Middlesbrough ASC April Graded Meet – Report

Winning 103 medals including 44 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze, City of Sunderland’s squad of 33 swimmers had a lot to be pleased about after a successful weekend of competition at Middlesbrough’s Neptune Centre.  The team ranging in age from nine to sixteen represented the Junior, Age Group Development, Performance and Junior Masters Squads and all swimmers either won medals, set new personal best (PB)times, gained regional qualifying times or all three!

Jay Manners, Lucy Matterson, Lara Greggs, J.J. Robins, Adam Boxall, Natalya Sharp, Caitlin Cambrook, Lauren Exley, Darcy Palmer, and Ana Lazar were all multiple gold medallists.

Jay, 15, had an excellent weekend improving his times in each of his events and winning six of them.  He triumphed in the 200m and 400m freestyle, 50m and 200m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 200 I/M. He achieved a five second and six second PB in the 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle events respectively.  His times were fast enough to gain a further four regional qualifying times in the 200m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m I/M and 400m freestyle.  Jay also won a silver medal in the 100m backstroke and finished 6th in the 100m freestyle.

One of the club’s youngest competitors, nine year old Lucy Matterson had a golden weekend of competition, finishing with an impressive five gold, two silver and a sixth place medal (medals for 1st to sixth places were awarded to the nine and ten year olds.  As well as winning a medal in each of her events, Lucy also improved her times in all of them too.  Her wins came in the 50m, 10m, and 200m breaststroke and in the 100m and 200m backstroke events.  Lucy finished second in the 50m butterfly and backstroke events and was 6th in the 50m freestyle event.

Twelve year old Lara, achieved PBs in all her eight events and won five gold medals:  in the 200m freestyle, reducing her PB by more than 5 seconds, the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events and the 50m freestyle where she improved her time by 1.4 seconds.  Finishing in second place in the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, Lara knocked more than three seconds from her 100m freestyle time. Lara’s final medal came in the 50m breaststroke where she improved her time by more than two seconds.

Caitlin, 11, finished first in the 100m and 200m freestyle events.  She reduced her time by more than two seconds and six seconds in these events respectively.  She won two more gold medals in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 200m I/M.

J.J. finished the weekend with four gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal.  Finishing 1st in the 400m freestyle, J.J. achieved a two second PB.  His other gold medals came in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events and the 200 I/M.  Claiming a silver medal in the 200m freestyle, J.J. improved his time by four seconds and set a three second PB in the 200m backstroke event.

Adam improved his time so much in the 200m backstroke that he was awarded a speeding ticket instead of a medal! (Speeding tickets were awarded where the swimmer’s time exceeded the upper cut off limit for the gala by more than two seconds.)  He reduced his PB by six seconds in this race and gained a regional qualifying time in the process.  Adam won gold medals in the 200m breaststroke, 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, finished second in the 100m butterfly and backstroke events and was third in the 100m breaststroke event.

Winning four gold medals and three silver medals, Natalya was in excellent form all weekend.  Her wins came in the 100m breaststroke, 50m and 100m freestyle, and the 200m I/M.  Improving her times in six events, Natalya reduced her 100m breaststroke time by three seconds.  Natalya finished second in the 200m and 400m freestyle and the 200m breaststroke events.

Fifteen year old Lauren, touched first in the 50m and 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle events and won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle, setting new PBs in the 50m events.   Darcy, 15, finished with gold medals in the 200m freestyle and I/M events and was third in the 50m butterfly while Ana was first in the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly and second in the 200m butterfly where she improved her time by almost 8 seconds!

Completing the gold medal tally was Matthew Phillips, 14, Amy Dixon, 14 and Luke McGee, 9.  Matthew won gold in the 400m freestyle and was second in the 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke events.  He also finished with bronze medals in the 50m and 200m breaststroke, 50m and 100m freestyle, setting PBs in the 50m and 200m freestyle.  Amy finished 1st in the 400m freestyle with a substantial PB and also achieved PBs in the 200m breaststroke and 50m backstroke.  Luke won gold in the 100m butterfly, silver in the 50m backstroke and bronze in the 50m butterfly.  He also won four 4th place medals in the 50m breaststroke, 100m backstroke, 50m and 100m freestyle meaning that he came away with a medal in each of his events!

Nine year old Arran Robinson and his sister Heather, won eight medals between them.  Arran’s best result came in the 200m breaststroke where he finished third.  He also won two 4th placed medals in the 50m butterfly and 200 I/M, finished 5th in the 50m breaststroke with a three second PB and was 6th in the 100m backstroke event.  Heather also won a bronze medal, finishing third in the 100m breaststroke and won 4th and 5th placed medals in the 50m breaststroke and 20m breaststroke respectively.  Jessica Ord, 9, won 6th place medals in the 50m butterfly and breaststroke events and achieving two PBs.

Ten year olds Fran Procter, Layla Trueman, and Elyssa Palmer all came home with medals while Georgia Richardson and Lorenzo Corsi achieved PBs in their events.  Fran had a great weekend, winning a silver medal in the 200m backstroke with a two second PB and won 4th place medals in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke events.  He was 5th in the 200m freestyle and won a hat trick of 6th place medals in the 50m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, achieving a six second PB in the 200m breaststroke and a five second PB in the 100m freestyle. Layla won a silver medal in the 50m butterfly and was third in the 200 I/M, improving her time by more than seven seconds!  Layla finished 6th in the 200m freestyle also with a new PB.  Elyssa won two medals in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly where she finished 4th and 6th respectively both with greatly improved times.

The remaining medals were won by Maria Birchall, Rhianna Ibbitson, Benjamin Milford and Grace Abbott.  Thirteen year old Maria won two silver medals in the 200m backstroke and the 100m freestyle, both with greatly improved times.  She added a bronze medal to her haul, finishing third in the 200m freestyle.  Rhianna, 12, came home with a silver medal after finishing second in the 200 I/M.  Benjamin, 12, and Grace, 11 were bronze medallists.  Benjamin finished 3rd in the 50m breaststroke while Grace was third in the 50m butterfly.  Both swimmers recorded new PBs in each of their events.

Tilly Abbott, 9 just missed out on a medal with three 7th places.  Eleven year olds Emma Corbett-Skedd, Joshua Convery and Madeleine Smith and twelve year olds Alicia Barnes, Molly Joyce and Vanessa Rubio each achieved multiple PBs and came close to winning medals.  Emma Cassell, 16 swam for times only in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle finishing first in each and with improved times.

This gala was a great opportunity for swimmers, to show how well their hard work to date has paid off before they begin their final cycle of training.  The sheer volume of medals and perhaps more importantly, improved times, speaks volumes.  It was really encouraging to see the club’s younger swimmers competing and their success should certainly serve as a great encouragement to other swimmers who have yet to start their competitive careers.