Round 2 of this year’s Diddy League competition saw the Junior team travel to Worcester to compete against clubs from Blythe, Leicester Sharks, Haden Hill, Walsall and Worcester.  A second consecutive solid all round team performance in this round saw the team place a creditable 4^th on the evening, leaving us 15^th in the Division 2 table and looking likely to cement our position in the same league for next season.

Many of the individual races saw good swims, with several of them being PB times and also 5 race victories from Gemma, Sophia and Natasha.  Even more pleasing was the depth of strong performances that came across the board in the relays from all swimmers.  Victories in the team events came from the girls 10/u Medley Team, the girls 8×1 Freestyle Team and the Boys 12/u Freestyle team.  Additional mentions must go to Ryan Witt for making his SASC debut in the 10yr old boys age group and also to the 11yrs boys age group of Joe R, Ben T, Woody G and Zac P who placed 2^nd in both relays and in 3 out of their 4 individuals to earn plenty of strong points.

Final points on the evening were:

Blythe Barracudas:    236
Walsall:                      187
Leicester Sharks ‘B’: 185
SHREWSBURY:       155
Worcester ‘B’:            132
Haden Hill:                  118

6 SASC swimmers competed in this year’s regional Youth Champs in the new venue of the East Midlands International Pool in Corby.  The entry level for the champs was the highest it has been in recent years making the meet highly competitive.

For Will S and Tom S it was their first year in the youth champs racing in the 15/16yr age group. Will raced well across his 6 events, with his times being on par with his recently set PB times across the board.  His best race came in the 200 IM where he narrowly missed the final by a couple of places.  Despite being ill, Tom S managed to race on the Sunday morning in the 100 Breast setting a new long course PB, while again being close to final qualification.  Both lads teamed up with Max and Tom H on the Sunday morning for the 4×100 Freestyle Relay.  The lads raced tough against some very well established teams and set some excellent split times, with Max’s lead off leg being a sizeable PB time, and the quartet beating a few teams from bigger city based teams.  Tom H, at his first Midland champs, set long course PBs in all 3 races, with his best performance coming in the 1500 Free where he lead his heat from the start with a commanding and dominant swim.

Representing the girls were Issy Lester and Claire Beddow.  Issy swam 5 races in the extremely competitive 15/16yrs age group.  She improved her ranking in all events, while setting PBs in the 50 and 100 Back and being close in her 100 and 200 Free.  Claire set a new long course PB in her 50m Free and had it not been for the large contingent of Loughborough Swimmers, would have made the final!!!  

A BIG well done to all 6 for a weekend of hard racing!!

This year’s British International Championships doubled up as the trials for the IPC World Championships in August, meaning that all of the country’s top Paralympians and disability swimmers were in attendance. Representing Shrewsbury was Ffion Butler competing in 5 events across 3 days of the meet.

Day 1 saw her in the heats of the 100 Free and 100 Back. A massive 4 second PB in the 100 Free was an excellent and positive start to the meet, while another PB in the 100 Back saw her through to the youth final in the evening where she swam a strong race, although slightly slower than the heat time.  Day 2 was the 200 IM, again with another sizeable best time set and also through to the youth final in the evening. The last day of the championships saw Ffion have her best event.  With a small PB time in the morning, she then went nearly a full second faster in the youth final, dipping under the 35s barrier for the first time.  Well done to Ffion for a successful meet!

Saturday 13th April saw round one of the Junior League 2013 at Stechford, Birmingham.  Shrewsbury’s excellent result of winning Division 3 in 2012 meant a promotion to Division 2.

A somewhat disappointing turn out of Shrewsbury swimmers due to holidays and unforeseen circumstances left SASC clearly lacking in numbers, mainly in the nine and ten year old boys age groups, with nine out of fifty one events without any representation from SASC.

Although lacking in numbers Shrewsbury swimmers certainly weren’t lacking in focus, effort, grit and determination and were destined to come away with a good result.

Making their debuts at the Junior League were Harry Rimmer (the only 9 year old boy from SASC) gaining valuable points towards the overall results, along with Alice Gore, Clair Green, Rosa Rafanomezana, Mellisa Pugh, Izzy Doherty and Francesca Gelmetti all determined to do well.  Josh Porter like Harry was the only boy in his age group, again scoring much needed points.

Shrewsbury were obviously the strongest team across all of the girls age groups with great swims throughout.  Grace Shorrock took on her new role of girl’s junior captain well, supporting all of the girls team, showing experience and maturity.

The boys 11 and 12 year old teams performed solidly, led by Robert Leith. Woody Goodall, aka “the kit-kat kid”, won his 2 length back stroke with the rest of the boys also performing well.

In most relay events Shrewsbury were 1st or 2nd with some exceptional takeovers.
Shrewsbury finally finished fourth overall with 166 gala points, close behind Dove Valley.

With close to 20% of the races without Shrewsbury representation we came away with a fantastic result, standing us in good stead for an exciting round two.

A big thank you to Team Managers Kate and Amy, officials and all supporters.
Well done SASC Junior League Team!

Final results:
1st Market Harborough 224
2nd Droitwich 181
3rd Dove Valley 172
4th Shrewsbury 166
5th Broadway 141
6th Wellington A 133

Report by Neil