New Deepings record for Tom at Scottish swimming championships
15 Jan 2020
A trio of Deepings Swimming Club youth swimmers travelled to Edinburgh in December after qualifying for the Scottish National Short Course Championships.
Taking place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, the Scottish champs is a three-day event attracting some of the best swimmers from across the UK. Representing Deepings were Bethany Eagle-Brown, Holly Leggott and Tom Neal. Due to injury, Lorna McGill and Louis Metselaar were unfortunately forced to withdraw.
Between them, Bethany, Holly and Tom raced in 19 events, achieved four personal bests and set one new Deepings club record to finish 2019 with some fast swimming.
Tom led the way with three career best swims, shaving time off his 50m and 100m backstroke to finish 28th and 27th respectively. He broke his own Deepings club record in the 100m event, setting a new benchmark time of 58.52.
In the 50m butterfly, the 19-year-old took a huge three-tenths off his previous best to finish 34th in a time of 26.09. He also competed in the 50m freestyle, finishing 46th, the 100m butterfly (45th) and the 200m backstroke (44th).
Sixteen-year-old Bethany qualified for seven events to cap an excellent 2019 during which she also raced at the British Summer Championships for the first time. Her highest finishes came in the three butterfly events, coming 34th in the 100m event and 37th in both the 50m and 200m races.
In the 50m freestyle, Bethany set a new short course personal best of 27.57, coming 57th. Bethany was 45th in the 100m freestyle, 72nd in the 200m freestyle and 69th in the 100m backstroke.
Holly competed in five events and was back to her best form for the season, close to her lifetime PBs. Racing in six sprint events, she finished 63rd in the 50m freestyle, 95th in the 100m freestyle and 78th in the 200m freestyle, while in the backstroke, the 17-year-old came 74th in the 50m event, 65th in the 100m and 62nd in the 200m.
Deepings head coach Lynn Chapman was delighted with the performances.
“All three swam extremely well, with some very fast racing,” she said. “They look to be in excellent form for the start of Lincolnshire County Champs next month.”
Over the same weekend, a squad of younger Deepings swimmers donned their goggles and caps for round one of the Grantham Grand Prix event.
For many it was their first taste of competition, but no one was over-awed by the occasion with some excellent swims against rivals from seven other clubs.
Among the many stand out performances were Isabella Reynolds, who came second in the 9yrs age group in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, and Phoebe Connery, who won the 10yrs 50m breaststroke and was third in the 50m freestyle.
More victories came from Maya Sangiorgio in the 11yrs 50m freestyle and Grace Edwards in the 11yrs 200IM, while Holly Roffe finished in the top three in all her events, coming second in the 12yrs 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke, and third in the 200IM.
Orla Connery was third in 50m freestyle 12yrs while James Cash raced a brilliant 50m butterfly to finish second in the 9yrs event.
Also putting in strong swims at Grantham Grand Prix were: Eleanor Twinley, Sydney Mount, Oliver Shepherd, William Burdock, Joshi Harriss, Joseph Black, Cody Watson, Samantha Munro, Maddie Taylor, Sasha Johnson, Jessica Godding, Isabel Money, Kendra Greenwood-Covel, Lewis Tarver, Jack Bell, Anthony Hall, Finlay Smith, James Townsin, Jamie Godderidge, Vincent Clare and Jacob Sandom.