Sixteen year old Freya Rayner, is rapidly becoming a swimmer of note! Her performance in the 50m freestyle at the Junior/Senior North East Regional Championships place her top of the British Rankings in her age category and second only to Fran Halsall in the All Time British Rankings – a fantastic achievement.
Both championships were held at Sunderland’s Aquatic Centre and with two 25m pools in operation simultaneously and a sell out crowd, it made for a lively atmosphere.
Winning gold in the 50m freestyle open final, Freya finished more than a second ahead of her nearest rival in a new PB of 25.36 seconds. She finished first in the 50m backstroke, in a new PB of 28.48 seconds, and completed a hat trick with gold in the 50m butterfly final.  After the heats of the 100m backstroke, Freya was in 10th place but raced hard in the final to take 3rd place in a new PB time of 1:02.69. Freya broke 5 club records in the 16 – 18 age group: 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke and the 50m butterfly and also claimed the club’s All Time records in the 50m and 100m backstroke and 50m butterfly events.
Adam Taylor, 18, was in excellent form throughout the weekend, winning two gold medals and a silver medal. His winning performances were in the 100m backstroke where he finished in a PB time of 54.67 seconds and in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke events, where he dominated the heats and finals to take first place in each. Finishing 3rd after the heats of the 100m butterfly, Adam improved his position in the final to win a silver medal.  Adam was also a finalist in the 50m freestyle, finishing 7th.
Lucy Ellis, 17, and Jodi Bunker, 15, were both bronze medallists. Lucy qualified for the 400 I/M in 8th place and finished in 3rd place in the final in a PB time of 4:51.58 minutes. Lucy qualified for the 200 I/M final where she finished just outside the medals in 4th place and was 4th in the 800m freestyle open event. Lucy broke the 20m I/M and 400m I/M club records in the 16 – 18 age group and the 200m I/M All Time record.
Jodi finished 3rd in the 15 and under age group in the 800m freestyle event, placing her 9th in the open event. Jodi had a busy weekend as she also competed in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly events and the 200m and 400m I/M events, recording two top 20 finishes in the 200m butterfly and 400 I/M events.
Sixteen year olds Emma Cassell and Mason Jaques and fifteen year old Alexander Clements qualified for open finals. Emma finished 8th in the 100m butterfly final in a time of 1:04.63 minutes. Mason performed brilliantly to finish in 4th place in the 50m backstroke, having qualified in 7th place, in a new PB of 27.34 seconds. Alexandra set new PBs in both the heats and final of the 50m backstroke to finish 7th in the open final and was the first placed junior swimmer, achieving a time of 30.53 seconds.
The club’s disability swimmers were also competing. Josef Craig, 17, Jack Bridges, 20, Nicole Lough, 19 and Matthew Wylie, 18 were all medallists in the Multi Disability Category where medals are decided by British Disability Points which are allocated based on the swimmer’s disability classification and the time achieved.
Josef, a S8 category swimmer, won three gold medals and a silver medal. Specialising in the freestyle events, he finished 1st in the 50m, 100m and 200m events and was second in the 400m event, achieving new PB times in each. Josef’s times in the 50m and 100m freestyle broke the British records for the S8 category. This is all the more impressive as Josef is only in his first season as a S8 athlete, having competed previously in the S7 category.
Jack, a S10 category swimmer, finished first in the 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke with new PBs in both events. His 50m breaststroke time of 32.07, placed him 12th in the open event and he achieved PBs in all of his races.
Nicole, a S14 category swimmer, finished first in the 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke events.
Winning a silver medal and three bronze medals, Matthew, a S9 category swimmer, won all of his medals in freestyle events. He finished second in the 50m freestyle and was third in the 100m, 200m and 400mm freestyle events, achieving PBs in each.
Taking the club’s medal tally to 25, Sunderland won three bronze medals in the relay events. The womens’ teams were third in the 4 x 100m relay (Emma Cassell, Jennifer Tatters, Lucy Ellis and Freya Rayner) and in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay (Emma Cassell, Jodi Bunker, Freya Rayner and Lucy Ellis). The men’s team finished third in the 4 x 200m freestyle and were represented by Kieran Peart, Zak Logue, Mason Jaques and Adam Taylor.
Fourteen year olds Elizabeth Clements and Rachel Taylor and Tom Whelan, 15, were competing in the Junior event for the first time having recently graduated from the Age Group competition. Elizabeth and Tom set five PBs between them and Rachel finished in 21st place in the open category in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events.
Kieran Peart, 17, Jack Tallentire, 17, Zak Logue, 16, Amy Henshaw, 15 and Chloe Middleton, 15 recorded top 20 finishes. Kieran was 12th in the 50m and 100m freestyle, Jack was 19th in the 200m butterfly, Zak finished 7th in the 1500m freestyle, 12th in the 400m I/M and 19th in the 400m freestyle, 200m I/M and 200m backstroke events.  Amy achieved 18th place in the 400m freestyle while Chloe was 16th in the 50m freestyle event. Completing the Sunderland squad were Lida Abrie, 18, Andrew Markham, 16 and Anya Sordy, 15.
Four swimmers from Sunderland’s Age Group and Performance Squads took part in the North East Regional Short Course Age Group Championships.
Fourteen year old Joseph Pomfret swam in six events, achieving significant PBs in five and finishing in the top ten in all events. Kicking off the weekend with the 100m freestyle, he swam the distance in 58.15 seconds, the first time he has broken the minute barrier. He lowered his 200 I/M time by more than 5 seconds to 2:21.06 just missing out on the club record for his age group. In the 400 I/M he dipped under the 5 minute mark for the first time achieving a 15 second PB. His best result came in the 200m backstroke where he finished 5th missing a podium place by 0.3 seconds and improving his PB by 4.5 seconds. He rounded off the weekend with a PB in the 100m butterfly.
Thirteen year olds Adam Boxall, Amy Dixon and Natalya Sharp took part in five events. Making his debut at the championships, Adam had a good swim in the 100m backstroke, setting a time of 1:09.81, breaking his PB by almost two seconds. Amy swam in the 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly, swimming close to her PBs, while Natalya competed in the 100m butterfly and the 100m and 200m breaststroke events setting a new PB in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:12.85.
This was a highly successful meet for the club with 25 medals won and many records broken. With the short course season drawing to a close with just one weekend of competition left, these results provide an excellent base for the start of the long course season in January.