|
Four Essex Champions for Penguins Harlow Penguins Swimming Club, despite losing their swimming pool, still struck Gold at the Essex County Swimming Championships held at Thurrock over the weekend. During the 1st weekend of 4, a very small but loyal group of swimmers knew they had to battle hard to get into any finals due to the lack of training time they have had since the closure of their pool. Swimming against huge teams such as Thurrock, Redbridge and Romford the Penguins amassed a fantastic 4 Golds, 5 Silvers, 4 Bronze Medals and six 5th places and two 6th places. On Saturday the Penguins had 6 swimmers competing and on Sunday 12 swimmers. Tomas Stevens aged 10, nursing a broken finger started the Golden medal trend by retaining his 50m backstroke title with a time of 38.11. Tomas also gained a Silver medal in the 50m Fly in 36.23 (pb). Tomas also achieved 7th place in the 50m Free 33.31. Tomas’ elder brother Chris also became Essex Champion winning a very impressive Gold in the 50m freestyle with a superb time of 27.76, beating second place who came in at 28.34. Chris then also went onto win a Silver medal in 50m Fly in 30.90 being beaten by 0.05 of a second. Chris also made 2 other finals where he came 6th in both in the 50m breast 38.20 and backstroke in 33.73. Chris achieved personal bests in all his races. Sisters Ruby and Annie Groome also had a good start to their Championship campaign. Ruby aged 16 swam in the 16 and over category and got an impressive two 5th places in the 50m Free in 29.00 and the 50m Fly in 31.54 (pb). She also came 8th in the 50m back in 33.17 these impressive times also gave her Eastern Region qualifying times Annie Groome age 14 won a fantastic Gold medal in the 50m Fly in 31.57 (pb). In the heats of the 50m Back Annie came in 5th with a 34.28 and then in the final she found that extra strength to get a superb Silver medal in 33.30 (pb). Alex Francey aged 15 had an excellent weekend achieving Eastern Region qualifying times in all his races. He won a very impressive Gold in the 50m Freestyle of 25.78 (pb). Alex also fought very hard to achieve a Silver medal in 50m Backstroke 30.56 (pb). He then followed this with a Bronze Medal in the 50m breast with 33.86. Alex also came 5th in the 50m fly with 28.64 however achieved a personal best time in the heats with 28.53. Senner Koskocan 12 collected 3 medals a Silver in breast 38.21. He also got a Bronze in the 50m Free in 29.68 and then followed this with another Bronze in 50m Backstroke with 34.98 and then achieved a 5th place in the 50m Fly. Senner achieved PB’s in all the above mentioned heats. Kaz Melvin 16 swimming in the 16 and over age group won a Bronze medal in the 50m breast 36.86. Kaz also achieved 5th place in the 50m back with a 32.36. These times also gave her qualifying times for the Regional Championships. Eastern Region qualifying times were also achieved by Craig Warwick 17 by coming 5th in the 50m back 29.93 and 8th in 50m Fly 28.73. Thomas Burley 16 also achieved 2 Eastern Region qualifying times in the 50m free 25.87 and the 50m Fly 29.51. Also competing were Emily Sutton 14 who achieved PB’s in her 50m Free and Back races in 31.52 and 35.59 respectively. Tori Koskocan 10 won an 8th place in 50m back 40.36 (pb) and also swam in the 50m Breast and Free 48.16 and 38.34 respectively and were both pb’s. Also competing were Mason Arnold aged 10 gained a PB in his 50m free 37.80. Redi Keeble Bradford 10 swam 50m free 35.44 (pb). Danny Chan 12 swam 50m free 32.72 (pb). Other swimmers were Mathew Walton 11 swam 50 Fly 41.76, 50m back 40.42 and 50m free 34.26 (pb). Shannon Ellis 12 swam 50m free 33.60 (pb) and 50m breast 47.38. Victoria Malcolm 12 swam in 50m free 32.06 (pb), 50m back 37.67 and 50m Fly 35.64. Ryan Wolfe swam in 50m free 32.29 At the end of the first round of the Championships Harlow Penguins Swimming Club are currently 5th best club in Essex. |
|