, Lincoln Trident, Lincoln Vulcans, Louth Dolphins, Skegness and South Lincs at Grantham Meres Leisure Centre.
James bagged a brace of bronze medals in his two races, both achieved with outstanding personal bests. In the 13yrs 400m freestyle, he knocked 15 seconds of his previous best to touch home in 4:59.73, while he dipped under six minutes for the first time in the 400IM to finish in 5:59.40.
Boys captain Jacob shaved a second off his 400m freestyle PB to come fourth in the 15yrs age group despite a recent illness, while Penelope was just outside her best times in coming 11th in the 16/O 400 freestyle and 10th in the 400IM.
The trio took their good form into the Sunday with James impressing with fourth place and a three-second PB in the 200m freestyle, fifth place in the 100IM with a five-second PB and fourth in the 100m butterfly with a four-second PB.
Jacob, meanwhile, was repeatedly just outside the medals, finishing fifth in the 200m freestyle and 100IM, and fourth in the 100m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, the latter less than a second off bronze.
Penelope claimed her first PB of the weekend in the 100m butterfly, finishing 24th and took a second off her 200m freestyle time to come 17th.
Deepings claimed two medals on the Sunday. Oliver Clarke won silver in the 10/11yrs 200m breaststroke with a brilliant 13-second PB time of 3:34.44. He also came fifth in the 50m backstroke final with another PB.
Lottie Ava Flatters, competing in her first county champs, took the club’s final medal of the weekend with bronze in the 100m butterfly final. Her time of 1:42.54 was an eight-second PB.
In the 14yrs age group, Oliver Shepherd took two seconds of his 200m freestyle time to come eighth. He then knocked three seconds off his 100m butterfly time to finish sixth in the final.
His sister Annabel sliced seven seconds off her 100m butterfly time to make the 10/11yrs final. Also making the butterfly final, in the 12yrs age group, was Chloe Bellis who swam a four-second PB to finish eighth.
Going head-to-head in the 13yrs 100m butterfly final were Mieke McDonald and Lottie Jenkinson. Mieke came out on top in this exchange, with a seven-second PB to finish sixth, while Lottie came eighth.
Mieke also made the 100IM final, finishing eighth, and just missed out on the 50m backstroke final after coming 13th in the heats.
Completing the weekend’s racing were Kendra Greenwood-Covell, who took three seconds of her 100m butterfly best to finish 11th in the 15yrs age group, and championship debutants Kai Watson, who came eighth in the 10/11yrs 50m backstroke final after swimming a near two-second PB, and Lucy Jenkinson, who came 11th in the 10/11yrs 50m backstroke.
While most of the squad started their campaign last weekend, the county champs actually got underway the previous weekend with the 800m and 1500m freestyle events. Masters swimmer Bethany Walker was Deepings’ sole representative in the 1500m where she swam a new PB of 21:09.21 to finish 11th.
Deepings Swimming Club head coach Sam Peeroo was delighted with her squad’s performances over the first full weekend of competition.
“The swimmers did incredibly well, especially with all the illnesses around,” she said. “They competed hard against the best swimmers in the county and got deserved rewards by making finals, achieving personal bests and winning medals. Now we look forward to the final weekend of the championships in Louth next weekend.”