Pershore Swimmers just superb on way to final
26 Jun 2012
Pershore Swimmers just superb on their way to league final
Pershore Swimming Club approached their 3rd leg of the Midlands Nuneaten Junior League last weekend with both enthusiasm and trepidation knowing they were joint leaders of division 2 and had a great chance of making the finals in September so long as there were no slip ups. At Stafford Leisure Centre Pershore's swimmers were up against teams from Blythe Barracudas (B'ham); Hinckley; Cheadle (Staffs); Droitwich Dolphins; Newport (Shrops) the first three mentioned themselves being high up in the league.
Immediately it was apparent any slip up was not going to come from the 9 and 10 year olds and in fact they actually showed the way winning 14 of their 22 races and taking the maximum 6pts for a win. 10 year olds Maisy Robertson (39.19) and Simon Sweatman (31.15) came in 2nd and 1stin the 50m freestyle first races with William Gearey (22.15) taking 2ndplace in the 25m breaststroke.
With 9 year old Bella Woodcock (44.12) and Sweatman (46.44) again taking victory in the 50m breaststroke events the club were looking good. 9 year olds Rebecca Philips; Megan Annis; Kate Sanderson and Charlotte Downey were team mates taking victory in the 4 x 25m freestyle relay with Hamish Cross; Luke Betteridge; Gearey and Sam Doyle in the boys relay made it four wins in a row and put the club in a lead they were not going to relinquish without a fight.
Doyle was in winning action again with the 10 and under freestyle team with Chris Vizard, Tom Bailey and Sweatman. With more wins coming from Vizard (50m back); Gearey (25m free); Annis (25m free); Josh Sharratt (25m fly); and Sweatman clocking up his 3rd individual win of the evening. More valuable pts for 2nd place came from Daisy Tolley; Woodcock; Robertson and Isobel Cumming in the 10/u girls Medley Relay event with Cumming; Woodcock and Tolley being joined by Naomi Marsden coming home in 2nd place in the girls 10/u 4 x 25m free relay.
With two girls from each age group Annis ; Downey; Cumming; Tolley and Pugh were joined to record another 3 valuable points by Beth Snape and Louise Hird in the 8 x 25m freestyle relay team. The 11 and 12 year olds recorded more points with a win and a 2nd place from 12 year old Tazmin Pugh taking 1stplace in the 50m fly (31.03) and 2nd place on a fingertip finish but with a new pb with 29.19 in the 50m free. Another 2nd place came from Owen Leeks in the 50m back (36.81) and again in the 50m fly (35.25).
With only a few points between Pershore and Blythe coming into the last event of the evening the 8 x 25m 'Cannon' where one girls and one boy from each age group it was vital Pershore finished in one of the top positions. The team made up of Downey; Gearey; Tolley; Sweatman; Simister; Sammy Whitehill; Pugh and Drew Jones brought the team home in 2nd place and assured the club took a well earned overall victory with 221 pts followed by Blythe on 213; Hinckley 188; Droitwich 184; Cheadle 157 and Newport on 80 pts.
With the top six team from each division going forward to the finals in September Pershore did tremendously well once again to finish in joint 1stposition at the top of division 2 where a top three placing would assure them promotion to the top premier division.
Ian P