East Region Youth and Disability Championships
9th May 2012
6th, 7th May 2012. City swimmer, Liam Doonan (16) was on top form at the recent East Regional Youth championships, the two day, long course event was held at the new Basildon Sports Village.16 year old, Liam who had qualified for 8 events, choose to enter 5, the 200m distance Individual Medley and Breaststroke, alongside his speciality stroke, the Butterfly, in the 50m, 100, and 200m events.
In all events Liam qualified for the finals in the 15/16 years age group, setting four new personal best times in the process. His best results came in the 100m and 200m Butterfly, where he placed third to take Bronze medals, in both races he was mere hundredths of a second behind the second placed swimmer.
In the 200m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley finals Liam placed 8th and in the 50 Butterfly he finished in 6th position.
Other highlights of the meet came for Richard Jefferies, (17) who made the finals in the open age group, taking 6th places in both the 200m Individual Medley and the 100m Butterfly. In the 50m and 100m Backstroke Richard finished in 8th place in both events and finished the champs off with swims in the 50m and 100m Freestyle.
Seb Pettican (16) swimming in the 15/16 years age group made the final of the 50m Backstroke finishing in 8th place with a new PB time, he also set a new PB in the 100m Freestyle. Seb had a busy schedule over the course of the weekend, also competing in the 50m Breaststroke, 200m Backstroke the 50m Butterfly and the 50m Freestyle.
Swimming in the open age group further qualifiers for the finals were, Ho-on To (23) in the 50 m Breaststroke where he finished in 5th place and Tim Riviere (19) in the 50m Freestyle placing 6th
15 year old Georgia Hickman made the final of the 50m Breaststroke finishing in 8th place with a new personal best time, new PBs followed in the 50m and 200m Freestyle and the 200m Individual Medley. Georgia also swam in the 100m Backstroke.
In the Multi-Disability by British Disability Points category Gemma Cassettari (17) set PBs in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, finishing 3rd in the 100m event and 5th in the 50m distance.
16 year old Sam Auker had a busy schedule with the Netherhall pupil tackling 7 races over the weekend. Sam achieved new personal bests times in 5 of her events which is a fantastic result from the competition.
16 year old Alex Holt lowered her PB in the 100m Backstroke. Alex was also competing in the in the 50m and 200m Backstroke and the 50m Freestyle. Amy Bevis, also 16, set a new PB in the 50m Butterfly.
Other swimmers who had attained the qualifying standard of the event were,
In the open age group
Dom Pulford (17) in the 50m Back, Adam Tapley (17)in the 50, 100m and 200m Freestyle.
Alex Garner (18) in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle
In the 15/16 years age group
16 year old Sophie Lankford in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, the 50m Breaststroke and the 50 Butterfly.
15 year old Ellie Hickman, in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, and the 50 Butterfly.
15 year old Georgia Crawford, in the 50 Butterfly, the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle.
15 year old Annie Little in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke and the 50m Freestyle.
15 year old Boris Ledovskih 50m and 200m Backstroke, 50 m 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle and the 200m Individual Medley.
Background
City of Cambridge Swimming Club swim within the East Region as governed by ASA East (www.eastswimming.org.uk). Regional qualification times are set by the ASA and are one tier below National standards. To gain a Regional Qualification time is a significant achievement for any athlete.
The regionals are split into three streams:
1. BAGCATS (British Age Group Categories) for children up to the age of 14.
2. Youth, split into 15 and 16 year age groups and Open.
3. Disability.
All swimmers with a regional qualification time can enter this event. They swim in heats then qualify for finals in the two age groups where they swim for medals. The Disability team do not race in a final but are awarded their medals as Heat Declared Winners.
Rachel Kerridge.