Jonny Carlisle and Adam Taylor’s medal winning performances capped a magnificent weekend of competition for City of Sunderland swimmers at the Scottish Gas Short Course Open Championships. Held at Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Pool, Sunderland’s 20 man squad had a memorable meet which saw times tumble and club records smashed.
Jonny 22, swam a very fast 200m backstroke in the A Final to win silver. His time of 1:54.12 ranks him second in Britain, was a PB and an All Time Club record. In the 50m Backstroke, Jonny finished 1st in the B Final, breaking the club record with a time of 25.90 seconds.
Adam, 18, triumphed in the 50m butterfly, finishing 5th in the heats and third in the ‘A’ final in a new ‘All Time’ club record of 24.28 seconds. Adam finished 5th in the ‘A’ Final of the 100m backstroke and 3rd in the B Final of the 100m butterfly. Finishing in a dead heat with team mate Jonny Carlisle, Adam set a new PB of 51.45 seconds.
Disability swimmer, Nicole Lough, 19, swam in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events. Nicole finished 42nd in the 50m event with a time of 35.56 seconds and 61st in the 100m event in 1:19.20 minutes. These times broke two British Short Course records in the S14 Disability category with the 100m record having stood for more than 10 years – tremendous achievement.
Freya Rayner, 16, made her mark in the sprint events, qualifying for three A Finals and narrowly missing out on two medals. In the 50m backstroke, Freya finished joint 4th with Lucy Hope from the Edinburgh University team in a time of 28.48seconds just 17 hundredths of a second behind 3rd place. By an even smaller margin, Freya finished out of the medals in the 50m freestyle final, finishing 4th in a time of 25.64 seconds, 11 hundredths of a second behind third place. In both events, Freya was the highest placed 16 year old, with only older swimmers finishing ahead of her. Capping a highly successful weekend Freya finished 6th in the final of the 50m butterfly in a time of 27.84 seconds.
Distance specialist Lucy Ellis, 17, finished 7th in the 800m freestyle event with a new PB of 8:44.29 minutes and qualified for three B finals. Finishing 2nd in the B Final (10th overall) in the 400 I/M, 5th (13th overall) in the 400m freestyle and 8th (16th overall) in the 200 I/M, Lucy broke the Club Record and All Time club record for the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:16.23 minutes.
Having only joined Sunderland in September, Zak Logue, 16, burst into the club’s record books with two excellent swims in the 1500m freestyle and 400 I/M. Knocking an astonishing 50 seconds from his 1500m freestyle time, Zak has propelled himself up the British rankings into 5th place in his age group! His time of 15:54.14 is a new club record and All Time club record. Zak qualified for the B Final of the 400 I/M where he finished 13th overall in 4:33.07 minutes, a new Club Record and All Time record.
Breaking 10 Club and All Time records between them were: Lida Abrie, 18, Kieran Peart, 17, Emma Cassell, 16, Jodi Bunker, 15 and Rachel Taylor, 14. Representing Sunderland for the last time before her retirement from swimming, Lida went out in fine style setting two new club records in the 50m and 100m breaststroke in times of 35.72 and 1:16.93 respectively. Kieran finished 27th in the 400m freestyle with a new club record of 4:06.17 minutes and set new PBs in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle events. Emma, another new face at the club, set new club records in the 100m freestyle with a time of 57.86 seconds and in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:43.29 minutes where she finished 27th and 28th respectively. Her best results came in the 100m and 200m butterfly where she finished 19th in each and her 400m freestyle time of 4:26.89 was a PB of more than 6 seconds. Jodi swam in an impressive seven events and achieved a new club record in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:05.37. Jodi achieved PBs in all but two of her events. One of the youngest competitors in this open meet, Rachel set two club records which were also All Time records in the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke with times of 1:14.88 and 35.11 respectively.
Jen Tatters, 19, Jack Tallentire, 17, sixteen year olds Mason Jaques and Andrew Markham, fifteen year olds Alexandra Clements, Amy Henshaw and Anya Sordy and fourteen year olds Elizabeth Clements and Joseph Pomfret achieved multiple PBs between them. Jen is regaining her form with a PB in the 100m freestyle and Jack lowered his 200m butterfly time by 5 seconds on his last outing with the club before retiring from swimming – a great way to finish!  Mason swam in six individual events and set new PBs in 4 of them achieving a 2 second PB in the 100m freestyle and a 3 second PB in the 200m freestyle. Andrew achieved PBs in the 100m freestyle and backstroke events. Alexandra, returning from illness, set a new PB in the 100m backstroke and Amy reduced her 800m freestyle time by 5 seconds and her 400m freestyle time by 3 seconds. Anya set a new PB in the 100m butterfly and Elizabeth and Joseph swam new fastest times in the 400 I/M and 200m butterfly respectively.
Sunderland’s relay teams held their own with the best results coming in the Men’s 4 x 50m freestyle and 4 x 100m freestyle and the Women’s 4 x 100m Freestyle where the A Teams finished 5th overall in each event and in the Men’s 4 x 50m medley where the A Team finished 6th.   In the Women’s 4 x 50m Freestyle, Sunderland A finished 7th with Freya Rayner swimming the last leg in a startlingly fast time for a 16 year old of 24.72 seconds.
This was an event which brought out the best in each of the Sunderland swimmers and was a fitting end to the short course season.