John Neale Trophy Gala (Redditch) - 1st Feb 2014
01 Feb 2014
Pershore handed competitive debuts to several young swimmers at the John Neale Trophy Gala on Saturday evening in Redditch, with the team grabbing plenty of podiums and producing 25 personal bests. The young development team were up against Redditch, Orion, Kingsbury, Bromsgrove and Blythe.
Sam Brearley secured Pershore’s first points, with fourth place in the boys 10/u 50m free (53.52 pb) and this was quickly followed up by a second place for Georgia Winkley in the girls 9 year 25m breast (26.60 pb) and another fourth from Robert Thorner in the boys 25m breast (29.32 pb).
Pershore then grabbed maximum points in both the girls and boys 11/u 4 x 25m medley relays. The girls quartet of Olivia Howard, Rebecca Phillips, Holly Winkley and Alexandra Barry proved too strong for the opposition, coming home in first in 1.19.08. The boys quartet of Ronan Williams, Hamish Cross, Patrick Heeks and Owen Kirby matched the girls’ performance by also taking the victory in 1.20.77.
Howard produced a good performance in the girls 12/u 50m back with a third place (43.62 pb) and Sophie Thomas also took third in 53.48 (pb) in the girls 10/u 50m breast stroke. Thomas also added another third place in the girls 10/u 50m back in 49.97.
It wasn’t long before Pershore secured more maximum points, with Cameron Leach producing a strong swim in the boys 10/u 50m breast (52.69) and older sister, Helena, was also in fine form producing a determined display in the girls 12/u 50m fly to snatch fourth place in 43.98 (pb). Cameron also took second place in the boys 10/u 25m fly in 19.61 (pb).
The 11/under girl and boy relays teams were both unlucky not to secure maximum points in the 4 x 25m freestyle both being edged out by strong Orion teams. Imogen Harper joined Barry, Howard and Winkley to secure second place in 1.08.55 whilst Kirby, Cross, Williams and Heeks produced a time of 1.11.76 to also take second spot.
And after 15 events, Pershore found themselves in second behind Kingsbury and just three points ahead of Redditch.
Barry produced an excellent swim in the girls 11/u 50m back, coming second in 43.13 and smashing her pb, and then the fast-improving Williams went one better in the boys 11/u 50m back taking a superb first place in 43.06.
The girls 9 year old 4 x 25m freestyle team of Holly Styler, Thomas, Holly Wylde and Eleanor Christodoulou produced a strong performance to grab second place in 1.23.90. The boys 9 year old 4 x 25m freestyle quartet of Oliver Wycher, Oliver Smith, Brearley and Leach were edged into fourth by Redditch in 1.36.61.
Holly Winkley came third in the girls 11/u 50m fly in a time of 49.26, with younger sister Georgia just out of the podium places in fourth in the girls 9 year old 25m fly in 23.98 (pb). Thorner also took fourth place in the boys 9 year old 25m fly (32.72 pb).
It was up to William Clarke to provide maximum points for Pershore, coming home in first place in the boys 12/u 50m free in 36.19 (pb) in a dominant display over two lengths. Clarke then teamed up with James Thomas, Josh Sharratt and Chris Vizard to take victory in the boys 12/u 4 x 25m freestyle relay in 1.04.49.
Lewis Cribbins added more points for Pershore coming second in the boys 9 year old 25m free in 22.52 and Amy Cross also grabbed second in the girls 9 year old free in a new pb of 19.77. Hamish Cross claimed third in the boys 11/u 50m breast (50.96 pb) and Rebecca Phillips went one better to take silver in the girls 11/u 50m breast (48.97 pb).
James Heeks claimed silver in the boys 9 year old 25m back in 25.76 (pb) and Holly Wylde was just pushed back into fifth in the girls 10/u 25m fly in 25.08 (pb). There were good performances from Jasmine Hoskins, Gabriella Barry and Nera Orthick who all produced big personal best swims.
Head coach, Tom Naughton said: "We were unlucky not to have finished second, especially as several of our swimmers picked up speeding tickets for being too fast! Another determined performance from a young team.”
The final score saw Kingsbury win the trophy with 216 points, Redditch second (185), Orion third (169), Pershore fourth (156), Bromsgrove fifth (119) and Blythe sixth (115).