The Wear Valley Amateur Swimming Club May Level 3 Meet welcomed 8 new competitive swimmers from our club. The gala, held on 12/13 May 2018, at Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre in Bishop Auckland saw our team of 22 swimmers from Wear Valley compete against 15 other teams including Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Sunderland. Highlights include a total of 34 medals, plenty of personal bests (pb) and fantastic first swims enjoyed by the new competitive swimmers.
The debutants were Katie Brooks-Shea, who swam in the 50m free and 50m back, Joseph Brown who came 9th in his age category for the 50m breastroke. Ethan Flint swam the 50m free and 50m butterfly for the first time. Lauren Flint competed in the 50m free, 50m back and 50m breastroke. Amy Frame swam in the 50m free and 50m back races. Lily Mulholland also took part in these events as did Adam Readman. Jessica Swainsby was delighted to come 6th in her 50m breastroke event. Coaches Jo Barber, Angela Callan, Susan Rodgers, Catriona Grime, Megan Baker and Linda Rolfe were especially delighted with the youngsters first competitive swims.
From the Junior Squad, Mason Bartlett won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke, Reece Cunnachie took 15 seconds off his 200m free pb. James Holliday also gained a pb in this event and a 6th in the 100m breastroke. Sophie Liddell won bronze medals in both the 50m and 200m breastroke. Lucy Randall was very pleased with her bronze in the 50m butterfly and narrowly missed out on medals in the 50m back and 50m free. Ella Sowerby swam a 3 second pb in her 50m fly and Emily Whitton a 2 second pb in the 100m Individual Medley (IM).
In the Senior Squad, Neve Mason swam pbs in each of her 4 events, gained 2 Regional times in these races and won 3 gold and 1 silver medals. Madison Peveller was delighted with her 5 gold, 2 silver medals and 9 second pb in the 100m IM. Thomas Power won a gold in the 200m IM and 2 bronze medals. Jessica Maughan was very pleased with her silver medals in the 100m and 200m IM. Joseph Dobson won 4 silver and 1 bronze medals. Nic Cooper was delighted with his silver medal in the 100m breastroke. Annabel Cooper won 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals.
Very well done to all of the Wear Valley swimmers!