Wear Valley swimmers enjoyed a fantastic weekend of fast swimming and fun in the sun at Haven Point, South Shields this past weekend. A strong squad of 15 swimmers strutted their stuff over the 2 days of competition, with everyone having great success over the weekend.
The meet started with the Girls 200m IM and got Team WV off to a magnificent start with a full set of lifetime best performances from our girls, with B Squad swimmers Ava Race taking a massive 10 seconds off her previous mark and Daisy Mulholland bursting through the 3 minute barrier for the first time. The successes continued throughout the morning with Joshua Whitton lowering both his 200m freestyle and 100m Butterfly PBs. There were also dominant performances from CD swimmers, Caitlyn McClean (200m brs) and Charlotte Wilson (100m backstroke.) The afternoon session witnessed further successes for our swimmers with notable successes for Lily Davidson in the 200m butterfly who lowered her previous best by a whopping 10 seconds, massive for a 15yr old, with a debut in the event for Caitlyn.
Better was to come the next morning from Wear Valley athletes as Sunday’s morning session was completed with a staggering 100% PB success rate, with 100m flyers Charlotte Wilson and Rosie Grayson putting in standout performances, each taking close to 10s of their previous bests and Leah Burnip competing in the gruelling event for the first time. Joshua Whitton lowered his 200m IM time by a staggering 6 seconds to force his way into the skins competition in which he then produced a massive 50m butterfly PB to progress through to round two. Tianna Thompson flew by for quick PB double in the 50 breaststroke and 100m freestyle, showing great attitude in her only session there.
The great swims continued through to the final session with a fantastic battling first outing in the 400m freestyle for Caitlyn McClean matched by senior athlete Roberta Antonescu who lowered her best time in the event by over 10 seconds. There were also crackling swims in the 200m backstroke by Rosie and Charlotte posting 3:07 and 3:03 respectively to (potentially) finish 1 and 2 in the event, without a disqualification for a sloppy turn! (work needed in training!!!) Lola Copeland produced a fine effort in the same event, cruising under 3 minutes for the first time. Freya Colling showed new found grit in her 100m breaststroke exhibiting great aggression and resolve in the event to post a new PB. Alex Nightingale and Ben Tully put in some very strong performances across their events, gaining some fantastic competition experience along the way. And finally, there was a welcome return to competition swimming for Amelia Kelly who produced a string of fantastic swims across the weekend.