Dolphin youngsters make progress in Weston

Event: Severnside Tritons Level 3 Open Meet Venue: Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-super-Mare Date: 1st and 2nd June 2019

A group of 16 Dolphin 9 to 13 year olds headed to Weston-super-Mare last weekend to compete in the Severnside Tritons Level 3 Open Meet.  For many this would be their second visit to the pool in as many months, and with all having competed several times already this season, both long and short course, they were no strangers to the disciplines of attending open meets.  The confidence shown by the swimmers was evident throughout the weekend, and this was reflected in their performances in the pool, with all swimmers swimming personal bests.  Six swimmers achieved new county qualifying times, five swimmers achieved podium finishes, and S13 swimmer Ella Williams also picked up a time that qualifies her for the National Summer Meet at Sheffield in July.

Ella Williams (11) has only recently been classified as an S13 due to her impaired vision, and has already qualified for the National Summer Meet in the 50m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 100m breaststroke. The 200m individual medley swim that added to this tally was one of the seven out of seven personal best swims over the weekend.

Ella Williams ~ National Summer Meet Qualifier

Maya Tait was one of Dolphin’s overall top performers across the two days of competition. The 10 year old achieved personal bests in seven out of seven swims, picking up new county qualifying times in the 100m breaststroke and 50m backstroke, and winning a silver medal in the 200m backstroke.

Finlay Holder went one better than Tait on the personal best tally, achieving an impressive eight out of eight new best times, with a superb effort in the 200m individual medley earning him a new county qualifying time.

Evan Kane, having turned nine only recently, added to the three county qualifying times he picked up a few weeks ago with another in the 200m backstroke.  Team mates Thomas Essam and Alfie Workman also gained new county qualifying times; Essam in the 200m backstroke and Workman in the 100m individual medley and 200m individual medley.  Essam’s 100m freestyle earned him a bronze medal whilst Workman won 100m breaststroke bronze.

Rakshave Kathirvel and Amelia Naisby took gold and silver medals respectively in the 200m butterfly, with Kathirvel picking up a new county qualifying time.  Jacob Cremin also picked up a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke.

Other swimmers picking up personal best times were Anika Bhartiya, Olivia Dunn, Ebony Linstead, Amelia Owens, Ricardo Paul, Thomas Qiu and Thomas Spibey.

Dolphin coach Anthony Clark was delighted with the progress made at the meet. “It is always good to see such an abundance of personal bests, county qualifying times and medals, but more important to me was the way the swimmers conducted themselves over the entire weekend. It was great to see swimmers as young as 9 and 10 behaving confidently in an open meet environment and working as a team; attributes that will put them in good stead for the years ahead as their actual swimming performances start to gain importance.”