County Relay Champs - June 2015
11 Jul 2015
Pershore’s Ladies Masters team showed that they have lost none of their competitive edge, coming away with two gold medals in the freestyle and medley events at the Worcester County Relay Championships. As a club, Pershore claimed a total of three gold, three silver and five bronze medals, with the boy’s 11/12 year old team also snatching victory from Worcester in the freestyle relay.
The Ladies Masters team of Helen Annis, Buffy Simister, Ceris Styler and Marie Porter grabbed their first gold in the 4 x 50m Medley in 2.26.18, with a powerful fly leg by Styler helping the team to victory. The same team then powered to victory in the 4 x 50m freestyle, clocking up another good time of 2.12.43 to hold off the challenge from local rivals Worcester.
The boy’s 11/12 relay team of Kieran Cooper, Patrick Heeks, Hamish Cross and Will Gearey came agonisingly close to winning two gold medals. Victory for the team came in the 4 x 50m freestyle in 1.59.92, with Pershore beating Worcester on the final leg in an extremely close race. They couldn’t quite repeat the victory in the 4 x 50m medley, with Worcester snatching gold this time and Pershore having to settle for silver in 2.17.58.
The boy’s 13/14 team looked impressive as they secured silver and bronze medals in their events. The best race for the quartet of Luke Perry, Chris Vizard, Josh Sharratt and Simon Sweatman was the 4 x 50m freestyle, with Sweatman overhauling his Wyre Forest rival on the anchor leg to snatch silver in a dramatic finish in 1.55.69. The team then added a bronze medal in the 4 x 50m medley in 2.12.76.
For some of the girls in the 9/10 age group, it was their first time at the County Relay Championships but they showed no sign of nerves. In the 4 x 50m freestyle, the team of Gabriella Barry, Jasmine Hoskins, Tamara Marsden, Lauren Annis came third in 2.23.61. The same team then snatched a well-deserved bronze medal in the 4 x 50m medley with a time of 2.47.92.
It was two bronze medals for the girls 11/12 relay teams, fighting hard against county rivals Stourbridge and Worcester. In the 4 x 50m freestyle, the team of Jasmine Franks, Hannah Woodcock, Megan Annis and Alexandra Barry clocked 2.02.47 for third place. In the 4 x 50m medley, Isabella Woodcock replaced Franks and the team managed another good all round performance to take third in 2.16.65.
Pershore’s final podium also came at the hands of another Masters team, with several swimmers competing for the first time competively in several years. The team of John Sweatman, Mike Leach, Chloe Naughton and Styler all swam heroically to take silver in the 4 x 50 medley of 2.27.67. The mixed Masters team couldn’t quite repeat their success in the 4 x 50m freestyle being edged into fourth place in 2.25.47, with another fantastic effort from Simister, Sweatman and Leach joined by Amanda Cooper.
Other teams who came close to winning medals included the boys 9/10 relay team of Lewis Cribben, James Heeks, Oliver Smith and David Annis, coming fourth in the 4 x 50m medley in 3.00.79 and fifth in the 4 x 50m free in 2.36.38.
The girl’s 13/14 relay team consisting of Amy Weston, Hannah Simister, Amy Cooper and Naomi Marsden managed fifth in the 4 x 50m medley in 2.16.11 and took fifth in the freestyle event in 2.01.54 with Jasmine Taite switching for Simister.
The boy’s 15/16 team of Owen Leeks, Drew Jones, Jack Betteridge and Calum Sanderson pushed hard for fourth in the 4 x 50m medley in 2.09.22 and edged into fifth in the freestyle in 1.57.72 with Will Clarke replacing Jones in the line-up.
Commenting on the overall performance, Pershore’s head coach, Tom Naughton said: "Winning so many medals across so many age groups shows the strength in depth at the club. I was particularly pleased to see the ladies masters team winning double gold in such dominant style and the mixed masters did fantastic too!”