Dont put a limit on anything. The more you dream the further you get. Michael Phelps.
Leicester Autumn League Grand Final: 9th December – Times and Report
Leicester Autumn League Grand Final : December 2017 Braunstone.
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On the 9th December the 2017 Autumn league came to a conclusion with BASC taking their place in a second consecutive Grand final for this league. The format of this league is similar to all Leicester Leagues in that the 30 clubs are split into a random open draw at round 1 with limited seeding– then you are seeded for round 2 to try and keep apart the top seeds from round 1 – with points earned from the first two round determining what level final you arrive in come December. After an amazing 5 point win in round 2 we had made our way the hard way into the showpiece pre xmas final. This was only the second time we have ever made this final and we took 38 kids to share the experience of being in a final.
The draw was always going to be very hard – 3 stand out teams in Nuneaton, Rushden and Corby – with Sharks A/B being safe in the Arena League we knew we would face a very strong Sharks C – Leaving Burton, Neptune, Hinckley and Melton for the minor places.
There are 4 age groupings all at age at the 31/12/17 – being age 10, 12, 14 and over 14 (open). Races for age 10 are 25m, age 12 are 50m and the older age groups are mainly 100m.
From the start we knew we would be racing teams with double our pool time as a minimum – it did not phase the kids and we saw many kids chasing a new PB in a very high standard final.
1 amazing first place
Edan Maxwell – age 10 25m free
4 fantastic third places
Jack Ward – age 14 100m breast
Jack Ward – age 14 100m back
Tom Mitchell – age 12 50m breast
Bella Smith, Charlie Miller, Rachael Greener and Georgia Ulyett – age 10 medley relay
2 Fourth Places
Imeh Tyas – age 14 100m free
Tom Mitchell – age 12 50m fly
11 Fifth Places
Georgia Ulyett, Charlie Miller, Bella Smith and Amelie Spiers – age 10 free relay
Jack Ward, George Stevens, George Greener and Noah O’Brien – age 14 free relay
Ella Cooper, Charlotte Breeze, Daisy Wong and Rosie Bolton – age 12 free relay
Charlotte Breeze – age 12 50m fly
Ella Cooper – age 12 50m free
Harrison Jones – age 12 50m free
Charlie Miller – age 10 25m free
Finley Brown – open age 100m fly
Imeh Tyas, Emma Preston, Sophie Fowkes and Emma Brown – age 14 medley relay
Jack Ward, George Stevens, George Greener and Noah O’Brien – age 14 medley relay
Ruby Welsford, Ella Cooper, Charlotte Breeze and Daisy Wong – age 12 medley relay
Final Result – based on 8 points for first
Nuneaton 337
Rushden 277
Corby 253.5
Neptune 210
Sharks 180
Melton 172
Hinckley 169.5
Burton 159
Massive thank you to Ian, Phil, Mary and Simon being poolside and encouraging the kids. Also thank you to Martin, Chris and Rob for the officiating/timing – and for Donna/Karen for the relay splits.
Also to the parents who made some noise last night and then had to travel all the way back home hoping the snow held off– without the parents we would not get teams to away galas so thank you guys!!! – the white BASC T-shirts gave you a real Barmy Army Feel last night.
44 PB times including relay splits – just 1 DQ – and a night with lots of highlights………..
- STAR SWIMMER – EDAN MAXWELL – could not be anyone else – winning his 25m free race in an amazing new PB time had all the Barmy Army cheering. Having only joined the club after the summer break his progress has been fantastic so far
- RACE OF THE NIGHT – JACK WARD – 100m back – a week after smashing his PB time Jack showed once again how we rises to the occasion and was right up with the 2 midland standard swimmers in the middle lanes – our most determined swimmer!!
- The age 10 medley relay girls team doing at this final what they did at the Diddy final – swimming beyond their combined PB times to push for a first place – the little mix dream team of Bella, Charlie, Rachael and Georgia
- Junior Captains Tom Mitchell and Sophie Fowkes bringing the curtain down on their successful 2017 with PB times in all their individual races again
- Matt Gates and Hayley Brightman – 2 of our seniors who over the last 4 years have time and time again swam their hearts out for the club – covering races galore – going up with the junior captains in front of our loyal support to receive the another trophy for the club by coming 8th of 30 clubs after the final scores were all amassed
Our 159 points was an improvement on the 156 earned last year (we had no DQ last year so the margin of improvement was 10 points really) – making these showpiece finals is testament to all the great work the coaches and swimmers put in week after week
We have had in 2017 our best ever swimming year – highlights below
- Highest ever Winter League finish – surviving relegation with a round to spare
- Highest ever Diddy League finish – making the grand final at Corby
- Maintaining our place in the Staffs League 2nd Tier Final
- Maintaining our place in the Autumn League Grand Final
- Winning the Charity Diddy for the 3rd successive year
Looking forward to 2018 – have a great xmas everyone.
