Gold for Lottie as Deepings claims eight medals at county champs final weekend
06 Feb 2023
Lottie Ava Flatters won Deepings Swimming Club’s sole gold medal at the final weekend of the 2023 Lincolnshire County Championships with a superb performance in the 200m butterfly.
The 10-year-old, competing in the 10/11yrs age group, stormed to victory with a 10-second personal best of 3:44.78, pushing Deepings’ total medal tally over the two days to eight medals.
Oliver Clark continued his excellent run of form as the county championships switched venue to Meridian Leisure Centre in Louth. He added three medals to the silver he won at the previous weekend in Grantham.
Oliver achieved his second silver in the 10/11yrs 200IM, with a 10-second PB of 3:13.40, and added two bronzes in the 50m and 100m breaststroke finals, also in new best times.
Deepings boys club captain Jacob Briers claimed his first three medals of the championships after shaking off the illness that had affected him the previous week.
In the 15yrs age group, Jacob knocked almost six seconds off his 200m butterfly best to win silver in 2:33.96, achieving the East Midlands regional qualifying time (QT). He also won a brace of bronzes in the 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke final, the latter with a 1.5-second PB of 1:15.53 and another East Midlands QT.
Jacob added his third regional QT of the weekend in the 50m breaststroke final, where he finished fifth in 34.65.
In the 200m butterfly, James Cash weighed in with his own silver medal and East Midlands QT in the 13yrs age group after a magnificent head-to-head tussle with teammate Oliver Shepherd. Both swam new PBs, with James’s 2:48.78 just edging Oliver’s 2:49.28, which placed him fifth in the 14yrs age group.
Oliver reversed the tables in the 50m butterfly where he out-sprinted James to swim a new PB of 32.88 in the heats. He went on to finish eighth in the final.
The Deepings squad qualified for a total of 23 finals, which take place for all the 50m and 100m events.
Olivia King sliced four seconds off her 100m breaststroke time (1:46.25) to finish sixth in the 10/11yrs final and dropped her 50m breaststroke PB by more than four seconds to come eighth in 48.09.
Kai Watson qualified for the 10/11yrs 100m backstroke final with a four second PB of 1:34.83, where he came seventh. He also achieved an excellent 1.5-second PB in the 50m freestyle heats and a two-second PB in the 50m breaststroke heats.
Noah Skinner finished eighth 100m breaststroke final after swimming a two-second PB of 1:44.08 in the heats.
Sisters Lucy and Lottie Jenkinson both qualified for the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle finals, with Lucy also making the 100m backstroke final.
Competing in the 10/11yrs age group, Lucy achieved PBs in all three finals, finishing seventh in the butterfly, sixth in the freestyle and sixth in the backstroke.
Meanwhile, Lottie came seventh in the butterfly and eighth in the freestyle 13yrs finals, both with new best times.
One of the finest performances of the weekend came in the boys 200m backstroke. Despite not training for more than a week due to major illness, boys vice-captain Lewis Tarver produced a gutsy swim to smash his personal best with a 2:36.32 and a fourth-place finish.
Also qualifying for the county championships weekend were girls vice-captain Eloise Walker in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly, Mieke McDonald in the 200m backstroke and 50m freestyle, Juan-Cayile Vercelloti in the 50m breaststroke, Chloe Bellis in the 50m butterfly and Isobel Vause in the 50m butterfly.
Sam Peeroo, Deepings Swimming Club head coach, praised the efforts of the team over two weekends of hard racing which resulted in one gold, four silver and seven bronze medals from 36 finalists, plus five East Midlands regional qualifying times and 74 personals bests.
“I am so proud of everything our swimmers have achieved at this year’s county championships,” she said.
“Everyone brought their best performances, with outstanding skills and great determination which resulted in lots of fast times. The club has so much potential and I’m excited about what the rest of the season will bring.”