Thomas Swales excels as Sutton Swimming Club youngsters shine in Regional Short Course opener

Sutton had a number of swimmers with qualifying times with a good number swimming directly for them and others under Nottingham Nova.

Despite only being 14, Thomas Swales made four U16 finals and came away with a silver in the 200 free and gold in the 200 fly to add to the two HDW events, where he claimed silver in the 400 free and gold in the 800 free.

The latter event also Thomas set a new Nottinghamshire Junior Record, knocking almost a second off the previous record time.

Evan Hawley, 16, made two finals and came away from the weekend with a total of 4 Pbs.

In the relay events the boys team posted a 1:43.00 in the 4 x50m free event to place 12th out of 18 teams.

In the medley relay the boys posted a 1:53.26 to place 11th out of 17 teams. Considering the average age of the Sutton team to the ones finishing above them these were great times. Other Sutton swimmers in action were Lily Mitchell, 15, Jared Collins, 15, Jake Baugh, 16, Harry McKeaney, 16, Adam Read, 18, Aurelia Wawrzyniewicz, 14, and Amelia Roberts, 15.

The considerations times for this event are tough as, unlike the long course regionals, there are only two age categories, U6 and 17 and above. So, for a club the size of Sutton to have so many swimmers with qualifying times is an achievement and testimony to the hard work of all involved in the running of the club.