Championships end on high for swimmers

The South Lincs swimmers concluded the 2022 Club Championships on Sunday by competing in the longest event on the competitive programme, the 1,500m freestyle.

The event saw some excellent new personal best (pb) times achieved and a host of new county qualifying times gained.
Aliyah Mohamed swam to victory in the first heat.
Mohamed set the early pace and continued to stretch her lead as she stormed to a new pb time of 24m 36.56s. Not only did Mohamed win her heat but she won the girls’ 10/11 years age group title.
Emily Briggs produced an excellent swim in heat two.
Briggs and team mate Jess Herriott swam stroke for stroke through the first 500m, but Briggs found some real strength in the remainder of the race to extend a gap over her nearest rival.
A very aggressive swim saw Briggs touch the wall in a new pb of 21m 04.70s and achieve a county qualifying time.
Briggs was followed home by Herriott who also set a new pb and achieved the county qualifying standard as well in a time of 21m 30.33s.
Hannah Bruce dominated heat three. Taking the lead from the gun, Bruce was never challenged as she pulled away throughout the race. Bruce set an impressive time of 19m 42.35s to add yet another county qualifying time to her busy programme.
Heat three saw a tremendous race between Lucy Wilson and Will Vere. Both swimmers battled it out in adjacent lanes and swam almost stroke for stroke until the final 100m. Vere was able to find just a little extra to get his hand on the wall before Wilson, but both set impressive times of 20m 03.85s and 20m 05.87s respectively. Both achieved county qualifying standards with their swims.
There was an immense battle in heat four between Beatrice Finch, Kieran Ng and Matteo Monaco.
Finch set the early pace and opened up a solid lead but both Ng and Monaco started to close the gap in the second half of the race.
It was Monaco who had the best finish with a fine final 500m, moving to the front of the field to take the win in a time of 18m 29.23s.
Ng took second place with a new pb of 18m 31.86s and Finch set a new pb time of 18m 35.37s.
The final heat of the evening saw an impressive race between Alex Sadler and Oscar Goldsmith. They fought, side by side and almost stroke for stroke until the final 50m. It all came down to a final sprint and Sadler was the one with the better speed as he touched home in a time of 17m 04.56 seconds, just ahead of Goldsmith, who set a new pb of 17m 15.97s.
Emma Croker, also in the final heat, surprised herself with a 25-second improvement on her pb to finish the race in 17m 41.52s and set the fastest time of the ladies in the event.