Matthew Wylie, 16, ended the season in brilliant form by winning two medals at the British Gas ASA National Championships, held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. The S9 category disability swimmer, finished first in the Men’s MC 100m Freestyle event in a personal best time of 59.43 seconds to take the gold medal. His second medal, a bronze, came in the Men’s MD 400m Freestyle event where he again recorded a new personal best time. Matthew narrowly missed out on a third medal when he finished fourth in the final of Men’s MD 50m Freestyle, setting another personal best and completed a successful season with a personal best in the Men’s MC 200m I/M event where he finished in 13th place.
Eighteen year old Nicole Lough won a silver medal in the final of the Women’s MD 100m Breaststroke event. Nicole, who swims in the S14 disability category also finished 6th in the final of the Women’s MC 200m Freestyle event.
City of Sunderland’s other medallist was seventeen year old Adam Taylor who won a bronze medal in the final of the Men’s 17/18 100m Backstroke event in a time of 58.04 seconds. Adam also qualified for the finals of the Men’s Open 50m Butterfly and the Men’s 17/18 100m Butterfly where he finished 8th and 9th respectively.
Twenty year old Jonathan Carlisle, currently training at Bath University, finished 4th in both the finals of the Men’s Open 50m Backstroke event and of the Men’s 19 and over 200m Backstroke event. Jonathan also qualified for the Men’s 19 and over 100m Backstroke final, finishing in 8th place.
James Burns, sixteen, competed in the Men’s 15/16 1500m Freestyle, finishing in 22nd place in a time of 16:49.78 minutes.
Emma Sinclair, seventeen, a butterfly specialist, qualified for the final of the Women’s 17/18 200m Butterfly event where she finished in 8th place. Emma also came 16th in the semi-final of the Women’s 17/18 100m Butterfly event, setting a new personal best time.
Competing in the 200m, 400m and 800m women’s freestyle events in the 17/18 age category, Jennifer Tatters, eighteen, set personal best times in each. Jennifer finished 9th in the 800m freestyle, was 10th in the final of the 400m freestyle and 41st in the 200m distance.
Lucy Ellis, sixteen, had her best results in the Women’s 15/16 400m and 800m Freestyle events where she finished in 16th and 9th places respectively, setting personal best times in both events and in the 200 I/M. Fifteen year old Lucy Walton also had a successful meet where she qualified for the final of the 400 I/M and finished in 5th place as the fastest fifteen year old. Lucy also finished in 15th place in the semi-finals of the Women’s 15/16 200m Backstroke event.
City of Sunderland’s relay teams were also competing at this prestigious event. The Mens’ 4 x 200m Freestyle team finished 24th in 7:59.09 minutes. The team comprised: Joe Middleton, Callum Reveley, James Burns and Adam Taylor. The Women’s 4 x 200m freestyle team finished 13th in 8:42.28 minutes, the Women’s 4 x 100m freestyle team finished 35th in 4:06.10 minutes and the Women’s 4 x 100m medley team finished in 38th place in a time of 4:37.42 minutes. The team members were: Lucy Ellis, Lucy Walton, Emma Sinclair and Jennifer Tatters.
These results combined with those from the IPC World Disability Swimming Championships, WASA Welsh Nationals and the ASA Age Group Nationals have seen the club have one of its best summers on record – a fantastic end to a long and busy but ultimately very successful season.