30 May 2014

     
(front from left to right William, Patrick, Naomi, Isabella, Megan, Amy; back left to right Beth, Tom and Simon)
 
Eight youngsters from Pershore Swimming Club are set to compete at the British Gas Midlands Age Group Championships 2014 held at Coventry’s international 50m pool starting on Saturday 7^th June 2014 for two weekends.  This year’s team is a record number of entries for Pershore and its swimmers will be competing against the best age group competitors from nine other counties in the Midlands region including Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham.

10 year old Age group

Patrick Heeks (10), the youngest member of the Pershore team, will be competing at the Championships for the first time.  Heeks, who has made massive improvements to his times in the last six months, has qualified for the 100m back (1.20.67) and the 200m back (2.49.62) and ranked in the top five for his two events.  Heeks has had a fantastic 2014 already, winning his first county gold medals earlier in the year and also receiving his first Worcester County call-up.

11 year old Age Group

William Gearey (11) has qualified strongly in a staggering ten events including the 100m freestyle (1.04.56), 200m freestyle (2.21.30), 400m freestyle (5.00.70), 100m backstroke (1.14.54), 200m backstroke (2.36.97), 100m breaststroke (1.30.34), 200m breaststroke (3.07.59), 100m fly (1.17.29), the 200IM (2.41.09) and the 400IM (5.40.52). Gearey will hopefully be a serious challenger for medals in his favoured freestyle and backstroke events, and he is ranked in the top five in several of the events going into his first Championships. 

Megan Annis (11) is another newcomer to the district competition, having qualified in the 100m backstroke in 1:16.75.  Annis also received her first County call-up in May this year and currently ranks number one in the county in several strokes including the 50m free, 50m breaststroke, 50m back and 100m back.

Breaststroke specialist, Isabella Woodcock (11), will be looking to get into the medals again in the 100m event.  Woodcock, who won silver at the 100m breaststroke at the 2013 championships, has qualified with a time of 1:27.25 and again looks a strong contender. Woodcock tops the county rankings for both 50m and 100m breaststroke.

12 year old Age Group

Simon Sweatman (12) has qualified in multiple events and will be looking to build on his 2014 county success where he swept the board with a staggering 16 gold medals.  Sweatman, who has competed twice before at the district championships bagging a bronze in the 100m freestyle in 2013, will be competing in the 100 free (1:04.80), 200m free (2:21.70), 400m free (4:59.82), 100m fly (1:14.06), 100m back (1:12.34), 200m back (2:33.97), 200m IM (2:40.73) and the 400 IM (5:37.72). 

12 year old Age Group cont’d

Naomi Marsden (12) and Amy Weston (12) have both qualified for the 100m backstroke.  This will be the second time that Marsden has qualified for the championships, clocking up a time of 1.14.60 to secure her place.  Marsden is currently ranked number one in the 50m backstroke in the County.  It will be Weston’s first appearance at the Midlands, who achieved a great qualifying time of 1:15.11 at this year’s Counties.

14 year old Age Group

Beth Carter (14), who recently joined Pershore from Evesham earlier in the year, is the final member of the team to qualify.  Carter is another breaststroke specialist within the club and will be competing in the 100m breaststroke with an entry time of 1.19.99.

Commenting ahead of the championships, Pershore’s head coach, Tom Naughton said:  "I’m very proud of all the swimmers going to compete at Coventry and, for a club of our size, it is a fantastic achievement.  We know it’s going to be extremely tough to get amongst the medals with the standard of the competition.  However, I’m sure Pershore will surprise people as we usually do!”

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