Winter League 2019 – Round 3 : Times & Report

Winter League Division 1 Grand Final, Braunstone Leisure Centre, 30th March 2019

The format of the league will see 18 teams split into 3 galas for the first two rounds – leading to the top 8 going into a final – the next 5 being in a gala – and the bottom 5 facing a gala that would see 3 relegated back for the 2020 season to division 2.

After two amazing rounds of swimming Burton SC had achieved what to many for a number of years seemed impossible – they became the first local swimming club to make the Division 1 Grand Final.

Normally when we get to a particular gala we look at the opposition and try and work out the best way to gain points against our peers and reach as high as possible a position come the final race. While we still did that we knew we had delivered beyond what should be possible on such limited pool time just making the final. The other 7 lanes saw teams with many swimmers who make National and Regional levels on a routine basis from their 10 plus hours a week training schedule.

When we arrived we saw international t-shirts from swimmers who represent their country, older swimmers with various top sports level university tops (obviously back to help their clubs) – but we arrived as an equal and from race 1 every swimmer who represented BASC gave their all.

The gala was a licenced meet (another first for BASC) so that times could count for upcoming Midlands Championships. The format is 4 age groups as at 31/12/19 and are age 11, 13, 15 and open – with the main changes being the addition of an Individual medley, the age 15 kids doing 100 fly not 50m. plus all the young kids doing 50m not 25m races.

The 8 lane pool saw many times swam over the 51 races that would win Gold medals at the upcoming midlands – and in lane 1 it saw 32 Burton Kids push themselves but more importantly make the most of the first opportunity the club has had to swim at such a high level.

1 First Place
Bella Smith – 50m Breast – age 11

4 Second Places
Dylan Mitchell – 50m back – age 11
Ella Cooper – 50m fly – age 13
Jaina Muogbo – 50m free – age 11
Dylan Mitchell, Josh Cooper, Dylan Campbell and Lucas Joubert – age 11 medley relay

7 Third Places
Jaina Muogbo, Bella Smith, Lana Clamp and Bella Richards – age 11 free relay
Dylan Mitchell, Josh Cooper, Lucas Joubert and Dylan Campbell – age 11 free relay
Jaina Muogbo – 50m back – age 11
Ella Cooper – 50m free – age 13
Harrison Jones – 50m free – age 13
Harrison Jones – 50m back – age 13
Jaina Muogbo, Bella Smith, Lana Clamp and Bella Richards – age 11 medley relay

4 Fourth Places
Matt Gates – 100m free – open age
Josh Cooper – 50m breast – age 11
Lana Clamp – 50m fly – age 11
Dylan Campbell – 50m fly – age 11

3 Fifth Places
George Greener, Matt Appelbee, Tom Mitchell and George Preston – age 15 free relay
Ella Cooper – 100m free – age 15
Dylan Mitchell – 50m free – age 11

5 Sixth Places
Adam Doughty – 100m back – open age
George Greener -100m free – age 15
Ruby Welsford – 50m back – age 13
Sophie Fowkes – 100m back – age 15
Rosie Bolton, Issy Stanley, Charlotte Breeze and Sophie Sturman – age 15 medley relay

Highlights :-

– STAR SWIMMER – can only be Bella Smith – a great individual win on such a big stage!!

– STAR RACE – Senior Captain Matt Gates in 110m free – a blanket finish in such an amazingly quick race saw him gran a new PB time

– 29 PB times swam so soon after counties was fantastic – with only 1 DQ

– Ella Cooper. Matt Gates, Matt Appelbee, Immy Hill and Sophie Fowkes for swimming an extra 100m individual or back to back relays to keep the momentum in the team

– The supporters – our BARMY ARMY – the best supported team by far on the night – the noise when we pushed for a place in the many close finishes (whether that be fighting for first or second right the way to seventh or eighth) the parents and families were simply superb last night

– Seeing current captains Matt Gates, Immy Hill, Harrison Jones and Ruby Welsford go up on the clubs behalf to collect our trophy.

Results after 51 races:-

In the end we came 8th – but we had our best Winter season ever – the progress shown below is a great way to see what BASC has achieved since the club got back on track in 2014.

2013 – Overall Winter Rank was 29th – Came 3rd in division 2 second tier final

2014 – Overall Winter Rank was 27th – won second tier final in division 2 ending a 5 year wait for a gala win

2015 – Overall Winter Rank was 22nd – came 5th in Division 2 top final – our first major swimming final for over a decade

2016 – Overall Winter Rank was 19th – we won Division 2 top final and gained a very rare promotion to division 1

2017 – Overall Winter Rank was 11th – we came 3rd in Division 1 second tier final

2018 – Overall Winter Rank was 9th – we won on a snow laden night the division 1 second tier final

2019 – Overall Winter Rank was 8th – our performance last night being a huge 21 place improvement from 2013

Massive thanks go to:-

– the coaching team of Simon and Ian for all the advice and encouragement on the night

– Debbie, Martin, Jo, Bev, Karen, Lee and Simon for the officiating and timing

– All the parents for once again taking time out of their busy weekends to travel and support the team