25 Apr 2022

Deepings Swimming Club returned from Sheffield with a brace of medals, two club records and a host of personal bests after racing against some of the top club swimmers in the country.

Four swimmers qualified for the high quality Derventio Excel Open Meet at the long course 50-metre Ponds Forge International Pool last weekend.

Head coach Lynn Chapman was delighted with her top squad’s gritty determination and competitive spirit, which resulted in some fast racing.

“We’re in the middle of hard training at the Stamford Endowed Schools pools, so for the team to go out and swim new best times when tired is an excellent sign for the East Midland Regional Championships next month,” Lynn said.

Holly Leggott enjoyed a fantastic weekend of racing, achieving several backstroke milestones in her quest for England Nationals qualifications.

In the 50m backstroke, she dipped under 32 seconds for the first time to touch the wall in 31.87, setting a new Deepings club record in the process. Holly finished fourth in the 17/O age group, just two-tenths outside the medals.

She set her second personal best in the 200m backstroke, breaking through the 2:30 threshold for another fourth-place finish in 2:29.17.

More personal and club records fell in the 100m backstroke, as Holly surged home in 1:08.34 to lower her own Deepings club record – and this time she saw off all rivals to win gold.

In all three backstroke events, Holly now has a current ranking for the Swim England National Summer Meet in August.

Holly’s weekend concluded with a solid swim in the 50m freestyle, posting a time of 28.35, fractionally outside her PB, for a fifth-place finish.

Sadie Hunter collected the club’s second medal with bronze in the 100m butterfly 14yrs age group.

With an excellent reaction off the blocks, Sadie powered down the first length inside her 50m best time, touching the wall in 33.83, and came back just as strong to knock an impressive 1.5 seconds off the PB set just a week ago at the Corby meet to finish in 1:12.42.

Across six events, Sadie set five long course PBs, including 2:48.55 in the 200m individual medley, 2:44.60 in the 200m backstroke and 2:32.93 in the 200m freestyle.

She finished fourth in 200m butterfly, just outside her best time, and ended the meet with yet another PB in the 50m butterfly. Her time of 33.36 eclipsed the unofficial PB set early in the meet during the 100m butterfly.

Completing the girls team was Millie Herrick, who is enjoying a breakout season. Racing in the 15yrs age group, Millie went a perfect four for four in personal bests, including smashing two times set just a week earlier at the Corby meet.

In the 200m freestyle, she went more than three seconds faster than Corby to clock 2:19.78, while in the 400m freestyle, she was almost three seconds faster at 5:05.83. Millie also set new benchmarks in the 50m backstroke (36.38) and 200m individual medley (2:46.64) to cap a fine weekend of racing.

Jacob Briers was the club’s sole boys representative at the Derventio meet. He started his four events in the 14yrs age group with a decent race in the 100m butterfly, swimming a long course personal best of 1:14.92 - eight seconds quicker than the time he posted a week earlier at the Corby meet.

It was a similar story in the 200m breaststroke, as Jacob again sliced eight seconds from the time set a week before, for a long course PB of 3:01.98.

While falling short of his best in his final two events, the 400m individual medley and 50m breaststroke, Lynn was pleased with the skills progression shown.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work on underwater skills and it’s starting to pay off with all the swimmers showing big improvements,” she said. “We’ll continue to build on this over the next few weeks before this squad returns to Sheffield in May to compete in the East Midlands Regional Championships.”


All news