The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A team of 32 South Lincs swimmers headed to the City of Cambridge Spring Open Meet over the weekend.
The team were in search of new personal best (pb) times and came away with a haul of 55 medals, including 15 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze.
She Hamilton led the way as she claimed 12 medals.
Hamilton swam to victory in both the 200m and 400m Individual Medley in the girls’ 14 years age group and set new pb times in both events.
She showed great strength as she took a gold medal in the 200m butterfly. Again, she posted a new pb of 2.40.84.
Lillie claimed her fourth gold medal in the 400m freestyle with a five second improvement on her pb to finish in 4.45.62. She also claimed four silver and four bronze medals to add to her haul.
Younger sister Lexie Hamilton was also in action and collected five medals in the girls’ 13 years age group.
Lexie swam to victory in her age group in both the 400m individual medley and the 400m freestyle events, setting new pb times in both.
Lexie added a silver medal to her collection in the 200m butterfly and a brace of bronze medals as she claimed third spot in the 200m backstroke and the 200m breaststroke.
Sigourney Bolton was in fine breaststroke form as she swept to a hat trick of gold medals.
Bolton took gold in the 50m distance with a new pb of 37.36s.
In the 100m breaststroke it was another gold in a time of 1.20.38, just a few tenths outside of her best.
However, in the 200m breaststroke Bolton dropped three seconds off her pb as she stopped the clock in 2.50.98 – the fastest time in the event across all age groups.
Louise Herriott was competing in the girls’ 11 years age group and started off with a gold medal in the 400m Individual Medley.
Louise lowered her pb time by almost a minute to touch the wall in 8.12.52.
She went on to claim a brace of bronze medals in the 200m backstroke, once again in a new pb time of 3.43.86, and the 100m butterfly.
Older sister Jess Herriott was in excellent form as she swam to five medals in the girls’ 14 years age group.
Jess took a brace of silver medals in the 400m individual medley and the 50m breaststroke with new pb times of 5.53.10 and 41.04s.
She added a hat trick of bronze medals as she took third place in her age group in the 200m individual medley and the 200m freestyle with pb times of 2.48.13 and 2.28.33 respectively.
Jess’s third bronze came in the 200m backstroke.
Lucy Wilson was also a gold medallist. She was competing in the girls’ 12 years age group and took gold in both 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.
She also took three silver medals in her age group.
In the 50m butterfly, Wilson set a new pb time of 34.85s as she bagged a silver medal, along with silver medals in the 200m individual medley and the 200m freestyle.
Francesco Monaco claimed gold in the boys’ ten years age group of the 100m backstroke.
There were silver medals and pbs for him in the 100m butterfly with a drop of nearly five seconds to touch the wall in a time of 1.28.41 and also in the 200m individual medley where he broke the three-minute mark for the first time.
He also claimed silver medals in the 50m breaststroke and the 200m freestyle.
Aaron Sadler was competing in the boys’ 13 years age group and took a hat trick of medals.
Sadler showed his butterfly talent as he took gold in the 200m event in a new pb of 2.47.81.
There was a new pb time of almost four seconds in the 100m butterfly as he touched home in a new mark of 1.12.16 to take the silver medal.
Finally, Sadler added a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle with yet another big pb of 5.25.25.
Emily Briggs was also a gold medallist showing her butterfly prowess.
She took gold in the girls’ 13 years age group of the 200m butterfly.
Briggs also claimed the bronze medal in the shorter 100m butterfly with a new pb of 1.17.39.
South Lincs’ youngest participant Katie Lucy showed her potential as a freestyle swimmer of the future, taking bronze in the 100m with a new pb time of 1.31.79.
Competing in the girls’ ten years age group, Lucy took silver in the 200m freestyle with another big new pb time.
Lilli Bowman was competing in the girls’ 15 years age group and claimed bronze in the blue riband event, the 100m freestyle.
Bowman stopped the clock at 1.07.38, just a few tenths of a second outside her pb time.
Aliyah Mohamed had an impressive weekend, setting a host of new pb times.
Mohamed made it a podium finish on four occasions as she claimed silver in the girls’ 11 years age group in both the 100m breaststroke and 200m backstroke.
She added a brace of bronze medals to her haul as she took third place in the 50m butterfly and the 400m freestyle with new pbs of 41.29s and 6.04.10s.
Emily Taylor was also competing in the girls’ 11 years age group and claimed a pair of bronze medals in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
Taylor took her medals in new pb times of 46.38s and 1.43.72 respectively, making big improvements on her previous marks.
Sophia Shackleston also claimed a pair of bronze medals in the girls’ 12 years age group.
Shackleston took bronze in the 100m breaststroke with a new pb of 1.37.22 and went on to claim bronze in the 400m freestyle event.
Shackleston managed to break the six-minute mark for the first time on her way to her second bronze medal as she touched the wall in another pb of 5.57.37.
“The weekend was a great opportunity for the club’s younger swimmers to gain valuable competition experience,” said head coach Keith Haynes. “They swum exceptionally well and set a host of new personal best times and I am delighted to see so many of the swimmer’s collecting medals at the meet.
“It is a great indicator of the talent South Lincs is developing for the future of the club.”
