Spalding swim to success at Bassetlaw

The South Lincs swimmers were in action in Retford at the Bassetlaw Regional Qualifier Open Meet recently.

A team of 35 swimmers headed north to take on a range of events and acquitted themselves admirably with a large collection of medals and new personal best (pb) times.
Will Vere bagged nine medals, five of them gold, in the boys’ 15 years age group.
He topped the podium in the 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m freestyle, 400m individual medley and the 200m breaststroke.
Emilijus Binkis collected seven medals in the boys’ 12 years age group.
He demonstrated his breaststroke prowess as he claimed gold in both the 50m and 100m and made it a hat trick of gold medals as he took top place in the 100m butterfly.
Alex Sadler picked up seven medals in the boys’ 16 years and over age group.
He struck gold on four occasions – in the 200m and 1,500m freestyle events as well as in the 100m and 200m butterfly.
Karolina Uzpelke was on fire over the weekend as she swam to six medals
There were bronze medals for Uzpelke in the 50m butterfly and the 50m freestyle and a hat trick of silver medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 200m breaststroke.
However, it was a golden finish for Uzpelke in the 50m backstroke as a new pb saw her take top spot.
Breaststroke specialist Sigourney Bolton collected four medals – silver in both the 50m and 100m and gold in the 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.
Eydee Chilvers took a brace of silver medals.
She took her first in the 100m backstroke with a fine pb performance. She then added a second medal as she swam the 400m freestyle for the first time.
Following a hugely successful campaign at Lincolnshire County Championships, Kieran Lucy continued his winning ways as he collected eight medals.
Lucy started with a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle and went on to claim six silvers across the backstroke and freestyle events as well as the 200m individual medley. However, it was gold for him in the 50m freestyle.
Nine-year-old Thomas Vere lined up against swimmers a year older than himself but this didn’t stop him collecting a fine haul.
He got bronze medals in the 50m freestyle, the 50m backstroke and the 200m individual medley.
Vere upgraded to silver in the 50m butterfly, but in the 200m backstroke he stormed to victory with a six-second drop on his pb.
Iris Lucas started her campaign with a three- second pb in the 200m freestyle which saw her claim bronze.
She upgraded to silver in the 800m freestyle.
Jess Herriott picked up a hat trick of bronze medals in the 100m breaststroke, the 100m butterfly and the 200m backstroke.
She then took gold in the 800m freestyle to round out her performances.
Emily Briggs won four medals. There was a bronze for her in the 800m freestyle and silvers in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley.
But it was the 100m butterfly where Briggs stormed to gold.
Aaron Sadler bagged a hat trick of bronze medals. He took his medals in the 50m and 200m backstroke and in the 400m freestyle with an 18-second improvement on his pb.
However, it was Sadler’s exceptional butterfly swimming that saw him storm to gold in both the 100m and 200m distances.
Sophie Bolton started off with a brace of bronzes in the 50m backstroke and the 50m butterfly.
She added a silver medal to her haul in the 50m freestyle, but it was a golden finish for her as she won the 800m freestyle.
Bradley Holland is rapidly becoming a sprint specialist and scaled back his programme to just five events, in which he took gold in every one.
Holland swam to win in both the 50m and 100m butterfly, the 50m and 100m freestyle and also in the 50m backstroke.
Will Cooke had an exceptional weekend, setting a host of new pb times in his events in the boys’ 11 years age group.
However, it was the 400m freestyle that was his best result.
A strong swim saw Cooke lower his pb by 75 seconds and collect the bronze medal.