The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The final weekend of this year’s Lincolnshire County Championships saw South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club clinch 16 more medals.
Over the course of the weekend the swimmers from the Spalding club competed in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle events – and produced some excellent swims that saw new personal best (PB) times being set by big margins.
One of the stars of the show was Anya Strickland, who romped to the gold medal in the 800m freestyle on Saturday in the girls 13 years age group.
She lowered her PB by 30 seconds to record a time of 10.00.07mins to take her win.
Strickland then made it a double distance gold by taking first place in the 1,500m freestyle on Sunday, clocking a PB by 39 seconds to stop the clock in a time of 19.18.68mins.
She was followed home in both events by team mate Beatrice Finch, who collected the silver medal in the 800m freestyle in a huge new PB by 60 seconds to touch the wall in 10.05.2mins.
Finch went on to secure the bronze medal in the 13 years age group in the 1,500m freestyle, lowering her PB by almost two minutes to post a time of 19.31.88mins.
In the girls’ 14 years age group it was a superb double gold for Mollie Briggs, who set a new PB in the 800m freestyle by three seconds to claim her second County Championship title in a time of 9.34.39mins. Briggs was followed home by Emma Croker who took the silver medal, just outside her PB with a time of 9.38.06mins.
On Sunday, Briggs took gold in the 1,500m freestyle and was just outside her PB, posting a time of 18.49.16mins.
As well as winning her age group, she also took the bronze medal in the girls’ senior championship.
There was another double in the girls’ 15 years age group.
Ellisha Cookson swam an exceptional 800m freestyle race to take gold in her age group – and also won the Senior County Championship title in a new PB time, an improvement of 24 seconds, of 9.20.87mins.
Daisy Rummery came home for the bronze medal in the 800m in this age group with a 20 second personal best to stop the clock in a time of 9.31.66mins, while Esther Skells took fourth place with an 18 second improvement on her PB to finish in 9.41.26mins.
In his 800m freestyle, Luke Blanchard collected the silver medal in both the boys’ 16 years and over age group and the senior championship with a new PB time of 8 minutes 58.88secs, breaking the nine minute mark for the first time.
Atticus Strickland came home for bronze in the same event lowering his PB time by 19 seconds to touch the wall in 9.02.36mins.
Both boys were back in action on Sunday and repeated their medal positions in the 16 years and over age group for the 1,500m freestyle, finishing in 17.30.11mins and 17.50.93mins respectively.
Meanwhile, Isobel Gosling reduced her PB time in the 1,500m freestyle by two and half minutes to totally dominate the girls’ 12 years age group. She sealed the gold medal in a time of 19.39.08mins. Gosling’s time sees her move significantly up the British rankings to stand at fourth place in the UK for this event.
In his 1,500m freestyle, Oliver Sorrell reduced his PB by over a minute and a half to touch home in a time of 20.12.28mins to take the silver medal in the boys 12 years age group.
Edward Skells also made it a silver medal in a closely fought race in the boys’ 15 years age group and reduced his PB time by over a minute and a half finishing strongly in a time of 18.09.20mins.
South Lincs swimmers have made a significant improvement on their medal tally from 2018 finishing Lincolnshire County Championships with 81 medals in total, comprised of 25 gold, 34 silver and 22 bronze medals.
Head Coach Keith Haynes said “I’m delighted with the improvements the swimmers have made over the course of the County Championships and to see so many of them achieve regional qualifying standards.
“Also there have been significant moves in the British rankings for them and this bodes well for the club’s prospects of achieving National qualifiers later in the year. We’ll be looking to improve on our performances at the county championships in 2020.”
