Regional champs and Tulip meet reports
31 May 2022
Six Deepings Swimming Club swimmers qualified for the ‘50s’ day at the East Midlands Long Course Regional Championships, which took place on Bank Holiday Monday.
Sadie Hunter, Millie Herrick, Holly Leggott, Sophie Baskeyfield, Jacob Briers and club captain Harry Cardell travelled to the Ponds Forge international pool in Sheffield to take on the best swimmers from Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire in the 50-metre sprint events. All bar Sophie will be back again next weekend to compete in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
The team acquitted itself well, putting the many hard hours of work in the training pool at Stamford Endowed Schools to good use to achieve several personal bests.
Holly and Harry both competed in three events in the 17/O age group, swimming one personal best each in the 50m butterfly.
Holly knocked almost one-and-a-half seconds off her previous best to clock 31.54 and finish 33rd of 49 swimmers while Harry shaved off half a second to go 28.51 for 52nd place out of 61.
In her preferred backstroke, Holly came 21st of 48, just outside her best time, while in the 50m freestyle she finished 26th. Harry’s best placing also came in the 50m backstroke - 33rd. He came 56th in the 50m freestyle.
Highest placing of the day was achieved by Jacob in the 14yrs age group 50m breaststroke, his solitary swim, where he finished 17th in a new long course best time of 37.59.
Also with single swims were Sadie, who came 22nd in the 14yrs 50m butterfly, Millie, who was 27th in the 15yrs 50m freestyle, and Sophie, who was 48th in the 17/O 50m butterfly.
While the performance squad was in Sheffield, the club’s younger swimmers were challenging for medals at the annual Tulip Open Meet hosted by South Lincs in Spalding.
They were joined for part of the event by Jacob Briers, who warmed up for the regional champs by winning three gold and three silver medals in his six Tulip races, swimming five short course (25 metres) personal bests in the process.
His victories came in the 50m breaststroke, where he swam a PB to set a new Tulip meet record for 13-year-old boys at 36.28, as well as the 50m and 100m backstroke. Jacob also seized silver in the 100m freestyle, and the 50m and 100m butterfly.
In total, the club won 45 medals at the Tulip meet: 20 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze.
Nine-year-old Ashton Hunter won all six of his events, with some outstanding performances, most notably in the 200m butterfly, where he swam an incredible 37-second PB at 3:36.63, and the 200m individual medley, where he knocked 23 seconds of his previous best to touch home in 2:23.66.
Ashton also won the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, and 50m and 100m backstroke.
He wasn’t the only Deepings nine-year-old in spectacular form. Oliver Clarke bagged four golds in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly (with a huge 28-second PB, at 2:02.47). Oliver added silver in the 50m butterfly and bronze in the 100m freestyle.
Meanwhile, nine-year-old Olivia Laud also shone with four golds, all swum in personal bests, in the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle (a 15-second PB of 1:59.65), 50m and 100m backstroke. Underlining the club’s new strength in depth was Lottie Flatters, who came third in the 9yrs 50m breaststroke.
The gold performances kept coming as Lewis Tarver touched home first in the 13yrs 200m backstroke (with a 10-second PB of 2:45.01) and 100m breaststroke, while he also took silver in the 200m breaststroke and a pair of bronzes in the 50m breaststroke and 200m freestyle (with a 19-second PB of 2:37.68).
Eleanor Twinley wrapped up the first-place finishes with gold in the 11yrs 200m butterfly.
However, the medals didn’t stop there as Eydee Chilvers won silver in the 11yrs 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, plus bronze in the 100m freestyle, all with excellent new PBs. Charlotte Jenkinson won silver in the 11yrs 100m butterfly, Eloise Walker attained silver in the 14yrs 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly as well as bronze in the 50m breaststroke, and Isabella Reynolds claimed bronze in the 11yrs 200m freestyle.
Meanwhile, for the boys, James Cash won a hat-trick of silvers in the 11yrs 100m butterfly, 200m freestyle and 200m breaststroke, plus bronze in the 50m freestyle, and Jack Cradock took bronze in the 13yrs 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke.
The outstanding performances saw the boys finish third of seven teams, while the girls came sixth of eight.
Also putting in strong performance at the Tulip meet to achieve multiple personal bests were: Emma Affleck, Chloe Bellis, Macy Bundock, Florence Carlson, Jessie Desborough, Hannah Cradock, Grace Hurn, Lucy Jenkinson, Olivia King, Mieke McDonald, Sam and Jemma Munro, Clea Treharne, Jack Bell, Thomas and William Burdock, George Shaw and Kai Watson.