PGL League Round 2 - 22 March 2014
23 Mar 2014
ershore Swimming Club was in dominant form in Round 2 of the PGL at Redditch, easily beating their rivals from Worcester, Warley Wasps and Oldbury by a comfortable margin.
The team managed to clock up a staggering 34 first places in 60 events and were almost unbeatable in the various age group relays with an impressive nine wins from ten races. The youngsters also smashed over 50 new personal best times between them too.
Callum Sanderson got the team off to a good start, coming second in the boys 13/14 50m butterfly in 37.61 (pb), with Naomi Marsden recording Pershore’s first win of the evening, taking the girls 13/14 50m fly in a new pb of 38.19.
Will Clarke then added maximum points in the next race, with a strong swim in the boys 12/u 50m back in 40.64 (pb) and Helena Leach also put in a good performance to take second in the girls 12/u 50m back in 43.66.
Luke Betteridge made it victory number three for Pershore, taking gold in the boys 11/u 25m breaststroke in 23.17 (pb), while Isobel Cumming grabbed second in the girls 11/u 25m breaststroke in 22.76 (pb).
The boys 10/u relay quartet of Ronan Williams, Owen Kirby, Patrick Heeks and Liam Cope proved too strong for the opposition, with a clear win in 1.23.96, whilst the girls 10/u relay team of Eleanor Christodoulou, Macey French, Hannah Woodcock and Holly Wylde also touched first in 1.25.89.
Oliver Smith was just edged into third in the boys 9 year 25m freestyle in 20.57 (pb), whilst Tamara Marsden produced a great pb in the girls 25m freestyle to claim victory in 18.74.
After ten events, Pershore had already established an early lead over their rivals with 35 points, with Oldbury in second (24 points), Warley third (22) and Worcester back in fourth (14). Pershore then put together a sequence of six straight victories to extend their lead further and realistically put it out of reach.
Daisy Tolley won the girls 13/14 50m backstroke in a time of 38.74, Jamie Saunders came first in the boys 11/u 25m freestyle in 16.50, Ellen Cope won the girls 11/u freestyle in 16.83 (pb) and Ronan Williams claimed gold in the boys 10/u 25m fly in 20.54 (pb). Two more victories followed in the relays, with the boys 12/u 4 x 25m medley team of William Clarke, Chris Vizard, Josh Sharratt and James Thomas claiming gold in 1.14.08, as did the girls 12/u 4 x 25 medley team of Naomi Marsden, Charlotte Downey, Daisy Tolley and Helena Leach winning in 1.14.02.
Holly Wylde produced a pb to grab second in the girls 10/u 25m fly in 22.90 and Robert Thorner and Georgia Winkley also both took silvers in the 9 year old 25 m breast stroke in 29.26 and 27.68 respectively.
Josh Lane, Jack Betteridge, Owen Leeks and Sanderson produced a dominant display in the boys 13/14 4 x 25m medlay relay to win easily in 1.06.26, and the girls 13/14 team of Tolley, Hannah Simister, Jasmine Taite and Hope Rochelle also took first in 1.08.94.
Sharratt was edged into second in the boys 12/u 50m breast in 47.30 whilst Woodcock swam up two age groups to win the girls 12/u 50m breast in 45.90 (pb). Thomas also produced a new pb in the boys 11/u 25m fly to take third place in 19.65, Liam Cope came second in the boys 10/u 25m free in 19.82 (pb) and Wylde took third place in the girls 10/u 25m free in 18.12.
After thirty events and the half way stage, Pershore found themselves on 90 points, 15 points clear of second placed Oldbury, with Worcester back in third on 61 and Warley in fourth on 54 points.
Pershore then picked up four speeding tickets in relatively quick succession, scoring zero points, until Taite got the team back on track with victory in the girls 13/14 50m breast stroke in 43.53 (pb). Clarke added a third place in the boys 12/u 50m free in 36.64 (pb), Kirby also claimed bronze for Pershore in the boys 10/u 25m backstroke in 23.52 (pb) and Christodolou also took third in the girls 10/u 25m back in 24.05.
Another six straight victories soon had Pershore extending their lead, with victories for both the boys 11/u 4 x 25m medley and girls 11/u 4 x 25m medley teams in 1.20.45 and 1.18.59 respectively plus a great win for the mixed 9 year 4 x 25m medley team in 1.33.61. Sanderson took first in the boys 13/14 50m freestyle in 33.05, Simister also took gold in the girls 13/14 free in 34.15 (pb) whilst Heeks added another first place in the boys 12/u 50m fly in 38.55.
Leach produced a time of 44.14 in the girls 12/u 50m fly for third place, whilst Williams and Downey both secured maximum points for Pershore in the boys and girls 11/u 25m backstroke with 20.44 and 19.64 respectively. Kirby produced a pb to claim silver in the boys 10/u 25m breast stroke in 26.03, whilst Christodolou was edged into third in the girls 25m breaststroke in 28.79 and Tamara Mardsen also came third in the girls 9 year 25m fly in 24.75.
It was just left to the various age-group relay teams to secure the points and help Pershore towards a convincing victory. Pershore managed to win a staggering seven out of the eight 4 x 25m freestyle relay events, with first places in the boys and girls 13/14 freestyle, 11/u boys and girls freestyle, the 10/u boys and girls freestyle as well as the mixed 9 year freestyle and girls 12/u freestyle. The gala was finished off by Pershore with easy victories in both the boys and girls 10 x 25m freestyle cannon events.
The gala finished with Pershore on 182 points, Oldbury on 156, Worcester on 132 and Warley on 100.
Pershore’s head coach, Tom Naughton said: "A very pleasing performance from the whole team and great to see so many personal bests. We’ll be looking for another good result in the next round to get into the final.”