| Press Reports | Solid Second place for NDSC in the opening round of this year’s National Arena Swimming League | | Round 1 of this year’s National Arena Swimming League saw a strong Newbury team travel to Maidenhead to compete in the South Division One West clash against opponents from Maidenhead Marlins, Littlehampton, Winchester Penguins and Havant & Waterlooville. First places were won by Zara Ryan (13/U Breaststroke (1.16.73s), 15/U Butterfly (1.08.82s), 13/U Butterfly (1.10.53s), James McFadzen (13/U Breaststroke (1.23.38s), Jake Jezzard (Open Butterfly, (1.01.59s), Loulou McFadzen (Open Backstroke, (1.09.31s), Ben Hutchins (10-11 Breaststroke, (40.43s), Clare Wills (Open Breaststroke, (1.21.25s) and the Boys’ 9-11 Medley Relay team (Matthew Bilela, Ben Hutchins, Jack Tucker and Ryan Sitton, (2.42.16s). Solid second places went to Loulou McFadzen (Open IM (1.12.92s), Open Butterfly (1.10.94s), Open Freestyle(1.03.22s), Girls 13/U Medley Relay team (Lucy Wilkins, Amy McBride, Zara, Lizzie Shore (2.18.56s), Boys 15/U Freestyle Relay team (Luc Schreiber, Jafer Shah, James McFadzen, Harry Willingale, (1.54.15s), Ladies Open Medley Relay team (Loulou McFadzen, Clare Wills, Zara Ryan, Sam Farquhar, (2.11.94s), Millie Pope (10-11 Backstroke (37.25s, 10-11 Butterfly, (35.81s), Matthew Bilella (10-11 Backstroke, (40.67s), James McFadzen(13/U Backstroke, (1.13.10s), Jake Jezzard(Open Backstroke (1.01.75s), Jack Tucker (10-11 Freestyle, (33.88s). With third place finishes in a further 15 events, Newbury finished in the top 3 in 36 of the 50 events, despite the fact that many swimmers had to swim “up” an age group and were leading the competition until well past the mid-way point. Sadly, a strong second half ultimately clinched victory for Maidenhead Marlins with 168 points to Newbury’s 155. Winchester Penguins finished a very close 3rd with 154 points, Havant & Waterlooville 4th with 151 points and Littlehampton in 5th with 111 points. Congratulations to all who took part and in particular to Ben Hutchins and Matthew Bilella who were competing for Newbury for the first time in a league event. | | | Guildford for a top-of-the-table clash in the final round | | Saturday night saw the Newbury District swimming team travel to Guildford for a top-of-the-table clash in the final round of the 2010 National Arena Swimming League. A host of first-rate individual and relay performances saw the Newbury team finish in third place; their best ever league position, narrowly missing out on promotion to the South Premier League and a trip to the finals in Sheffield. A Newbury double in the 15 & under 100m Backstroke was recorded for Louise McFadzen (1.10.23secs) in the girls event and Jake Jezzard (1.03.48secs) for the boys. Louise was also part of the winning Ladies’ Open Medley relay team, together with Claire Wills, Zara Ryan and Abigail Wood in a time of 2.11.77secs. Swimming well above her age group category, twelve year old Zara Ryan recorded a further two individual wins in the 15 & under 100m Butterfly and the 15 & under Breaststroke after an expertly timed final length, also being narrowly pipped into second in the Ladies Open 100m Butterfly in a time of 1.08.52secs. Further wins in the Men’s Open 100m Backstroke for Aman Shah in a sub-60 time of 59.86secs and James McFadzen in the Boys 9-11 50m Breaststroke in a county qualifying time of 39.58secs boosted an excellent performance overall from the rest of the team, with swimmers consistently coming home in second and third places with personal best times. Rory Butcher recorded an excellent sub-60 secs finish in the Boy’s 15 & under 100m Freestyle in a time of 58.59 secs, with Aman finishing with a second sub-60 result of 55.74secs in the Men’s Open 100m Freestyle. Final points standings after the evening’s 50 events were: Wycombe 219, Woking 204, Newbury District 171, Fareham Nomads 155, Winchester Penguins 148 and Brighton 145. The full team was: Louise Barlow, Ian Bruce, Rory Butcher, Blake Clark, Fiona Crane, Jacob Glanville, Jake Jezzard, Imogen Jones, Amy McBride, James McFadzen, Louise McFadzen, Dave Milburn, Millie Pope, Paige Pope, Matthew Pudney, Chris Regan, Zara Ryan, Luc Schreiber, Aman Shah, Ben Shillam, Jack Tucker, Lauren Wall, Amelia Wenlock, Harry Willingale, Claire Wills & Abigail Wood. | | Phoenix Fly in Arena League | | Edmonton Phoenix swimmers travelled to Hatfield for the 2nd round of the National Arena Swimming League on Saturday 13th of November. Having finished a very creditable 4th in the previous round we were keen to see how we faired against further top flight opposition. We were drawn against Hatfield, Teddington, Watford, Anaconda, Hoddesdon, Chelsea & Westminster and Saxon Crown. We knew it would be a tough fixture and as expected, Hatfield were dominant but we still managed some excellent results and the overall team performance was great to once again finish in fourth place. The wins on the night went to the a dominant girls 9-11yrs freestyle relay team of Lara Eyre, Emily Whale, Meghan Byrne and Mia Hawkes. Putting in 2 further great performances Mia secured 1st place in both the 9-11yrs 50m back and 50m Free. Second places were achieved by Charlotte Payne, Meghan Byrne, Josh Kirlew, Ryan McCarthy, girls 9-11yrs medley relay team and the ladies open 6x50m FS relay team. Third place swims went to Jen Budden, Charlotte Newman, Ryan McCarthy, Meghan Byrne, Elliot Bertram, Josh Kirlew and the girls 4 x 50m 15&U medley relay team. We look forward to the final round on 11th December. GO PHOENIX! | | The National Arena Swimming League London Round 2 (Harlow) | | The brand new pool at Harlow hosted Round 2 of the National Arena Swimming League, where Colchester Swimming Club, sponsored by Griffin Chapman, showed once again how they are developing into a formidable team. Against some tough competition from top clubs in Division 1 of the London league, the young team from Colchester finished in a very creditable 5th place on 236 points, a massive 80 points ahead of 6th placed Epping. Led and cheered on by new Team Captains, Dan Few and Jennifer Redmond, and their deputies, Cameron Bashir and Louise-Jayne Watts, the young swimmers grabbed 5 first, 2 second and 9 third places. Young Arran Francis once again led the way in the individual races with a fantastic win in the boys 11 & U backstroke, which he then followed up with a superb PB of 30.45 to win the 11& U freestyle. Not to be outdone, Laura Stephens won the girls 11 & U Fly with a great PB of 32.47. Jim Vickers outclassed the opposition to win the boys 13 & U backstroke, while Ellie Tripp swam a wonderful PB to win the girls 15 & U breaststroke by a big margin. Chloe Rudkins blasted off the blocks with a great dive to swim a PB of 31.53 in the girls 11 & U breaststroke and snatched a deserved 2nd place in a close race, while Laura Stephens, Sonny Trigg, Jim Vickers and Jarrod Bradfield all added 3rd placings to the tally, with 14 year old Bradfield swimming a superb PB of 55.96 in the men’s Open Age freestyle. With the deafening sound of air horns and cheering parents and swimmers and the waving of flags and banners adding to the excitement of the relay events, the boys 13 & U team of Jim Vickers, Cameron Simpson, Matt Parsons and Jack Keane claimed 2nd spot in the medley and 3rd place in the free relays. Not to be outdone, the girls 13 & U team of Emily Stephens, Dolly Trigg, Alice Insull and Pip Davenall raced to 3rd spot in the 13 & U freestyle relay, while the 11 & U girls team of Laura Stephens, Chloe Rudkins, Brittany Lodge and Meg Adamson took two 3rd places in the medley and free relays, with young Adamson swimming good PBs in both her freestyle legs to ensure a strong finish. The strong boys 15 & U free relay team of Bradfield, Lemnell, Trigg and O’Connor secured a great 3rd place to add to the impressive points tally. The biggest PB of the night went to young Jack Keane in the 13 & U 100m butterfly, who swam 1.17.19, knocking an incredible 15 seconds off his previous best, with young Cameron Bashir also swimming a great PB of 2.23.50 in the Men’s Open 200 IM, and Joe Mackay and Sarah Purnell also swimming close to their PBs. Joint Head Coach Michelle Young was delighted with the swimmers continued progress and achievements on the night, commenting “It was fantastic for the coaches and parents to see the great team spirit on poolside, with swimmers cheering and urging on their teammates at the end of our lane. They were all a credit to Colchester Swimming Club”. | | The National Arena Swimming League Round 2, 13th November 2010 | | After dominating the first round, City of Cambridge swim club were in for a battle with the home club, City of Peterborough in the second round of the National Arena league, held at the regional pool, Peterborough. The competing clubs were: Louth; Modernians ; COPS A; Worksop Dolphins; West Norfolk and City of Cambridge. Despite a disappointing lane draw, Cambridge had a promising start with many first and second places in both male and female events, so that half way through, Cambridge and Peterborough were storming ahead of the other clubs with only 7 points between them. However, Cambridge, sadly couldn’t quite keep it up for the second half. There were many first places across the board, 10 in total. Some included the Girls 11/under Medley relay team who had an amazing 6 second lead. All four swimmers, Lauren Hall, Amy Zhang, Kate Little and Millie Emmans had a superb leg of the relay and really deserved their win. Another great swim was the boys 11/under Freestyle relay where the boys finished 3 seconds ahead of Louth in second place, the team consisted of Alastair Minshall, George Laing, Jack Race and Charlie Flynn. Alastair then went on to win the boys 10/11 years Fly in a new personal best time of 37.58. Bartu Atamert also performed outstandingly in the boys 13/under breaststroke, winning by just under a second with a new personal best time of 1.16.67. Richard Jefferies also earned a victory in the Boys 15/under Fly with a time of 1.02.46, 2 seconds ahead of Louth in Second Place. Further good swims were the girls 15/under freestyle team, consisting of Georgia Crawford, Ellie Winter, Georgia Hickman and Samantha Auker. The girls swam an exciting race with all of them going 30 seconds or under for their splits, but sadly ended up second to Peterborough. The Mens Open Medley Relay team, including Tim Riviere, Josh Pedder, Richard Jefferies and Adam Oakman swam a very close race between them and Modernians but unluckily came third by 7 hundredths of a second; it was a very exciting race, they swam very well. Lastly, both the Ladies and the Mens open 6x50 freestyle relay teams did very well in coming 2nd in each of their races; adding the points to the clubs final score. Overall, the club had some good swims to earn themselves 2nd place with 210 points. This places them in the A final for round 3 on the 11th of December, the venue is to be confirmed. | | | | | |
