Ruby Open Meet – June 2018: Times and Report

Stafford Leisure Centre, Stafford – 3rd June 2018

On Sunday the 3rd June A VERY IMPRESSIVE 40 BASC swimmers planned to get out of bed very early to have a go in the Ruby Open Meet, put on to celebrate 40 years of swimming at Stafford Apex SC. The venue the same 8 lane pool that we see used for the annual county championships, with a strong contingent of BASC families and friends in the stands we looked forward to the first meet of the year when county times could be achieved for 2019.

The 40 kids did the club proud – we won 51 medals, 93 PB swam, 31 potential 2019 County QT and 19 appearances in the Junior or Senior Sprint finals over 50m per stroke.. The gala was all based on age on the day – with 100m and 50m per stroke plus 100m IM the programme. For the 50m events the top 8 age 13 and below / age 14 and above went again in finals for trophies. For all events the top 3 per age per event won medals – so our huge 51 medals and 4 trophies was a great haul from a very busy day.

The team spirit was amazing – those present will never forget a few things – notably:-

– The cheering at the end of lanes as the BASC kids went in the 19 finals swims at the end of both sessions
– Seeing some heats had 6 swimmers from our club – often 4 or 5 in a heat kept us all very busy
– A huge 18 different swimmers take home a medal
– 3 taking home trophies – Matt Gates, Finley Brown and Matthew Appelbee
– Great debuts at open meets for BASC went to Caitlin Thomas, Issy Mills, Lilia Beresford, Georgina Hiatt, Will Stevens and Oliver Frost
– 2 kids – George Preston and Tom Mitchell) winning spot prizes
– STAR SWIMMER – awarded to Issy Mills and Charlie Miller for swimming to a high level in all their races during the day – plus the ability to push themselves against BASC friends in multi swimmer heats was credit to both of them at a young age
– STAR RACE – a history making 100m final heat saw 3 BASC kids go under the landmark 1 minute in one heat, with Matt Gates being joined at the sub 1 minute top table by Finley Brown and Jack Ward – who at 14 was the youngest BASC kid to hit that landmark and set a club record in the process

Great poolside support team of Simon, Jane, Karen, Colin and Suzanne ensured nobody missed a race and all enjoyed the day

Kids achievements are below:-

Lana Clamp – 5 races and 5 PB times for Lana – seeing her take 2 medals for the first time in an open meet – her highlight being the 20 second PB in 100m IM

Georgia Ulyett – 5 races and 3 PB times for Georgia – some great duels with other BASC kids in all of her heats she pushed herself hard as always

Amelie Brown – 4 races and 2 PB times gave her a medal in her highlight swim of 50m fly – to be within reach of a county time so early in the year

Sophie Fowkes – 6 swims in the heats lead to 2 appearances in the 50m finals – 3 PB times and a medal in 100m IM – her 6 second PB in 100m back was the highlight

Izzy Mills – 4 races and 100% PB count for Issy on her debut at open meets – competitive in all her events she pushed in the BASC heat that included 6 kids to achieve a huge new 50m free PB – JOINT STAR SWIMMER

Charlie Miller – 6 races and 4 PB times led to 2 medals for Charlie – who is becoming more competitive with her mindset with every meet we do – JOINT STAR SWIMMER

Bella Smith – 5 races and 3 PB times for Bella – the highlight being the 100m Breast time which on 2018 levels was a County Qualifying Time

Rachael Greener – 4 races and 4 PB times for Custard – she swam well in every race and the 50m fly medal was very close to a county time

Charlotte Rumsby – 3 races and 2 new PB times for Charlotte – the 50m breast PB being her standout swim

Ella Cooper – 6 races swam and all at QT standard and 6 medals for Ella – making finals in 2 of the 50m events – her standout swim was the winning the duel with sophie over 100m IM to gain a new PB time

Georgina Hiatt – a great PB in 50m free on her open meet debut was the highlight for Georgie

Charlotte Moorby – 4 races and 3 PB for Charlie – her 8 second PB on 100m free was her highlight swim

Amelie Spiers – 6 races and 3 PB times – the stand out swim being a good new PB on 50m fly

Emma Brown – 5 races and 5 medals for Emma on a busy day at Stafford – her best swim was the 50m fly

Charlotte Breeze – 4 races and 1 new PB time in the 100m IM heat being her best swim

Brieana Shrive – 7 races and 5 PB times made Brieana a candidate for star swimmer – her top swim being the 50m fly PB in her first event of a busy day

Ruby Welsford – 3 races on the meet named after her – 2 PB and 2 medals – the top swim being the 50m breast

Issy Stanley – ‘smiles’ did 6 races which yielded 3 PB times and 1 medal – her best swim being the 100m breast

Mary Duggan – 5 races saw 4 PB times and 1 medal in a productive day for Mary – her race with Sophie over 100m breast was a great race in a heat that saw 4 other BASC girls – standout swim was the 100m back PB

Lilia Beresford – A debut to remember with 2 races and a great new PB time in the 50m free for Lilia

Sophie Sturman – 2 races in her morning session with the 50m free race with BASC friends another of the great heats we watched during the day

Rosie Bolton – 8 races for our busiest pre finals swimmer – saw 3 PB times and 1 medal – her standout swim took her to the 50m back final at the end of a long day

Lottie Smith – 2 races and 2 PB times – the 12 second PB in 100m IM the highlight

Katie Smith – not to be outdone by her big sister she also took 2 PB times from her 2 races – 50m back the top swim

Caitlin Thomas – 5 swims on her first meet with the club – her top swim was the new PB on 50m fly

Finley Brown – 4 races saw him take 4 potential county times – he made 2 finals and took home 4 medals – his sub 1 minute 100m free his highlight

James Copley – 2 swims in his afternoon at Stafford for James – his 50m free swim was his top swim this time around

Oliver Frost – a great debut for Oliver – 2 swims and 2 PB times – edging closer to a county chance on 50m back being his highlight

Tom Mitchell – 4 races saw him make 2 finals and take home 3 medals and 2 county times – his swim in the 50m fly final from an outside lane to come 4th was his highlight

Dylan Mitchell – 3 races and 3 PB times for Dylan – his 50m back time within a second of county times was his highlight

George Greener – 4 races and 1 PB in 100m free – he made 2 county times and a medal for his day at the meet

Jack Ward – 6 races and 6 new county times – 6 medals – so a real full house for Jack – but going sub 1 minute at only age 14 was a standout moment for all BASC members present

George Stevens – 5 races led to 3 appearances in finals for George – his standout swim was winning his duel with George G in 100m fly

William Stevens – a great debut for Will – he did 4 races and gained 4 new PB times – a 100m IM improvement of 8 seconds his top swim

Matt Gates – 7 races and finals in all his 50m events – all 7 gained new county times based on 2018 levels – our club captain led from the front during a busy meet – helping the coaches with warm ups during the downtime he had

Sam Duggan – 4 races and 4 new PB times – his standout swim was his 50m breast event

Harry Preston – 6 races and 2 new PB times for Harry – his top swim being the 100m IM PB time

George Preston – 7 races led to 3 new PB times, 3 medals and 1 potential county time – he also swam in final session – his 100m breast being his highlight

Matthew Appelbee – 6 races gave Matt 3 new PB times and 2 medals – but in the finals he turned medals into trophies in both the 50m free and fly finals to end a great day

Jasper Saunders – 4 races and 3 new PB times – his 10 second PB on 100m breast being his highlight

So after this meet we have a usual feel to the Girls Medals table – with Ella and Sophie setting off in 2018 how they finished 2017 pushing each other at the top

The boys table sees Matt, Jack and Matthew set the early pace in 2018

With Biddulph coming up next month the kids have already won 120 medals in 2018

Huge thanks to our officials at the meet – Craig Day, Debbie Preston, Martin Brown, Jo Bolton and Chris Greener.