CHASE MURIEL BLAYDON GALA - 6 September 2008

 

Cheslyn Hay the venue and we knew it was going to be tight because every swim was either 25m or 50m so no room for mistakes.

 

The Team:

 

Boys                                                              Girls

Michael Sedgley                                          Jordan Ingamells

Ashley Smith                                                  Alex Westlake

George Hammersley                                    Jordan Sharples

Adam Horton                                                Katie Jones

Jacob Anson                                                Natalie Dingley

Tom Asprey                                                  Shannon O’Brien

Sam Tromans                                                Emma Pay

Joe Birnie                                                      Beth Davies

Alex Thom                                                      Ellie Lord

Jon Lee                                                          Sophie Page

Graham Harrington                                      Becky Spoor

Rich Spoor                                                    Becky Shaw

Sam Rowbotham                                          Becki Cole

Phil Harrington                                              Sarah Pearson

Harry Lord                                                      Becky Evans

                                                                        Sophie Lord

 

The first event was the 10 x 25m freestyle cannon and what an exciting start – Jordan I touched in the lead in the first leg and then Alex, Shannon, Emma, Ellie, Sophie P, Becki C, Becky Sh, Becky E and Sophie L maintained the second place to put our first 5 points on the board.

 

Almost straight back in the water for Jordan I for her 25m free – with a very close finish and just touched into 2^nd place, another 5 points!  Michael took to the water for his 25m free and at one point I didn’t think he was going to breathe – did you have a snorkel Michael? Great swim.

 

Becky E and Harry both took 2^nd on the fly, both races were very close.  Katie, driving for the wall, kept the 2^nd places rolling in on her 50m back.  Double top for Ellie and Rich on the 50m breaststroke, with Ellie swimming up an age group and Rich never looking in any doubt of taking 1^st place.  Sophie P and Sam T kept the points rolling in to put us in the lead by 2 points over Phoenix Youth with 12 events gone.

 

An excellent next section saw us in the top 2 position in the next 7 events – 1^st places going to Sophie L (a powerful breaststroke swim) and Natalie (a clear winner on the fly), 2^nd places to Alex, Michael, Phil, 11s Medley Relay (Katie, Jacob, Nat and Adam) and Open Medley Relay (Sam R, Phil, Becky E and Sophie L).  This was an excellent section for the swimmers and an amazing 37 points out of a possible 42.

 

Half way through the gala and the points were looking really good, we had extended our lead to 10 points over Phoenix Youth.

 

Our 9s (Michael, Jordan S, Jordan I and Ashley) and 13s (Tom, Ellie, Beth and Sam T) Medley Relay teams both took 2^nd place with the 13s just being touched out.  Our 15s (Becki C, Rich, Becky Sp and G) coming home in 1^st place after a see-saw battle.

 

Jordan I took 1^st place on her 25m fly with a strong finish.  Emma Pay effortlessly following suit on her 50m breaststroke.  Interesting that of the 7 1^st places we took in this gala, 4 of them were to breaststroke swimmers.

 

35 events gone and we now held a lead of 21 points over Chase.  Could we hold on?  Sophie P, Becki C, G and Sam T all came in 2^nd place but Chase took maximum points from the last 10 events to put us into 2^nd place at the end of the gala.  A disappointing finish after leading all the way through but congratulations to Chase for an excellent last section.

 

Final Points:

 

Chase                        207

Stourbridge                202

Derby Phoenix          181

Phoenix Youth            180

Kingsbury                  126

Bromsgrove              107

 

Swimmer of the night goes to Nat Dingley because she was awesome!

 

Top age group on the night – it was very close and it was our Open swimmers by 2 points. 

 

Just in case you’re interested – was it the Boys or the Girls who took most points?  It was the GIRLS again by 27 points!