Regionals 2022: Weekend 2

This long bank holiday weekend our 15 and overs took to Wycombe Leisure Centre to compete in the South East Regional Championships. After a successful first weekend for the 14 and under swimmers, the older swimmers were set and ready not to be out swum!

Friday – Distance events

Up first was Issy Thorpe in the ladies 1500m freestyle. A fantastic first swim to make top 10 in her age group placing 7th!

Saturday

Session 1

Up first were the sprint events, Ollie Richards in his first regionals had a good swim, slightly missing his personal best but setting himself up for his breaststroke later on this weekend, Ethan Donovan had a good heat swim just missing the final placing 9th. Up next, Daisy Dewsburry swam in the ladies 50m Butterfly, posting her 3rd fastest time of the season. Antoni kepa had a good 200 freestyle, warming himself up for his events later on that session. Jessica Humm and Bella McBride stormed their 200 Backstroke heat both making the 16 year old final later on today! Not to be outdone by the ladies, Aden McCarthy and Antoni stepped up to the plate, with Aden getting a new PB making the 15 year old final in the 100m Backstroke and Antoni making the 16 year old final in the same event. With tired legs, Jess took on the 100m Freestyle, just missing the sub 60 minute mark but she will have another chance to get this making her second final of the day.

Session 2

The second session started off with a pb from Flo Taylor in her first regionals, another final for Jess and soild swims from both Charlotte and Bella in the ladies 50m Backstroke. In the hotley contested 50 free, Antoni, Ethan and Harrison Bacon- Canning posted some super times just missing out on their finals. In the gruelling 200 Butterfly Daisy and Aden took on the challenge, Daisy posting a good seasons time and Aden making his age group final. Last up was Maya Smith, Ollie and Ethan in the 100m Breaststroke all swimmers posted some excellent times. Next up finals!

Finals

First up was Jess and Bella in the ladies 16 years 200m Backstroke final, both ladies went faster than their heat swim ending with Jess being rewarded a silver medal and Bella getting 4th. In the men’s 100m Backstroke, Aden in the 15 years final placed 7th and Antoni collecting 5th with a faster time than his heat. In a very close final, Jess got 4th in 16 years 100. Freestyle just missing out on third. With a very quick turn around and very tired legs, Jess in her last final picked up 5th in the 50m backstroke. And in our last final of the night Aden picked 6th in the men’s 15 years 200m Butterfly with a new personal best time. What a day! Bring on day 2.

Sunday

Session 1

First up was our 14 -16 girls Medley relay (Bella, Issy, Edith and Jess) plus our 17+ Medley relay (Charlotte, Maya, Daisy and Lotte Koudjis). Both teams stormed to go faster than their entry times, setting up the team for some fast swims for the day.

Session 2

Not to let the girls have all the relay success, the boys 14-16 years Freestyle team (Will Truswell, Ted Whitwam, Ethan and Antoni) pulled out a soild swim, getting a 2 second pb on their entry time. Jess and Lotte took to the pool in the Ladies 50m Freestyle, Lotte swimming just off her PB and Jess gaining another Regional final place. Followed next was Antoni in the Mens 50m Butterfly and Maya in the Ladies 200m Breaststroke, both swam good times, just missing their PB’s but picking up valuable race experience. Aden stormed his PB in the 200 Backstroke, making his second Regional and dipping under 2.20 for the first time. In the Ladies 100m Backstroke, Bella and Charlotte posted some of their top seasons times with Jess adding to her impressive finals list in this event. To finish off the session we had Antoni in the Mens 100 Freestyle, Jess in the ladies 400m Freestyle and Aden in the Mens 200 IM, some very tired legs but all swimmers posted some fantastic times.

Finals

A final filled with medals! Jess stormed her way to a Silver in the Girls 16 years 50 Freestyle and a Bronze in the 100m Backstroke. Aden, with another PB, collected him first regional medal with a bronze in the boys 15 years 200m Backstroke.

Monday

Session 1

Our relays took to the pool first with all three teams (4×100 Medley relay- Ladies 14 -16 and the 17+ teams) and the Mens Medley Relay team (14 -16), all three teams smashed their pb gaining top 10 places.

Aden finished off this session with a massive 11 second pb in the mens 400 IM collecting 6th place.

Session 2

The session started in the Mens 50 backstroke with a personal best time for Aden and a place in the final for Antoni. Some Soild times from Jess and Maya in the 50 Breaststroke followed. In the final events of the session Jess made her 200m Freestyle final with Bella making her 200 IM final.

Finals

To end Regionals our finalists didn’t want to disappointed! Jess walked away with a great 4th place in the ladies 200m Freestyle. Bella dropped a massive time in the ladies 200 IM to place 5th and Antoni went faster than his heat swim to collect 7th in the Mens 50m Backstroke.