Worcester Winter League C Final

Well somehow the B team ended up in the C final again this year, despite some fantastic swimming in the previous two rounds.  Places in the finals are awarded on the points score achieved in the second round.  As the B team’s second round was the one in which we swam against the A team, our points score wasn’t too healthy (not a reflection on their performance at all), landing us in the C final.  However, we weren’t on our own, as we landed amongst some strong competition from the likes of Droitwich, Wyre Forest and Perry Beeches ‘B’.

Galas with four teams are always close ones, and this was no different.  The team was largely unchanged from those that competed in round two, except for the open boys, where all of the usual competitors were unavailable, and the 13s boys.  Thanks go to Sean Taylor for turning out for us in the open age group, and to Ste Nock and Rich Spoor for swimming up.  In the 13s there were call ups for Jack Whyle and Dan Sheppard, and Jake Knight did some swimming up for us here.

So not too many first places in this gala due to the standard of the competition, however they came from; Jake Knight (boys 11/u 50m fly), Lisa Henderson (girls 15/u 100m breaststroke), Rich Spoor (boys 15/u 100m breaststroke) and Alice Maycock (girls 11/u 50m breaststroke – with a PB time).

Second places were achieved by: Ste Nock (boys 15/u 100m free), Hayley Davis-Moore (girls 13/u 100m back), Mixed 15/u medley & freestyle relays (Hannah Mocklow, Rich Spoor, Lisa Henderson, Alex Thom, Becky Shaw, Ste Nock, Pete Rought), Sarah Hendy (ladies open 100m back), Jess Hickman (girls 11/u 50m back), Tom Green (boys 13/u 100m breaststroke), Natalie Dingley (girls 11/u 50m butterfly), Sam Pinchin (ladies open 100m free), Fran Pinchin (girls 13/u 100m breaststroke), Natalie Blakemore (ladies open 100m breaststroke), Rich Spoor (mens open 100m breaststroke) and Mixed 11/u freestyle relay (Alice Maycock, Luke Shaw, Natalie Dingley, Ryan Spoor, Jessica Hickman, Jake Knight).

In all some good performances from the majority of the team here.  Time for swimmer of the gala again, which this time goes to Jake Knight for his fantastic performance in the 13s 100m fly.  Due to the usual swimmer being unavailable for this swim, Jake stepped up to the blocks swimming up several age groups, competing against some boys who could have been 14 the very next day!  However, Jake swam out of his skin to achieve third place, well done!

Final points scores were:

1^st     – Wyre Forest                - 113 points

2^nd     - Droitwich                      -  97 points

3^rd      - Stourbridge B              -  95 points

4^th     - Perry Beeches B            -  91 points

This swim means that Stourbridge ‘B’ finished 9^th in the league this year out of 16 teams, well done to all those that competed.

The team was:

BOYS: Jake Knight, Callum Faulkner, Luke Shaw, Ryan Spoor, Dan Sheppard, Tom Green, Jack Whyle, Rich Spoor, Alex Thom, Pete Rought, Ste Nock, Sean Taylor

GIRLS: Natalie Dingley, Jessica Hickman, Alice Maycock, Becky Spoor, Fran Pinchin, Hayley Davis-Moore, Hannah Mocklow, Lisa Henderson, Becky Shaw, Charlotte Simkins, Sarah Hendy, Sam Pinchin and Natalie Blakemore.