Staffordshire County Championships 2019 : Times and Report

Stafford Leisure Centre, Stafford.  09th/10th & 23th/24th February 2019

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As in recent years we knew the qualifying times would be hard and that they needed to be swam in an open meet – so we had spent a lot of time at open meets during 2018 to ensure we gave all the best chance to qualify. The times in Staffordshire are a lot harder to achieve than the surrounding counties and in 2019 to qualify saw a faster time required of around 5 seconds for all 50m events.

Therefore special extra credit to all of the 24 children who qualified this year- we are very proud of all of you!!!!

The kids were Tom Mitchell, George Greener, Ella Cooper, Adam Doughty, Sophie Fowkes, Bella Smith, George Preston, George Stevens, Matt Gates, Jack Ward, Harrison Jones, Oliver Frost, Matthew Appelbee, Dylan Mitchell, Lana Clamp, Georgia Ulyett, Rachael Greener, Ruby Welsford, Rosie Bolton, Jaina Muogbo, Amelie Spiers, Charlie Miller and Amelie Brown.

In line with national ASA regulations the age remained at the 31/12/19 – so as always some gained and had a better chance of doing well against peers as they became older in the section compared to a March age date in the past.

Our head coach team of Simon and Ian were ever present and the kids all took to the water in a calm state – pumped I think a couple of them called it – with advice from their coaches ringing in their ears as they headed to the blocks. We also saw Bev Doughty, Debbie Preston, Chris Greener and Craig Day present as officials during the 4 days of swimming spread over two weekends in February.

All races are HDW and kids get called to blocks and announced to the crowd as each race starts – so credit to all kids for being brave and giving themselves and the club a fortnight to be proud of. Once again this year for all events that go forward to Midland level we saw Age group finals with the top 8 going again at the end of each long day.

The kids took part in 129 events and made 54 finals (3 of which were championship finals which are the fastest 8 from all age groups combined) and 3 more top 8 finishes in the 100m and 400m IM that did not have a final– 90 PB from the races – quite simply they did VERY WELL!

Matt Gates qualified for the open age 200m SKINS event which will take place at the Relays/Skins weekend – a great achievement for Matt and the club.

Finals on Day 1:

Finley Brown – Championship Final 100m fly
Ella Cooper – 200m free
Ella Cooper – 100m back
Tom Mitchell – 200m breast
George Greener – 200m breast
Jack Ward – 200m breast
George Greener – 100m fly
Finley Brown – 100m fly
Ella Cooper – 50m fly
Lana Clamp – 50m fly
George Greener – 50m breast
Ella Cooper – 200m IM

Finals on Day 2:

Bella Smith – 100m breast
Ella Cooper – 100m breast
Sophie Fowkes – 100m breast
George Greener – 200m fly
Finley Brown – 200m fly
Georgia Ulyett – 50m back
Ella Cooper – 50m back
Ruby Welsford – 50m back
George Greener – 50m free

Finals on Day 3:

Finley Brown – championship final 50m fly
Matt Gates – championship final 200m IM
Matt Gates – 200m free
George Greener – 200m free
Ella Cooper = 200m breast
Oliver Frost – 100m back
Harrison Jones – 100m back
Tom Mitchell – 100m back
George Greener – 100m back
Jack Ward – 100m back
Amelie Spiers – 100m fly
Sophie Fowkes – 100m fly
Finley Brown – 50m fly
Bella Smith – 50m breast
Jaina Muogbo – 50m breast
Ella Cooper – 50m breast
George Greener – 200m IM
Tom Mitchell – 200m IM
Jack Ward – 200m IM
Matt Gates – 200m IM

Finals on Day 4:

Harrison Jones – 200m back
Jack Ward – 200m back
Ella Cooper – 100m free
George Greener – 100m breast
Matt Gates – 100m breast
Jack Ward – 100m breast
Sophie Fowkes – 200m fly
Oliver Frost – 50m back
Harrison Jones – 50m back
Matt Gates – 50m back
Bella Smith – 50m free
Jaina Muogbo – 50m free
Ella Cooper – 50m free

Medals winners are listed below, our previous best being 3 kids in one meet winning 8 medals – this year we had 7 kids taking 14 medals.

2 x Gold:

Ella Cooper – 100m Back
Ella Cooper – 50m Back

2 x Silver:

Ella Cooper – 100m IM
Ella Cooper – 100m Breast

10 x Bronze:

Jaina Muogbo – 50m free
Jack Ward – 200m back
George Greener – 200m breast
George Greener – 100m breast
Sophie Fowkes – 200m fly
Matt Gates – 50m back
Finley Brown – 50m fly
Ella Cooper – 50m breast
Ella Cooper – 100m free
Ella Cooper – 50m fly

The kids also made 16 midland times – Ella Cooper and Jack Ward taking a huge 6 each, George Greener taking 2 events with Tom Mitchell, Harrison Jones and Finley Brown making one each – a club record 6 swimmers will go and swim a record 16 events in 2019!!!

Over the 4 days we amassed 60,307 FINA points – smashing the club record with the progress shown below that simply shows what a huge improvement trajectory BASC have been on of late – 2017 being the year the county reduced the QT hugely and also the need to swim a QT in a licenced meet.

WELL DONE TO ALL THE KIDS AND GOOD LUCK TO THE KIDS WHO NOW GO ON TO THE MIDLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS.