Record breaking Andrew books his National Championship ticket
The fifth gala in the Shropshire Age Group championships was another resounding success for Shrewsbury ASC swimmers with 20 medal winning performances. The outstanding performer of the day was undoubtedly Andrew Meredith (17). Regional qualifying standards have become almost routine for Andrew of late but he stepped up a gear to achieve a national qualifying time in the 100m backstroke with his time of 1.00.17. Not surprisingly, this was a new age group record and inspired by this he went on to claim yet another gold and midland QT in a record breaking 400m freestyle swim of 4.16.69.
A warm welcome has recently been extended to sisters Charlotte (15) and Georgina (13) Grandfield now swimming for the Shrewsbury club. Seasoned performers, they both achieved regional QTs and first place in the 200m IM. Charlotte went on to win the 100 fly with Georgina runner up in her age group. Philippa Hatton (13) was another regional qualifying time performer with her silver medal performance in the 200m IM. Finishing just a second behind Georgina, the superb competitive spirit within the club seems destined to push these girls onto faster times yet! Sophie Whittingham (11) had to be content with silver over 200m IM and 100m fly but another regional time was her reward here for the IM performance.
Oliver Henry (12) was busy dominating the boys events, finishing the day with an impressive trio of gold medal performances: 100m backstroke, 200m fly and 400m freestyle - what a day! Gemma Almond (10) continued to show all round prowess with a fluid victory over 200m IM.
Amongst the other medallists, silvers were bagged by Josh Hatton in the 100m backstroke and 400m freestyle, young Victoria Highfield (9) was undaunted by the 200m IM finishing in the runner up spot.
Chris Barber (12) has come on leaps and bounds recently, a 6sec reduction in his 100m backstroke time saw him clinch bronze. The other bronze medallists were Joe Beasley (11) in the 200 fly, James Morris (10) over 400m freestyle and Imogen Griffiths (16) for 100m fly. A most impressive individual performance came from Perry Russon (15) who was unlucky to miss out on a medal in the 100m backstroke. His time of 1.12.01 improved on his previous best by a staggering 10 secs. Other swimmers just missing out were, Kathryn McNally (12) over 200m IM and Kate Almond (14) in the 100m fly and 200m IM both recording PB times.
The 200m IM saw a host of PB performances from: Jessica Waters and Lucie Short (10), Becky Crawford and Leila Armstrong-Green (12), Sarah Morris and Niamh McDonagh (13). Rowan Stringer (12) took his previous best 400m freestyle time apart and Emma Whittingham (15) improved again over 100m fly.