WORCESTER WINTER LEAGUE ROUND 1

 

21 JANUARY 2012

 

The Teams:

Alex P

Becki

Bethan

Britt

Ellie L

Ellie W

Geena

Gemma

Lucy

Nat

Phoebe

Aimee

Amelia

Charlie

Emma

Grace

Hannah

Izzy

Lauren

Megan

Natasha

Niamh

Shannon

Aaron

Adam

Alex G

Alex W

Ed

James E

Joe

Louis

Phil

Sam

Scott

Shane

Tom M

Jake

James S

Jamie

Josh

Kai

Kyle

Matt

Mike

Nick

Ollie

Sam

Tom A

Tom P

 

With both Teams making the trip to Droitwich, this was going to be a great night with the poolside dominated with the navy and yellow of Stourbridge.  Always a tough one when both Teams go up against each other but the banter is amazing on poolside.

 

The first 10 races saw Stourbridge A dominate with 7 1st places from Nat, Adam, Britt, Ed, Becki, Ellie and the 15s Medley Team (Britt, Tom M, Lucy, Shane, Gemma and Adam).  The remaining 3 races saw all 2nd places from the 11s Medley Team (Phoebe, James E, Ellie W, Alex W, Geena and Louis), Scott and James E.  The B Team put in some fantastic swims with Mike doing the 1-2 on the 13s back and Megan, Nick, Emma, Josh and the 15s Medley Team (Aimee, Sam M, Emma, Nick, Megan and Kai) taking very well deserved 3rd places.

 

Up to the half way point saw a continued bombardment from the A Team.  Joe a clear 10 seconds ahead on his fly; Becki putting her 2nd individual win of the night on the board; Scott, Alex and Nat all having clear water between them and the 2nd place swimmer, Nat taking her 2nd individual maximum points of the night.  The last event of the first half of the gala saw Aaron blistering up the pool to leave all the remaining swimmers in his wake by a clear 12 seconds!  2nd places going to Phoebe, Tom M and Alex P.  Lauren did the 1-2 on the backstroke showing the strength of backstrokers in the Club with James, Tom A, Megan and Nick all finishing in the top 3.  So half way through the gala and the A Team had a healthy lead with the B Team showing fantastic results to put them in 3rd place behind Worcester A.

 

Races 21 to 30 saw Becki take her hat trick of individual wins, Tom M storming in on his favoured breaststroke, the 13s Medley Team (Britt, Aaron, Alex P, Joe, Bethan and Alex G) and Alex W finishing off this section of races in style.  Not to be outdone, Stourbridge B was maintaining the pressure with  3rd place finishes from the Open and 13s Medley Teams (Lauren, Kyle, Hannah, Josh, Megan, Tom A, Grace, Tom P, Izzy, James S, Shannon and Matt), and Jamie and Hannah on the fly and free.  The star of this section for the B Team was Sam M powering through to take a very well deserved 5 points.

 

So just 10 races to go and Britt got the A Team off in style with another win on her backstroke and swimming up an age on this one!  Adam followed suit to take maximum points, Ed annihilated the opposition on his freestyle and Phil took top spot on the last individual event of the night.  2nd places in this section came from Britt (who had only been out of the water for 2 minutes!) and Ellie L – great to have you back Ellie J  For the B Team Matt  took 5 tremendous points on his free with 3rd place finishes going to Aimee, Nick and Lauren.

 

Just the freestyle relays to go.  The B Team were rock solid taking 3rd places in the 13s, 15s and Open age groups and the A Team finished in style being unbeaten.

 

The final scores were:

 

Stourbridge A           223

Worcester A              193    

Stourbridge B           141

Oldbury                      117

Blythe                         113

 

This was a tremendous night of swimming with Stourbridge showing real depth of talent in the pool.  The atmosphere on the poolside was electric and it was great to see one big Team all shouting and cheering.

 

Amazing when you look at the breakdown of results - for both Teams, the age group of the night was the 15s with the backstrokers being the strongest stroke.  Great night for the boys taking 3 more points than the girls in the B Team and 5 more in the A Team!!  Well done lads – could this be your season?

 

Swimmer of the night is never an easy choice and this time was no exception.  For the A Team there were numerous swimmers who took top individual honours but this time it’s going to be the PB busters who get the Swimmer of the Night – James Enright, Joe Hamilton and Ed Povey.  You three were incredible tonight, smashing your times and putting a tremendous amount of points on the board between you.  For the B Team there were plenty of swimmers who were outstanding but there was one young lady who, in our mind, stood head and shoulders above everyone.  That’s you Charlie Jones. You impressed us with every swim and although swimming above your age, you were amazing.  Well done Charlie, you’re our swimmer of the night.

 

Thanks to all the swimmers for an amazing gala to be a part of tonight.  You swam out of your skins and did Stourbridge proud.

 

Thanks also go to all the helpers and officials who got us through this gala in record speed.  Fast and furious! You do an amazing job.

 

John, Julie and Sam