There were several new faces on the podium for Worcester Swimming Club at City of Coventry’s ‘Graham Sykes Memorial’ Open Meet (Level 3) at the weekend. With the action taking place in Coventry’s 50m international pool, it was the perfect opportunity for some of the club’s younger swimmers to compete at long course for the first time.
It proved to be a hugely successful weekend for Worcester, bringing home 31 medals including 10 golds, multiple fourth places and most swimmers smashing personal bests throughout the weekend.
Harry Chandler, bagged a brace in the 10-year age group, with gold in the 50m fly (35.53) and silver in 100m free (1.13.51).
In the girls 12-year-old age group, Ciara Mahanta’s best performance came in the 100m back (1.18.92) with a superb gold. She added silver medals in the 200m IM (2.51.51) and 50m breaststroke (43.10) plus won bronze in the 200m breaststroke (3.12.80) to complete an impressive haul. Amelie Fox-Haskins won silver in the 50m free (32.50) in the same age group.
Jack Sweeney made it a trio of silver medals in the boys 13-year age group, with second places in the 100m breaststroke (1.23.40), 200m IM (2.44.66) and 50m breaststroke (37.78).
In the 14-year-old girls age group, Amelia Ciancio proved too strong for the opposition as she took gold in the 200m back (2.42.29) in dominant fashion. In the same age group, Lucy Sadler had a fantastic weekend haul with silver in the 200m breaststroke (3.20.52), and third place finishes in the 400m free (5.26.65), 100m breaststroke (1.37.14) and 50m breaststroke (44.79).
Cameron Leach produced several personal bests during the weekend as well as bagging multiple medals in the 14-year age group. Cameron bagged gold medals in the 400m free (5.12.88) and 100m back (1.13.54) and claimed bronze medals in the 100m free (1.04.84), 200m back (2.39.93), 200m breaststroke (3.05.81) and 200m IM (2.42.85).
Breaststroke specialist, Harvey Lloyd, made it a clean sweep of golds in the 15 year and over age group. Harvey bagged gold medals in the 200m breaststroke (2.40.53), 100m breaststroke (1.11.04) and 50m breaststroke (32.85) with three strong swims. Emily West claimed gold in the girls 15 year and over 200m breaststroke (3.01.59) plus added a bronze in the 200m IM (2.46.05).
Other swimmers competing for Worcester across various age groups included Beau Vaughan-Hawkins, Emma Baddeley, Grace Ciancio, Asha Mahanta, Amelia Gearey, Betsy Richards, Alice Lloyd, Emily Woodward, Carmen West, Olivia Eggleton and Eden Eggleton – most smashed personal bests and several just missed out on medals.
Commenting on the weekend performance, Jon Fletcher said: “This was a really good development meet for many of the younger swimmers to gain invaluable experience in a long course pool. The focus and execution of skills of all WSC swimmers was brilliant. Medals and pbs are important, however, the experience gained for bigger events in the future was priceless.”