Youngest swimmer takes titles in Championships
27 Mar 2009
Youngest swimmer takes titles in Championships
Celebrating her 9th birthday only 5 days before the qualifying times deadline in January Tazmin Pugh was likely the youngest swimmer entering the Worcester County Swimming Championships. After a gruelling two weekends Tazmin came away with
six medals, three Championship titles and two amazing County Records.
Having already bagged one gold and three silver from the first weekend in Wolverhampton, Tazmin entered the second Championship weekend with seemingly a tougher task on her hands with her least favoured breaststroke event. Tazmin started well taking the 200m backstroke title by a staggering 5 seconds with a time of 3min 06.39sec and improving on her personal best by 17 seconds and now ranked 1st in the Region. In a different heat of the same event Team mate Alison Steward (9) also improved her pb by an incredible 26 secs to a time of 3.18.17 and coming an agonising but impressive 4th place.
One of Tazmin's best events the 50m freestyle was next and stormed, it was thought, to a new pb with a time of 35.20 over two seconds ahead of anyone else only to find she had been disqualified for her rear foot slipping a little on the diving blocks. She took the disappointment on the chin and cheered on her team mates Alison Steward (9) to another impressive pb of 38.97 and Ashley Gribble competing in her 3rd County Champs to her new pb of 33.88 in the 11 year old age group unfortunately both just missing out on the evening finals.
Next day a new dawn and Tazmin once again proved her fighting spirit by swimming her way to her third championship title in the 200m Individual Medley, where swimmers do two lengths of each of the four strokes, with a new county record of 3.07.08 making Tazmin 1st in the Region and 11th in the UK. Just 20 minutes later Tazmin was again in the pool in the 50m breaststroke and swam her way into her 8th final. In the 50m breaststroke finals Tazmin improved her pb once again swimming 49.09 and securing 4th place in her weakest event.
On Sunday afternoon Tazmin was joined by club mates Harry Sykes (11) and Ben Carr (16) who competed in the boys 50m breast both missing out on the finals but both pleased to have made the tough qualifying times.
In the 13 year division Severin Naraine continues to blaze his way to glory building on his first weekends performances with a 1st place in the 50m Breaststroke final with 36.13; 2nd in the 50m free with 28.34; two 3rd places in the 200m back and 100m breast and 5th in the 100m free. Sev has just had the stupendous news that he has been accepted on a scholarship to Kelly College in Devon who pride themselves on their sporting prowess having supplied over 80 Olympians over the years. There he will join Cameron Brodie from Evesham Club who has already been called up for England duty in recent months. PHOTO