More glory for local clubs on final weekend of county championships

They brought home a number of new, individual and team Junior and Senior County Champion titles and a remarkable 32 British Age Group Category (BAGCAT) Awards including three BAGCAT champions, five runners-up and 10 top three finishers.

BAGCAT Awards are presented to the top 10 individual performers in the nine-14yrs boys’ and girls’ age group for consistently high standards of swimming across different strokes, medleys and distances.

Mansfield Swimming Club’s six BAGCAT winners were Bailey Slater and Lewis Meade in the Boys’ 10yr age group, Heidi Marriott in the Girls’ 10yrs, Gracie Clifton and Hollie-Mae Dove in the Girls’ 12yrs, and Natalee Meldrum in the Girls’ 14yrs.

Contesting the Junior and Senior County titles, Mansfield SC’s 18-year-old Benjamin Rees took the Senior title in the Men’s 50m breaststroke Multi Disability event, adding a Senior County silver in the Men’s 100m freestyle.

Chloe Peach landed the Senior County silver in the Girls’ 15yrs/over 200m individual medley and Natalee Meldrum a bronze in the Girls’ 14yrs/under 100m breaststroke.

In the individual age groups, Hollie-Mae Dove won gold in the Girls’ 11/12yr 100m breaststroke and Chloe Peach silver in the Girls’ 15/16yr 50m freestyle.

For the boys, Ben Sharrocks added two silvers in the Boys’ 15/16yrs 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke and additionally qualified for the Senior final of the 200m individual medley where he placed fourth.

Brendan O’Keefe took bronze in the Boys’ 17yrs/over 50m freestyle.

On the final day of competition, the hotly-contested team events, Mansfield SC’s youngsters didn’t disappoint.

The club’s talented, young team, consisting of Evie Wilson, Libby Dove, Heidi Marriott and Amelia Hargrave, took silver in both the Girls’ 10yrs x50m freestyle and 4x50m medley relays.

Joining them on the podium were Blaize Smith, Gracie Clifton, Hollie-Mae Dove and Ellie Seagrave, who took silver in the Girls’ 12yrs 4x50m medley relay, additionally qualifying for the final of the 4x50m freestyle final, where they placed fourth.

Not being outdone by the girls, the Men’s Open age relay team, Oli Hempsall, Chris Baguley, Ben Sharrocks and Brendan O’Keefe, won bronze in the 4x100m freestyle.

Over in the Sherwood Colliery Swimming Club camp, they picked up another five individual County titles including a Junior County title for Owen Ottaway in the Boys’ 14yrs/under 200m individual medley, two Senior County golds for Imogen Gould in the Girls’ 15yrs/over 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke plus two Women’s County titles for Kirsten Pinson in the 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke Multi Disability events.

There were additional podium places in the County Champion competition including a Senior County runner-up spot for Jade Clarke in the Girls’ 15yr/over 50m freestyle and bronze medals for Owen Ottaway in the Boys’ 14yrs/over 100m backstroke and Jade Young in the Girls’ 15yrs/over 100m breaststroke.

Evie Timms qualified for the Girls’ Junior 200m individual medley final, placing fifth, and both Jade Young and Jade Clarke qualified for the Senior Girls’ 200m individual medley final, placing fourth and fifth respectively.

In the individual age group competition, Jade Young took gold in the Girls’ 15/16yrs 100m breaststroke and silver in the 200m individual medley, Imogen Gould gold in the Girls’ 17yrs/over 100m breaststroke and Jade Clarke two silvers in the Girls’ 17yrs/over 50m freestyle and 200m individual medley.

Owen Ottaway took gold in the Boys’ 13/14yrs 200m individual medley, adding a bronze in the 100m backstroke, and Declan Smith won silver in the Boys’ 15/16yrs 50m freestyle.

In the BAGCAT competition, Sherwood’s Lily Boseley took top spot in the Girls’ 14yrs category with Dawid Sroka, Abbie Scott and Owen Ottaway runners-up in the Boys’ 11yrs & 14yrs and Girls’ 13yr age groups.

Olivia Barrett (Girls’ 10yrs), Charles Austin (Boys’ 10yrs), Owen Harding (Boys’ 11yrs), Joseph Sadler (Boys’ 12yrs), Rebecca Hyatt (Girls’ 12yrs), Adam Pring and Bailey Ward (Boys’ 13yrs), Rebecca Flisher and Mille Standen (Girls’ 13yrs) and Evie Timms (Girls’ 14yrs) all achieved BAGCAT awards in their age categories.

In the team relay events on the final day the Sherwood teams battled their way to no less than nine of the 16 available relay finals.

Sherwood’s double medal-winning quartets of Emily Waldram, Jade Young, Jade Clarke and Imogen Gould took the Team County title in the Girls’ Open age group 4x100m medley relay event with Holly Whitehead, Jade Young, Jade Clarke and Imogen Gould taking the other County Team title in the Girls’ Open age group 4x100m freestyle.

Evie Timms, Emily James, Abbie Scott and Emily Keen joined them on the podium after taking silver medals in the Girls’ 14yrs 4x50m Medley event while the Girls’ 16yrs 4x50m medley team of Hannah Carnell, Evie Timms, Holly Whitehead and Jade Young also landed silver.

The same quartet added a third-placed podium finish to their achievements in the Girls’ 16yrs 4x50m freestyle event.

Also qualifying for team finals were the Boys’ 12yrs 4x50m freestyle and 4x50m medley team (Dawid Sroka, Alex Slaney, Owen Harding and Joseph Sadler), who were fifth in both events, the Girls’ 12yrs 4x50m medley team (Elena Keigher, Amelia Tunnicliffe, Rebecca Hyatt and Suranne Cave), who placed fourth, the Boys’ 16yrs 4x50m freestyle and medley team (Owen Ottaway, Matthew Hull, Owen Wakefield and Declan Smith), who came sixth and fourth respectively, and the Girls’ 14yrs 4x50m freestyle team (Grace Lynk, Emily James, Emily Keen and Millie Standen), who placed sixth.

Sutton Swimming Club were also celebrating some fantastic individual and team achievements over the final weekend including two BAGCAT champions, Maddison Hammond in the Girls’ 9yrs age group and Matthew Woodhall in the Boys’ 11yr age group, plus two runner-up spots for Keira Dobbs in the Girls’ 10yr age group and Chloe Quinn in the Girls’ 12yrs.

Molly Etheringon (Girls’ 9yrs) and Mia Fergie (Girls’ 14yrs) took third-placed finishes alongside the club’s other BAGCAT achievers, Adam Read (Boys’ 10yrs) Talitha Oud (Girls’ 10yrs), Ellethea Hawley (Girls’ 11yrs), Joshua Leeson (Boys’ 13yrs), Nicola Peach (Girls’ 13yrs) and Jim Fergie (Boys’ 14yrs).

In the Junior and Senior County Champion competition, Sutton SC added a further three titles to their overall tally.

Kelsey Edwards took the Junior County title in the Boys’ 14yrs/under 50m freestyle with Mia Fergie winning the Junior County title in the Girls’ 14yrs/under 200m individual medley and County runner-up spot in the Girls’ 14yrs/under 100m breaststroke.

Jim Fergie earned himself a superb bronze in the Boys’ 14yrs/under 200m individual medley.

In the senior competition, Ruslan Golubs was crowned Senior County champion in the Boys’ 15yrs/over 200m individual medley and Neve Fergie finished County runner-up in the Girls’ 15yrs/over 200m individual medley plus a bronze in the Girls’ 15yrs/over 50m freestyle.

In the individual age groups, Mia Fergie took gold in the Girls’ 13/14yr 200m individual medley, adding a silver to her medal haul in the Girl’s 13/14yrs 100m breaststroke, Lauren Quinn won bronze in the Girls’ 17yrs/over 100m breaststroke, Ruslan Golubs a gold in the Boys’ 15/16yrs 200m individual medley and 100m backstroke and silver in the 50m freestyle, Keira Dobbs a silver in the Girls’ 9/10yrs 50m freestyle and 200m individual medley, Chloe Quinn a gold in the Girls’ 11/12yrs 50m freestyle and bronze in the 200m individual medley, Neve Fergie a gold in the Girls’ 15/16yrs 50m freestyle and 200m individual medley and Kelsey Edwards a gold in the Boys’ 13/14yrs 50m freestyle.

The highly-anticipated relay events saw a monumental ‘Blue Army’ team effort, with the Sutton supporters roaring their teams on to no fewer than 12 of the 16 available relay finals.

Sutton’s double medal-winning quartet of Adam Read, Michael Senior, Owen Wing and Luke Hudd took silver in the Boys’ 10yrs 4x50m medley relay, adding a bronze to their achievements in the 4x50m freestyle event.

Not being outdone by the boys, the Girls’ 10yrs team also took a superb third place in the 4x50m freestyle event.

The Boys’ 14yrs 4x50m freestyle team of Adam Hudson, Jim Fergie, Joshua Leeson and Kelsey Edwards took a third-placed podium spot and the Girls’ 16yrs 4x50m freestyle and 4x50m medley team of Neve Fergie, Mia Fergie, Chloe Quinn and Sophie Bunker, were roared to double gold medal celebrations in taking the Team County titles in both events.

The older boys, Ruslan Golubs, Kelsey Edwards, Jake Hudd and Daniel Johnston, also took Team County gold in the Boys’ 16yrs 4x50m freestyle event, but had to settle for silver in the 4x50m medley event.

In the Open age groups, the Girls’ team of Neve Fergie, Mia Fergie, Lauren Quinn and Sophie Bunker, took silver in both the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley events.

Over the month-long, gruelling County Championship competition, all three local clubs have celebrated new and emerging talent, a large number of new and existing Midland Regional qualifying times and a vast array of new personal best times to take forward into future competitions.

All the swimmers now go straight back into training to continue their domestic gala schedule and compete in a number of licensed Open Meets to secure and improve on final qualifying times ahead of the Midland Regional Championships held in May and June and the National competitions held in July.