Weston swimmers enjoy success in the SWR Age Group competition held at Millfield School.

THE first weekend of the SWR Age Groups (for the fastest swimmers from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire) was held at Millfield School recently.

After a successful county championships and some great performances in training, the Weston Swimming Club coaching team anticipated some fast racing.

The 11-13-year-old girls were up first in their medley relay. A strong lead-off leg from Becca Lucas in her first 100m backstroke in a long course pool was followed by an impressive breaststroke leg by Lucy Davies.

Lucy went eight seconds faster than her previous best, bringing her to within two seconds of her national qualifying time (NQT). Next in was Evan King for the fly, her split of 1.10.23 was inside the NQT which she is hoping to achieve in her next individual race.

Indea Lucas swam a solid anchor leg in her first appearance at SWR level to bring the team home in sixth and just over four seconds off qualifying for the nationals as a team.

Bradley Lucas overcame strong nerves to follow in big sister Becca’s footsteps and complete his first 100m backstroke long course. The experience will help Bradley for his upcoming 200m backstroke.

The girls 100m frontcrawl heats saw new personal best (PB) times for Immy Moroney, Evan King and Lucy Davies. Evan was placed fifth in the 12 year final, swimming within 0.1 of her heat time, with Immy improving from her seeding of eighth, to finish fifth with another new PB of 1.13.36.

The girls 200m backstroke saw Lucy Davies swim a PB and finish 10th, with Immy Moroney taking five seconds off her previous best time to qualify in fourth place for the 10 year final.

Evan King finished eighth in the 12 year final of her least favourite event and Immy improved her PB by another second, but missed a medal by 0.01sec to finish fourth.

The boys 11-14-year-old freestyle relay saw Tom Simpson’s debut at SWR level. Tom, Reece Trapani and Scott Bradley all swam PBs and were close to their short course times, which is a great achievement.

Sunday’s weather was perfect for a day by the (indoor) pool and the atmosphere was far from dull, as next came the girls 200m butterfly. Evan King had qualified for the nationals just weeks before, but in a fantastically paced swim, she lowered her PB again and finished third in the 12 year age group.

The girls 400m freestyle saw Immy Moroney take 12 seconds off her PB to finish second in the 10 year age group and Lucy Davies lowered her PB by 17 seconds to finish fifth in the 12 year age group.

Up next was a favourite for Weston’s girls - the 200m breaststroke. In the 10 year age group, Immy, Alice and Jessie all secured good BAGCat points, but just missed out on making the final.

Also swimming at SWR level for the first time, Chloe Knight swam close to her best to finish 11th. Chloe recently won Weston Swimming Club’s most improved swimmer award, to recognise all the hard work she has put in over the last six months.

Lucy and Evan both qualified for the 12 year final with PBs. Lucy continued this improvement in the final to finish second in 2.53.61, within two seconds of her NQT as a 13-year-old.

Scott Bradley’s 100m frontcrawl PB was close to his relay split from the day before and a long course PB.

Next up were the girls’ freestyle relays. First up was the 4x100m, followed within an hour by the 4x200m. Indea Lucas’ lead leg was a 100m PB, as the team went on to finish eighth. Hannah Vallance also PBd the first leg of the 4x200m, which the girls went on to win.

If you have a child who would like to learn to swim, the club run highly successful Learn To Swim sessions throughout the year.

For more information, contact Tina Byatt at learntoswim@weston-super-mare-swimming-club.co.uk