Photograph: Matthew receiving his British Swimming Record certificate for LAST YEAR'S 800m free record from Ian Proud of Chester-Le-Street ASC on 29/10/2010.

Fourteen year old Matthew Wylie is now a triple British record holder, thanks to phenomenal performances in the Junior Bagcat Gala held at Chester – le – Street and the ASANER Championships held at Sunderland’s Aquatic Centre. Matthew added to his long and impressive list of achievements in the pool by smashing the 1500m freestyle (S9) short course record in a time of 19.18.64 – beating the nine year old record by an outstanding 2.15.03 minutes. Matthew also broke his own 800m freestyle (S9) short course record by 1.18.17 with a split time of 10.21.15. At the ASANER Championships, Matthew went on to take his third British record, again by breaking his own short course record, this time the 400m individual medley (S9) by a margin of 45.22 seconds, with a time of 5.45.35.

Triple British record holder Matthew, who is a member of the Regional Disability Squad and the World Class Talent Programme, now has his sights firmly upon the 400m individual medley, the 800m and 1500m freestyle European and World records.

Coach Gordon Rea said, ‘'Matthew has shown what can be achieved by hard work and dedication. Breaking these records by such huge margins is a fantastic achievement.'

The Sunderland Ladies Water Polo team, maintained their position at the top of Division 4 with an excellent 14 - 7 victory over the previously undefeated Southampton, who were unable to prevent last season's top scorer Anna Richardson from netting seven times. The ladies followed this with an 8 - 8 draw against the London Penguin Rockhoppers, where the Rockhoppers fought back strongly from a 5 - 3 deficit to snatch a draw in the last few minutes of the game.

After four games Sunderland lead the Division 4 table.

Sunderland 7pts.
Southampton City 5pts
London Penguin Rockhoppers 5pts
Polytechnic 3pts
Manchester D 0pts

Swimmers from the City Of Sunderland ASC showed the clubs’ increasing depth of talent by capturing an outstanding nineteen gold medals at the second of the three Northumberland and Durham Counties Autumn Graded Series events, held at the Louisa Centre, Stanley.

Ten year old Joseph Pomfret and eleven year old Jennifer Sharp both landed an impressive hat trick of gold medals, with Joseph showing a massive improvement to take gold in the 200m breaststroke in a time of over 22 seconds faster than his previous best. He went on to two further ‘personal bests’ to take gold in the 100m individual medley and in the 800m freestyle where he took an incredible 1 minute and 24 seconds off his entry time. Jennifer Sharp achieved her golden hat trick in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2.56.91 - almost ten seconds inside her personal best, the 100m backstroke in a time of 1.24.87 and in the 400m freestyle in 5.26.17 – in which she bettered her ‘personal best’ by over 18 seconds. Jennifer also went on to collect silver in the 100m breaststroke and a bronze in the 100m butterfly.

Matthew Walker-Smith continued the teams’ success in the individual medley events by taking gold in the ten year olds 200m individual medley in a time of 3.16.43 - over 13 seconds inside his best and he followed this with a well earned silver in the 800m freestyle event.

Ten year old Eve Larsen struck double gold, in the 400m freestyle with a massive improvement on her personal best time by over 28 seconds and she followed this up with victory in the 200m individual medley. This race proved to be a thrilling finale to the second day where Eve went head to head with club mate Beth Nicholson. Both girls moved ahead of the rest of the field on the opening butterfly leg and then battled for the lead through the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle legs. Both girls hit the finish together; however, the scoreboard showed that Eve touched out Beth by the slimmest of margins possible - 0.01 of a second. This was a tremendous achievement for both girls who had taken over 13 seconds off their best times and finished over nine seconds ahead of the third placed competitor.

The Sunderland swimmers also struck gold in the 400m individual medley where Thomas Burns (11), Harry Richardson (12) and Peter Davison (14) all topped the podium in their respective age groups, with Peter also taking bronze in the 200m backstroke event. In another exciting duel 15 year old Joe Middleton narrowly missed out on increasing the teams’ gold medal haul when he was touched out by 16 yr old Alex Tibbs from Newburn by a narrow 0.02 of a second.

Twelve year old Gabrielle Burdess picked up a medal of each colour - winning the 400m freestyle with a time of 5.19.43 - almost ten seconds faster than her previous best time, while also taking silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 100m backstroke.

The teams’ fourteen year old girls also enjoyed golden success with Sarah Morris returning to form after injury by winning the 400m freestyle and taking silver in the 100m backstroke - both in new best times. Lida Abrie won the 200m backstroke in a new best time of 2.41.95 along with a silver behind Sarah in the 400m freestyle, while Francesca Lamb took the 200m freestyle gold in a time of 2.25.69.

The team’s gold rush was completed by 12 year olds Laura Taylor in the 100m butterfly, Freya Rayner in the 100m backstroke and Ashlyn Liddle in the 100m breaststroke – with all of the girls making big improvements in their personal best times.

Other medallists for the Sunderland team were Callum Reveley (12) bronze in the 400m individual medley and 200m Backstroke, Hannah Costello (12) bronze in the 100m butterfly, Jack Tallentire (13) silver in 200m backstroke, Ben Hutchinson (9) silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 100m individual medley, Annabelle Joyce (13) bronze in the 200m freestyle, Natalya Sharp (9) took bronze in the 200m individual medley and Mark Robinson (13) claimed silver in the 100m freestyle.

Club Development Coach, Gordon Rea, said after the meet. “It was a fantastic effort by all of the swimmers. They won more than twice as many gold medals as the next nearest club. It is an indication that we are making good progress and to win medals in all of the strokes shows that the all round strength of the club is growing.”

City of Sunderland swimming club swimmers were in action at the ever popular Chester le Street Junior Meet, pride of place goes to 14 yr old Matthew Wylie who broke two British disability swimming short course records in one swim. Matthew who swims in the S9 category finished his 1500m freestyle swim in 19.18.64 which was over two minutes inside the previous best which had stood since 2001. Matthew also broke his own 800m record during the swim, turning in 10.21.15 which was over a minute inside his previous mark.

Not to be outdone, the club’s younger female swimmers made it a clean sweep of all of the 800m events. Leading the way was 10 yr old Beth Nicholson, she was joined by 11 yr old Lauren Patterson, 12 yr old Laura Taylor, 13 yr old Lucy Ellis and 14 yr old Emma Sinclair who all took gold in the distance event. The girls dominance was also evident in silver medals for 11 yr old Jodi Bunker and 13 yr old Lucy Walton and bronze medal finishes for 11 yr old Gabrielle Burdess, 12 yr old Jessica Thompson and 14 yr old Lida Abrie.

The club’s boys also got in on the act with 13 yr old Adam Charlton winning the 1500m freestyle and team mate James Burns picking up a bronze medal with a vastly improved personal best time.

After the distance events finished late on the Friday evening, attention turned to the younger age groups over the rest of the weekend. There was a gold medal performance from 9 yr old Ben Hutchinson who won the 200m freestyle, Ben also claimed a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke, bronze in the 50m backstroke, butterfly and the 100m Individual Medley. He also helped team mates Callum Dann, JJ Robins and Matthew Walker-Smith to silver in the boys 9/10 freestyle team.

Beth Nicholson continued on from her Friday swim by winning the 10 yr old 400m freestyle and taking third places in the 50m backstroke, breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley as well as the 9/10 yr old freestyle team with Eve Larsen, Natalya Sharp and Jazmine Moss.

In the 11 yr old age group Jodi Bunker took two gold medals with excellent performances in the 200m breaststroke and butterfly events, she also picked up silver in the 100m Individual Medley and 50m breaststroke. Jodi also posted the fastest time in the 200m Individual Medley but was denied a golden hat trick due to a disqualification for a technical infringement on a turn.

In the same age group there were multiple medals for Lauren Patterson, who added to her earlier gold with silvers in the 200m individual medley, freestyle, 400m freestyle and bronze medals in the 100m individual medley and along with Jennifer Sharp, Christina Castledine and Gabrielle Burdess in the 11/12 yr old freestyle team race.

In the 11 yr old boys events Thomas Burns took gold in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke along with silver in 200m individual medley bronze in the 200m butterfly and freestyle. He also weighed in with another silver together with team mates Callum Reveley, Kristian Donaldson and Andrew Markham in the 11/12 yrs freestyle team.

A series of good all round performances from 12 yr old Ashlyn Liddle helped her to first place in the top girl award, these included gold in the 200m butterfly, silver in the 200m backstroke, breaststroke and third in the 50m butterfly.

There was also a gold medal winning performance from fast improving 12 yr old Freya Rayner in the 50m backstroke, along with silver in the sprint freestyle event and a bronze in the 100m individual medley.

Other medal winners included Matthew Walker-Smith, 2nd in 10 yr old 200m backstroke, Gabrielle Burdess 3rd in the 11 yr old 200m and 400m freestyle. James Brewerton (11) 3rd in the 50m backstroke, Andrew Markham (12) 3rd in 200 and 400m freestyle, 200m breaststroke. Christina Castledine (12) 3rd in 200m backstroke, Callum Reveley (12) 3rd 200m butterfly and Natalya Sharp (9) 3rd in the 200m individual medley.

Club Development Coach, Gordon Rea said, “All of the swimmers performed well, it was especially pleasing to see the results in the distance events as the squads are in heavy early season training. We have had some good quality swims from the younger swimmers across a broad range of events which is an indication that the club has some emerging talents who will hopefully go on to make their mark at higher levels of competition.”