Making a splash at county champs

South Lincolnshire Swimmers claimed 18 medals at last weekend’s County Championship.

Oscar Goldsmith led the way as he achieved the distance double, taking gold in both the 800m freestyle and the 1,500m freestyle in the boys’ 15 years age group.
He swam new personal best times in both events with impressive performances
In the 800m freestyle, Goldsmith broke the nine minute barrier for the first time as he stopped the clock in a time of 8.50.95.
Not only did he win his age group but he took the silver medal in the men’s senior championship.
In the 1,500m freestyle Goldsmith swam an outstanding race, pacing the opening few 100 metres carefully and gradually working his way through the field to take the lead and swim away from all other competitors.
He claimed an excellent time of 16.45.75 to win both his age group and the men’s senior championship title.
Kieran Ng also achieved the distance double in the boys’ 12 years age group in new pb times.
In the 800m freestyle Ng had a fine race against team mate Matteo Monaco to just take the touch in a time of 9.37.81.
Ng also took the silver medal in the boys junior championship in this event.
In the 1,500m freestyle, Ng went out aggressively and fought hard throughout to try and take the junior title, however he was just beaten at the touch despite a new pb of 18.09.59 and again take the silver medal in the boys’ junior championship.
Lucy Wilson was the third South Lincs swimmer to achieve the distance double in the girls’ 13 years age group.
She dominated the field setting new pbs of 10.21.46 in the 800m freestyle and 19.45.33 in the 1,500m freestyle.
Wilson took the bronze medal in the girls’ junior championship of the 1,500m freestyle.
Charlie Bisby was also a gold medallist as he claimed victory in the boys’ 12 years age group of the 800m freestyle.
An impressive swim saw Bisby take an early lead and hold on throughout in a pb of 10.17.80.
Kitty Lamb also contested the 800m freestyle and put in a spirited swim to make the biggest improvement of the weekend, lowering her 800m freestyle pb by over 50 seconds clocking 10.41.10.
She missed out on the gold by just 0.03 seconds in the girls’ 12 years age group.
Oliver Sorrell put in two fine performances as he claimed a brace of medals in the distance freestyle events.
He took bronze in the 800m freestyle lowering his pb by 14 seconds to finish in a time of 9.07.15.
It was an even greater swim in the 1,500m freestyle as the pb was cut by more than 40 seconds as silver in the boys’ 16 years and over was earned in 17.08.28 also enough for bronze in the men’s senior championship.
Lillie Hamilton took a brace of medals over the weekend including a brilliant silver in the girls’ 15 years age group of the 800m freestyle via an excellent new pb of 9.50.34.
In a closely fought three way battle in the 1,500m freestyle, Hamilton had to settle for bronze as she broke the 19 minute mark for the first time to finish in 18.57.75.
On top of Monaco’s 800m freestyle with a pb of 9.38.19 he earned a bronze medal in the boys’ junior championship for the time and a second age silver and men’s bronze in the 1,500m freestyle with 18.35.58.
Mollie Briggs took on the 800m freestyle and swam to a season’s best time of 9.21.17 as she put up a strong fight against her rivals in the girls’ 16 years and over age group.
Briggs claimed the silver medal in her age group and also silver in the ladies’ senior championship with her performance.
Alex Sadler was a double medallist in the boys’ 16 years and over age group.
He swam a fine 800m freestyle to set a new short course personal best time and narrowly missed out on breaking the nine minute barrier as he touched the wall in 9.00.73 to take silver in his age group and bronze in the men’s senior championship.
Sadler was just outside his pb time in the 1,500m freestyle as he finished in 17.13.05 to take bronze.
Hannah Bruce put together a strong 1,500m freestyle swim. Keeping her cool in the opening section of the race, Bruce paced her swim excellently as she opened up a lead and maintained this over the other swimmers to take silver in the girls’ 14 years age group with a new pb of 19.19.34.
South Lincolnshire Swimmer head coach Keith Haynes said: “I’m delighted with the results from the distance freestyle events this weekend.
“It is an impressive start to our County Championship campaign.”
The County Championships will be held on three consecutive weekends at Grantham and Louth and the South Lincs swimmers will be looking to try and match their outstanding performances from 2022.