A night to remember for Joshua

Joshua Leeson was the star for Sutton Swimming Club as they had a night to remember at the 2014 Ernehale Open Meet at Hucknall Leisure Centre last weekend.

Sutton were represented by 14 girls and 11 boys, all aged between nine and 14 of age.

But it was 11-year-old Joshua Leeson who stole the headlines by securing his place in six events at the Midland Age Group Championships, to be held at Coventry in June.

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Having never achieved a Midland qualification time previously, it was simply astonishing that Joshua got six of them all in one day.

Joshua’s swimming story is simply incredible. He only joined Sutton SC around 18 months ago and in 2013 did not achieve any County Championship qualification times.

In the 2014 County Championships Joshua demonstrated his significant improvement and finished 14th out of 46 competitors in the 11-year-old category.

In the two months since the Counties, Joshua has continued to improve and this weekend swam seven events, swam seven personal best times, including six Midland qualification times, and won two first place trophies, two second place trophies, two fourth place trophies and one fifth place trophy.

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What is even more impressive is the margin by which he achieved some of these Midland qualification times and this high standard of swimming should now ensure Joshua gets a chance of joining the elite Nottinghamshire Nova swimming squad.

At Coventry he he will join other Sutton swimmers from the Nova squad namely, Neve Fergie, Sophie Bunker, Chloe Peach, Mia Fergie, Jim Fergie and Chloe Quinn.

In all at Hucknall, 21 of the 25 Sutton swimmers managed to win a total of 97 trophies for top six places with 28 first place trophies, 24 second place trophies, seven third place trophies, 15 fourth place trophies, 13 fifth place trophies and 10sixth place trophies.

The four swimmers who did not win trophies at the Open Meet still enjoyed tremendous success by achieving 11 of the 71 personal best times that Sutton swimmers notched up on the day. Results:

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Chloe Quinn (11yrs) - 5 x 1st places, 1 x 2nd place, 1 x 5th place and 1 x PB; Neve Fergie (14yrs) - 5 x 1st places and 1 x PB; Matthew Woodhall (9yrs) - 4 x 1st places, 2 x 2nd places and 3 x PBs; Mia Fergie (12yrs) - 4 x 1st places, 1 x 2nd place and 1 x PB; Sophie Bunker (14yrs) - 3 x 1st places, 3 x 2nd places and 4 x PBs; Ellie Bunker (10yrs) - 3 x 1st places, 1 x 2nd place, 2 x 3rd places, 1 x 4th place and 3 x PBs; Joshua Leeson (11yrs) - 2 x 1st places, 2 x 2nd places, 2 x 4th places, 1 x 5th place and 7 x PBs; Chloe Peach (14yrs) - 1 x 1st place, 4 x 2nd places, 1 x 3rd place, 1 x 6th place and 2 x PBs.

Owen Harding (9yrs) - 1 x 1st place and 3 x 2nd places; Jim Fergie (12yrs) - 3 x 2nd places, 1 x 3rd place, 1 x 4th place and 4 x PBs; Nicola Peach (12yrs) - 2 x 2nd places, 1 x 4th place, 1 x 5th place, 2 x 6th places and 4 x PBs; Alice Jones (9yrs) - 1 x 2nd place, 1 x 3rd place and 1 x 4th place; Lauren Dobbs (13yrs) - 1 x 2nd place, 1 x 4th place and 2 x PBs; Liam Marsh (13yrs) - 1 x 3rd place, 1 x 4th place, 1 x 6th place and 6 x PBs; Ellethea Hawley (10yrs) - 1 x 3rd place, 2 x 5th places, 2 x 6th places and 5 x PBs; Connor Marsh (11yrs) - 3 x 4th places, 2 x 5th places and 3 x PB.

Adam Hudson (12yrs) - 2 x 4th places, 2 x 5th places and 2 x PBs; Ellie Read (11yrs) - 1 x 4th place, 3 x 5th places, 1 x 6th place and 3 x PBs; Lauren Church (9yrs) - 1 x 4th place, 1 x 5th place, 1 x 6th place and 2 x PBs; Spike Atkinson (10yrs) - 1 x 6th place and 4 x PBs; Giovanni Balanur (11yrs) - 1 x 6th place and 3 x PBs.

Jack Berta (10yrs) - 4 x PBs; Nell Polley (10yrs) - 3 x PBs; Lydia Pascoe (9yrs) - 2 x PBs; Ben Mattin (10yrs) - 2 x PBs.