Congratulations team on a fine performance to retain our position as the top ranked Swindon based swimming club in the Moonraker Wiltshire Winter League.

Due to some confusion around the pool bookings, we were swimming at Wroughton against Warminster and Wroughton, which meant that the highest place we could achieve was 6th. The 5 teams ahead of us were all swimming at Calne and in finals it’s all about the result on the night.

A more focused performance and no DQ’s helped us to top spot on the night just 1 point ahead of Warminster!

Our first win came in the 3rd race where the girls 9-12 years backstroke team of Amy, Annabel, Thea and Alice took top spot in a neck and neck race with Warminster.
In the Butterfly Squadron the boy’s team of Max S, Tyler, Max A and Brad and the girls team of Annabel, Sasha, Liberty and Tracey both took 2nd place.
The backstroke Squadron girls team of Alice, Olivia, Beth and Tracey took 2nd and the boys team of Aaron, Tyler, Alyx and Brad took 1st place.
Both teams took top spot in the Breaststroke squadron with the girls team of Annabel, Caitlin, Grace and Emily leading the race from start to finish.
A handover mix up in the boys open 4 x 2 length Backstroke cost the team a few 100ths of a second and saw the team miss out on 2nd spot by a tiny margin.
The girls U12 freestyle team of Amy, Alice, Annabel and Thea went toe to toe with a very strong Warminster team in a race that was far too close to call from the viewing gallery. It was finally judged that Thea touched ahead of the Warminster swimmer and the win went to Swindon.
A great swims by Harry in the first leg and Aaron in the final leg of the boys U12 backstroke relay weren’t enough to catch the opposition on the night with the team taking 3rd place.
The U12 medley saw Alice, Tamzin, Annabel and Thea take 2nd place in a very closely fought race whilst the boys team of Aaron, Alex S, Max S and Harvey took 1st place.
The boys U15 4×1 length breaststroke team took 2nd after a great final leg comeback by Tyler who would no doubt have taken the win if the pool was a metre or two longer.
The parents and spectators cheered the team to overall victory with some noisy support courtesy of the Bang Bang sticks!
On the night the team had 16 wins, 12 x 2nd place and 11 x 3rd place finishes.

Wiltshire Sprints 2017 – Sunday 12th March

Over 30 qualifiers for the sprints this year resulted in lots of organinsing for coaches Sarah and Ryan. Never has so much highlighter ink been required.

Our Junior medley relay team of Olivia Moore, Aaron Bailey, Caitlin Warrington, Tyler Checchia, Rowan Kitchener, Charlie Adams, Beth and Andrew Dolman got things off to a terrific start taking gold in a time of 3:04.02.
Rowan swimming so fast she got a nosebleed which meant she missed the presentation.

The boys were next up for the Mens 36.67 yards backstroke:
Max Sullivan 3rd (11), Aaron 6th (13), Tyler 1st (14), Max Adams 4th (16), Alyx Bailey 1st (16) and Bradley McCabe 1st (21).
Tylers was also 2nd in the Junior Championship, and swam in the open final with Alyx. Alyx placed 3rd to take bronze, with Tyler in 6th.

Womens open 36.67 yards breaststroke:
Alexandra Scutt took silver over a very narrow margin from Freya Howie who got bronze. 1st time attendee Ella Spencer was 7th and Molly Checchia was 11th in the 10 years age group.
Annabel Ollerhead won gold and Thea Rhodes just missed out on the medals to take 4th place in the 12 years age group. Alice Steckerl also placed 4th ath 13 years.
The 14 years age group saw another 4th place for Swindon, this time it was Caitlin. Sasha Stone was 6th and Olivia 8th.
And another 4th place, Rowan and Beth at 15 years took 4th and 6th place. Yet another 4th for Swindon, Liberty in the 16 years. Grace put a stop to the non-medal positions winning gold in the 17/18 years with Lydia 5th. Emily Moore took gold the 19 years and over category.
Caitlin’s 4th place was enough to get 6th place in the junior championship. and in the open final Emily took 1st place, and Grace 3rd. Well done!

Mens 36.67 yards butterfly
Another newcomer to the sprints was Sam Morris swimming in the 10 years age group, who was disqualfied for illegal arms. Max Sullivan (11) took gold, and Felix James took 4th place, which considering he had the cast taken off a broken arm only a week before is a remarkable acheivement.
Aaron placed 7th, Tyler 1st, Max Adams 6th, Alyx 3rd and Brad 1st.
Tyler place 1st in the Junior Championship.

Womens Open 36.67 yards freestyle:
Alexandra, Molly and Freya were all in action again, 4th, 6th and 7th respectively.
Then it was the turn of very patient newcomers Hannah Lewington and Laila Howse, in the 11 years age group. Hannah took 1st place and Laila 9th.
Thea and Annabel were 5th and 7th in the 12 years. Alice 7th (13), Emmie nursing a sore shoulder 13th (13).
The 4th place demon struck again – this time it was Sasha (14) and Beth (15) with Olivia (14) 9th, Caitlin (14) 11th and Rowan (15) 7th.
Liberty (16) took 5th. Grace (17) 6th, Lydia (18) 7th. Emily(19) 2nd.
In the Open Final, Emily placed 3rd.

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After the lunch break we were back in the pool for the Mixed open 8x1L medley relay.
The team of Beth Brewer, Tyler Checchia, Grace Steckerl, Alyx Bailey, Liberty Slowly, Max Adams, Emily Moore, Andrew Dolman were narrowly beaten into 4th place.

Womens Open 36.67 yards backstroke:
Alex kicked off the medals for the afternoon with gold in the 10 years age group. Newcomers Amelia Smith and Abigail Garland placed 6th and 8th, with Molly and Freya place 9th and 11th.
Hannah Lewington missed out on another gold by 7 hundreths and Verity Pocock placed 10th at 11 years.
Annabel and Thea were 4th and 9th at 12. Emmie and Alice 12th and 13th at 13. Sasha and Olivia 6th and 7th at 14. Beth Brewer took silver and Rowan placed 6th in 15 years.
Liberty (16) was 7th, Grace (17) and Lydia (18) were 4th and 9th. Emily placed 2nd in the 19 and over.

Mens Open 36.67 yards breaststroke:
Recent newcomer Matthew Widdop swam in hist first meet to take 2nd place and a silver medal in the 10 years age group. Max Sullivan took silver at 11 years. Aaron (13) was 6th, Tyler (14) 1st, Max Adams (16) 5th and Alyx took gold in the 17/18 years.
Tyler beat all teh 15 years olds to take 1st place in the Junior championship, and in the final of the mens Alyx took silver.

Womens Open36.67 yards butterfly:
Yeah – Molly took gold in a time of 30.20, Ella Spencer was 4th, Freya 5th and Alex managed to get disqualfied for alternative kicking. At 11 years Hannah Lewington added to her medals to take bronze.
Annabel also added a medal with bronze while Thea was placed 8th.
Alice came 11th in the 13 years age group. Sasha and Olivia were 5th and 9th. Rowan and Beth placed 4th and 5th at 15, with Liberty also taking 4th at 16. Lydia finished 5th, with Grace placed 8th and Chloe Higgs 10th . Emily took silver in the 19 and over.

Mens Open 36.67 yards freestyle:
Final event of the day. Matthew Widdop placed 6th in the 10 years, Max Sullivan took bronze in the 11 years. Aaron got another 6th place at 13 years and Tyler another 1st. Andrew Dolman was rewarded with a bronze medal in the 15 years age group. Max Adams place 10 just one place ahead of Cameron Jennings. Alyx Bailey was 2nd in the 17/18 years.
In the junior championship Tyler placed 2nd.

So a remarkable acheivement overall. The swimmers allseemed to enjoy it, especially the poolside dancing! Coaches Ryan and Sarah were exhausted by the end of a very long day.
Thank you to Wiltshire ASA for the organisation of the event. Thank you to all the officials and volunteers who made the day possible.
And thank you to the swimmers who represented the club to such high standards.

The final tally of medals..
15 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze + 3 championship gold, silver and bronze + the junior medley relay gold!
the final tally of 4th places = 15!

Coaching Team
Swindon ASC