The third and final round of the Nuneaton Junior League 2007 saw Stourbridge ‘B’ in a battle against relegation. Going into the gala we were lying third from bottom in the league standings; as the bottom four are relegated this wasn’t looking good, however, the draw was kind to us, and allowed our fate to be in our own hands. Now this is going to be a long one…so if you want to just scroll down and read the final points and thanks go ahead!
A “swim to win” policy was adopted, not my usual style as many are aware, but I desperately wanted to secure our position in Division 2 for next year’s competition, as we had worked so hard last year to get this far. This meant that some swimmers had less swims than usual, but everyone had their part to play.
Our competition at Worcester was Bilston, Wombourne, Lichfield and Nuneaton and Bedworth ‘B’. Having swum against Bilston in both previous rounds we were well aware of their high standards, so knew we were in for a tough gala yet again.
The evening started very well with a second place from Megan Dudley in the girls 10 years 50m freestyle. This was shortly followed by a second place from the girls in the 11 years medley relay and a fantastic win from the boys in the same event (Sam Donaldson, Connor Meehan, Sam Knowles, Jarryd Aston-Baugh). Jessica Hickman then achieved second place in the girls 12 years 50m backstroke. It was soon time for the 9’s medley relays, and both the girls and boys teams achieved third place, a big improvement from all these swimmers over the course of the league. The 11’s were up again, this time in their freestyle relays, with the girls achieving second place and the boys third.
Kate Fletcher was up next in the girls 12 years 50m fly, achieving first place in a personal best time, well done Kate. Sam Knowles followed her in the boys event, and achieved third place, also in a personal best time, brilliant swim Sam. The 10s girls were next to swim in their medley relay, achieving a convincing second place. Sam Donaldson was just pipped into third place in his 50m backstroke for the 11 years age group a few events later, a pleasing swim and one of many for Sam on this occasion.
Next up it was those 9s again, this time in their freestyle relay, the girls achieving a fantastic second place in this, with all the girls now swimming considerably faster than they were a couple of months ago. Kate Fletcher was soon swimming again, this time in the girls 12 years 50m breaststroke, again, another win for Kate in this event. The 10s girls were the next to achieve a top three placing, with the girls matching their performance in their medley relay with a second place here in the freestyle relay.
Half way through the gala now and the points were as follows:
Bilston 129 points
Lichfield 126 points
Stourbridge B 107 points
Nuneaton B 94 points
Wombourne 81 points
There was a close two horse race going on at the top between Bilston and Lichfield, who were dominating the first and second spots in races, and then a separate race occurring for third place between us, Nuneaton and Wombourne.
A couple of third places for us now, one from Grace Fellows in the 9 years girls 25m butterfly, and the other from Lauren Evans in the 12 years girls 50m freestyle. It was the girls’ cannon now, one of my favourite events, as we have always had strong female freestylers. I wasn’t to be disappointed on this occasion with the girls involved achieving second place, a fantastic result. 10 years 50m backstroke events now and it was 3rd place for Ryan Sharpe and 2nd place for Eva Cook, both in personal best times, fantastic swims from these two. A couple of events later and we had Molly Wood on the blocks in the girls 9 years 25m freestyle, she achieved a brilliant third place, well done Molly. 12 years freestyle relays now and the boys started us off well with a third place, but were quickly followed by the girls who won their event (Alice Maycock, Lauren Evans, Phoebe Cook and Natalie Hodgetts) brilliant stuff girls, well done.
There were a few more top three placings to come; Emily Sheppard in the 11 years 50m breaststroke (3rd), Beth Henderson in the 10 years 25m butterfly (2nd) and Jarryd Aston-Baugh in the 11 years 50m freestyle (2nd). The 12s girls now had their medley relay, and wanting to equal their achievement in the freestyle relay they really went for it, winning the event by a convincing margin (Jess Hickman, Alice Maycock, Phoebe Cook, Natalie Hodgetts).
Finally it was on to the cannon, a thrilling event which on this occasion had a nail biting conclusion, Stourbridge just being beaten into third place on the last leg by Bilston.
Fantastic swims all round with lots of PB times, the final scores were:
Bilston 244 points
Lichfield 231 points
Stourbridge B 186 points
Nuneaton B 165 points
Wombourne 161 points
There has been a great team effort from the B team over the course of the competition, and every swimmer has played an important role. All those that have contributed towards this year’s league campaign are named below:
BOYS: Greg Rogers, Joseph Crozier, David Birnie, Adam Hunt, Jordan Yates, Ryan Sharpe, Stephen Cole, Josh Evans, Frank Jones, Connor Meehan, Sam Donaldson, Sam Knowles, Jarryd Aston-Baugh, Luke Shaw and Paul Chandler.
GIRLS: Molly Wood, Roseanna Rought, Ruth Brookes, Harriet Meehan, Grace Fellows, Megan Dudley, Rebecca Bradley, Beth Small, Hannah Irwin, Eva Cook, Beth Henderson, Kay Bennett, Emily Sheppard, Beth Hendy, Kim Yates, Alice Maycock, Lauren Evans, Phoebe Cook, Natalie Hodgetts, Jessica Hickman, Kate Fletcher.
A big thank you from me to you all for your commitment and support, to swimmers and their parents, particularly those B team parents who have helped organise two of this year’s rounds. Thanks to my officials from this gala, Pete Woodhams, Bernard Simkins, Glyn Dudley, Sian Hickman, Stuart Birnie, Dean Sharpe and Traci Cole. Finally I am eternally grateful to Maria Shaw for all her help on the poolside.
Becky
Stourbridge ‘B’ Team Manager
Nuneaton Diddy Third Rnd Report B team 23rd June