St Ives Swimming Club

Congrates in County Championships 2008

St Ives swimmers found the new format County Championships very much to their liking bringing home an outstanding haul of 54 medals from the finals gala. The medal total, together with an impressive 100 PBs, delighted head coach Andy Hunter who had pushed his swimmers to the limit over the previous year in helping them to beat the tough new qualifying times set. The new format finals were held over an exhausting weekend of swimming at the Peterborough and Cambridge pools and, with events ranging from 50 to 1500M, the competitor’s skills and endurance were tested to the full. Coming through that examination with flying colours were multiple medal winners Andrew Weatheritt who won 4 gold medals in an outstanding final tally of 11 medals, triple gold medal winner Kyle Ferrier who bagged 7 medals and Giovanni DiSiena and Hannah Smith who each won 6 medals. Impressive performances over the weekend also came from Thomas Davis (4), Mike Mackrell, Rachel Moss and Chloe Solomou who each won 3 medals. Other medal winners were Carl Johnson, Hannah Milner, Jasmine Powell, Rhiannon Pritchard, Katie Rogers, Peter Todd, Gemma and Hannah Sargent.

Confirmation of the St Ives club strength in depth was underlined the following weekend by an impressive third place finish in the County Relay Finals. A frantic evening of swimming at the Cambridge pool saw Saints just fall short of the County’s two big clubs, winners Peterborough and second placed Cambridge, but well clear of fourth placed local rivals Huntingdon. The relay competition provides an excellent test of a team’s all round abilities with a format of 4x50M freestyle and medley events for 9 year olds through to open level. Top performers from St Ives on the night were the boys 12 and under squad (Kyle Ferrier, Andrew and Thomas Davis, Carl Johnson, Jack Smith) who won both of their events.

A barnstorming first place in the final relay event provided the icing on the cake in an emphatic win for St Ives swimmers in the first round of this year’s Anglian League. Despite taking a small squad featuring several swimmers competing at higher age groups, Saints managed to make the best possible start to the annually held League by overcoming rivals from Boston, Wisbech, St Neots and home club, March, to clinch first place. Following slow starts in recent competitions it was encouraging that, for once, the St Ives youngsters got off to a flying start to a gala immediately challenging St Neots Swans for first place. Consistent top three finishes from their swimmers kept Saints in the hunt throughout the gala with an exceptional 13 first places eventually leading to Saints running out clear winners over second placed club St Neots. Top performers on an exciting evening’s swimming were Becky Hime and Katie Rogers with an outstanding three wins each and Louise Todd who won two of her races. Saints’ other first place finishers were Matt Davis, Hannah Milner, Gemma and Hannah Sargent.

Fifteen swimmers from St Ives Swimming Club took part in the Cambridge Open meet at the weekend and came away with medals, Regional Qualifying times and personal bests.

There was a gold medal for 11 year old Kyle Ferrier in the 50m freestyle and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle and bronze medal in the 50m freestyle for 9 year old Hannah Smith (pictured). Rachel Moss, 16, came away with bronze medal in the 400m freestyle.

Particularly good swims by Andrew Weatheritt, 16, qualified him for 100 m breastroke and 50m and 100m freestyle at the Regional Championships to be held in Norwich and Carl Johnson, 12, also gained Regional qualifying times in 100 m and 200 m freestyle.

All in all out of a total of 69 swims, St Ives swimmers came away with 38 personal best times. Considering this was so early in the training programme following the Christmas break, this was unexpected achievement and bodes well for good performances at the upcoming County Championships to be held in 2 months time.

One of the youngest ever squads of St Ives swimmers were rewarded for making the short trip to Whittelsey by finishing in an encouraging third position in the Arthur Bailey trophy gala. The third position, achieved in front of a packed Whittelsey pool side, came despite a slow start leaving Saints trailing at the beginning of the evening gala. However, a highly impressive 32 personal best times from only 50 races quickly turned things around for Saints and was probably the highlight of the evening for head coach Andy Hunter as the club’s swimmers had only just started training following the Christmas break. Many of the swimmers were enjoying their first competitive experience in the sport and exceeded all expectations in helping the team to overcome challenges from Downham, Wisbech and March whilst narrowly missing out to second place Boston (by just two points) and eventual trophy winners Dereham. This squad, together with their older team mates, now face a gruelling run in to the County Championship Finals in March with Saints’ coaches sure to push them hard in training to peak for this important competition.