Once again, St Ives swimming Club lived up to their tag as: The biggest small club in East England, with a gutsy performance at the start of the Division One programme of the highly competitive Milton Keynes Junior League in Ealing, London. As the only club in Cambridgeshire taking part, by merit, in the 3-round competitive league for 9-12 year olds, they battled hard against much bigger clubs from Ealing, Windsor, Staines, Wellingborough and Acton.  They finished a creditable fourth, leaving Wellingborough and Acton in their wake and swam away with 18 new personal best times and four first positions.

In The boys 10 year category, Daniel Yarney won first place in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly. He then stepped up an age group and also won the boys 11 years old and under 50m butterfly. Michael Lardner swam the race of his life to win the Boys 9 years and under 25m freestyle. In the highly exciting Canon relay, the St Ives team of Ellie Watson, Michael Lardner, Hannah Cooper, Daniel Yarney, Ellie Roberts, Giovanni Di Siena, Holly Webb and Luke Watson put in a valiant effort to come second.

Ellie Roberts, Giovanni Di Siena, Ellie Watson, Hanna Jaszkiewicz, Harry Delancey-Wheeler, Holly Webb, Kieran Baxter, Lewis Hall, Luke Watson, Martha Waters, Michael Lardner, Molly White, Sam Webb, Sebastien Di Siena and  Stanley waters all recorded new personal bests in various events.

St Ives Assistant Coach Sandra Brice was ecstatic. She said, “considering the fact that we fielded a depleted squad, due to some of our swimmers being ill and others taking part in the regional championships, we did very well. Some of the swimmers had to step up and swim in older age groups and also do multiple swims against some very difficult opposition. We look forward to more success in the next round of the Junior League in July.”

 

St Ives on a swimming roll

It was a high-octane performance galore for swimmers from St Ives Swimming Club who recently took part in the 13th Fenland Open Meet in Whittlesey. The club fielded a team comprising already experienced young competitive swimmers and first-timers, keen to get their swimming gills wet in competitive swimming. By the end of the all-day competition, they had posted an amazing 53 personal best times and 26 top six finishes. All top six finishers in the various events received trophies. The Competition itself drew swimmers from 17 clubs across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Kent, Suffolk and Lincolnshire.

Star performers for St Ives were Daniel Yarney, who won the award for top 10 year old boy and Ellie Roberts, who won the top 11 year old girl category. Yarney set four personal bests, winning the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and the 50m butterfly, where he set a new club record for 10 yr olds of 37.93s. He also was third in the 50m breastroke. Roberts set three personal best times – in the 50m breastroke, which she won, and 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke, both of which she came second. She also came second in the 50m freestyle.

Other top performers were Luke Watson, 4 PBs and 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions. Giovanni Di Siena, 3PBs and 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions. Caitlin Roberts, 2PBs and 2nd position. Ellie Watson, 3 PBs and 3rd, 3rd and 4th positions. Michael Lardner, 1 PB and 3rd and 4th positions. Oliver White, 2 PBs and 5th position. Molly White, 2 PBs and 6th position. Ellie Rogers, 2 PBs and 6th position. Andrew Moss, 4 top 6 finishes.

Included in the roll of honour for Personal Bests were also; 4 PBs. Sebastian Di Siena, Annabel McKenzie and Caroline McKenzie. 3 PBs. Katie Hughes and Alex Crocker.  2 PBs. Grace Frear and Jasmine Asplin. 1 PB. Jasmine Buck, Alice Kerr, Ella Hartley, Matthew Hick and Samuel Cox.

St Ives Swimming Club Head Coach, Andy Hunter, had this to say about his team’s splendid performance. ‘Younger swimmers from St Ives participated in the Fenland Open and across the board, swam magnificently. For a good few of the young swimmers, this was their first competition and their determination and dedication paid off, as they performed superbly against more seasoned competition. Daniel Yarney and Ellie Roberts showed their quality by taking the top boy and top girl spots respectively, against all comers.’

 

Weatheritt and Sargent Excel

St Ives Swimming Club swimmers, Andy Weatheritt and Gemma Sargent performed exceptionally well at the just ended ASA East Region Youth Championships in Norwich.

 Weatheritt made it to the final in three mens 17 yrs and over events; 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle. In the 50m freestyle event, he broke a 11 yr old club record, by setting a new personal best of 24.27s and qualifying for the UK National Championships in the process. He also set a personal best in the 50m breaststroke of 31.34s.

 Gemma Sargent, recovering from injury and with not too much serious training behind her, put in a valiant effort to clinch the bronze medal in the womens 15 yrs 50m backstroke in a time of 32.64s. She also set a personal best in the 50m freestyle of 29.30s.

 Other St Ives Swimming Club swimmers, who set personal bests in the highly-competitive long course regional meet, were Andrew Moss, Chloe Solomou, Hannah Milner and Hannah Sargent.

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