Sunderland’s swimmers swam to success in the Youth and Senior North East Regional Championships held at the Aquatic Centre last weekend. The fifteen swimmers, representing the City of Sunderland Amateur Swimming Club (COSASC) won eight medals, set 10 long course club records, gained two national qualifying times and set 40 personal best times.
Adam Taylor, 16, once again showed his superiority in the backstroke and butterfly events where he won a gold medal in the 100m backstroke, a gold medal in the 50m butterfly and a bronze medal at the 200m backstroke. Adam reached the finals of the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle finishing 4th in both and was placed 9th in the 100m freestyle final. Adam set club records in the 50m and 100m butterfly and is now ranked 20th in GB Seniors in the 50m Butterfly.
Winning a gold medal and a bronze medal was Lucy Walton, 15. Lucy swam to victory in the final of the 400m I/M setting a new personal best and club record in the process. Lucy finished four seconds ahead of her nearest rival to finish in 4:58.81 minutes. Lucy finished third in the 200m backstroke in a time which is also a club record. Reaching the finals of the 100m backstroke, Lucy finished 7th and was 8th in the 200m butterfly and 4th in the 800m freestyle.
Emma Sinclair, 16, continued her medal winning run in the butterfly events by winning two silver medals. Emma was second in the 100m butterfly event and also won a silver medal at the 200m distance and finished 7th in the final of the 50m butterfly event. Her times in the 50m and 200m events broke the club records in the 16 – 18 age group.
The final medal went to the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team comprising Joe Middleton, 18, Callum Reveley, 14, James Burns, 15, and Adam Taylor. The team put together a brilliant performance to win the silver medal.   The same team also finished 5th in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay event. The women’s relay teams also put in some good performances to take 4th places in the 4 x 100m medley relay and the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and finished 5th in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. The medley team was: Lucy Walton, Lida Abrie, Emma Sinclair and Jennifer Tatters and the freestyle relay team comprised Jennifer Tatters, Emma Sinclair, Lucy Walton and Lucy Ellis. The teams now have an anxious wait to see if they have qualified for the national championships held later this year.
Jennifer Tatters had a very successful meet, gaining two national qualifying times in the 200m and 400m freestyle events and setting club records in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events. Jennifer finished 4th in the 200m freestyle, 6th in the 400m and 800m freestyle, 7th in the 100m freestyle and 9th in the 50m freestyle and 200 I/M in addition to competing in all the relay events.
Lida Abrie, 17 and Joe Middleton, 18, both set new club records and several personal best times. Lida broke the 100m breaststroke record with a time of 1:19.70 minutes and Joe set a new record in the 200m freestyle in a time of 2:00.58 minutes and finished 4th in the final of the 50m backstroke.
Sixteen year olds Ryan Henry and Lucy Ellis, fifteen year olds Ashlyn Liddle, James Burns, Jack Tallentire and Andrew Markham and fourteen year old Callum Reveley, all set new personal best times. Lucy was 4th in the 400 I/M, 5th in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke and 7th in the 8oom freestyle, James finished 6th in the 1500m freestyle event and Andrew finished 8th in the 50m backstroke final. Nicole Lough, 18 and Joshua Campbell, 16 completed the squad.
Lead Performance Coach, Danny Thompson:
“This was an excellent meet for COSASC who produced some outstanding performances at the start of the final training cycle as the athletes are unrested and in hard training. We were pleased to see our athletes produce times that place them at the top of the GB rankings.â€
Several of COSASC’s swimmers have now qualified for major national and international competitions which will take place over the next three months, promising an exciting end to the season.
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