Three bronze medals for Deepings at County Champs ‘400s’ day
09 Feb 2022
Deepings Swimming Club came away with three bronze medals from ‘400s’ day at the Lincolnshire County Championships 2022.
Five members of the team qualified for the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley (400IM), competing against the best swimmers from the county’s 10 swimming clubs at the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre.
All put in sterling performances, earning multiple personal bests, which illustrated the benefits of a consistent training block over the three weeks since the club moved to its new home at Stamford Endowed Schools’ pools.
Harry Cardell, Deepings Swimming Club joint captain, led by example with an outstanding swim in the 400m freestyle.
Competing in the fastest heat, Harry kept up with a hot pace set by the leaders over the early stages and maintained his poise and skills as the race neared its completion. A strong final 50 metres saw him fend off two rivals to claim the bronze medal in the 16/over age group, setting a five-second personal best in the process.
His time of 4:20.80 was also good enough to secure bronze in the ‘open’ age group of all eighteen swimmers who contested the boys’ event.
After a short interval, Harry took to the blocks in the 400IM, generally recognised as the toughest event in swimming. Despite an excellent swim, he narrowly missed out on another podium finish, coming fifth, but did smash his best time by almost 16 seconds to set a new mark of 4:58.96.
Jacob Briers, competing in the 14yrs age group, came away with Deepings’ third bronze medal of the day after knocking a massive 18 seconds off his 400IM personal best, set just two months earlier.
After a strong 100m butterfly, Jacob held his position in the backstroke leg before surging through the field in the breaststroke. A determined freestyle saw him hold on for third place to win his first ever medal at the Lincolnshire County Championships.
Sadie Hunter (14yrs age group) and Penny Baxter (16/O) went head-to-head in the same heat of the 400m freestyle. With both competing in their first county champs, it was Penny who set the early pace before a strong back half saw Sadie edge in front.
A fast final 50 metres saw Sadie shatter her old previous best by 12 seconds to set a new benchmark of 5:00.47. Her fourth-place finish was just two seconds off the bronze medal.
Penny continued to attack the race over the final 50 metres and her hard work paid off as she broke her PB by an impressive seven seconds, with a time of 5:05.90 for 15th place in her age group.
Molly Briers completed the first day of competition as Deepings’ only girl representative in the 400IM. Molly powered off the block to clock an excellent 100m butterfly time just outside her individual personal best. She continued to work hard on the backstroke showing exceptional underwater skills.
Although she dropped back in the breaststroke, a gritty finish in the freestyle saw Molly finish 11th in the 16/O age group.
Lynn Chapman, Deepings Swimming Club head coach, was delighted with the club’s first day at the 2022 county championships.
“Although we only took a small squad, they all showed great tenacity and excellent skills to post some fast times,” she said. “It sets a great standard for the next weekend of competition in Louth.”