Despite the lack of numbers compared to other clubs taking part, Andover Swimming Club were on medal-winning form when they competed at the Avalon long course open meet in Somerset last month.
Over the course of the two-day event, the six swimmers from the local squad gained 24 top ten finishes and 35 personal bests between them, a fantastic achievement for such a small team competing against much larger clubs from around the country.
The youngest Andover swimmer was Alex Lee, who did himself proud when setting pbs in all eight of his swims. His efforts were also rewarded with a hat- trick of gold medals across the 50, 100m and 200m breaststroke events. A brilliant performance in his 100m backstroke also got him the silver.
On top of his already outstanding weekend, which included a further two medals in the 50m and 200m freestyle events, Alex broke three club records. In his age group overall, he finished third in the competition for best boy, a remarkable achievement.
Alex's older brother Chris scooped pbs in all nine of his races. Despite being one of the youngest in his age group, Chris battled hard to finish a highly commendable fifth in his 200m breaststroke. He also gained top ten finishes in his 200m backstroke, 200m IM and 50m breaststrokes. His 100m breaststroke was also highly commendable to leave him just outside the top ten.
In the same age group, Matthew Dewey was ninth in his 50m breaststroke with a new pb and had a further four pbs in his 50m backstroke and butterfly and 100m freestyle and breaststrokes.
advertisement
It was Megan Young's first time in a long course pool and her 50m backstroke got her into the top ten with a great pb. Her 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle races were also credible leaving her with two more personal bests.
Charlotte Crosby tackled three events in the ladies' open and had great success in the backstroke. In the 100m she smashed her pb by over a second and broke the club record, taking the bronze medal. In the 50m she stormed into the silver medal position with another pb and swam a good 50m butterfly race to take fifth.
Natalie Thomas had a weekend engulfed in medals and pbs when she grabbed gold in all three breaststroke events and the 200m IM, all in new personal bests. She also broke her own club record in the 200m breaststroke. She took silver in the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly events as well as a bronze in the 50m free and sixth in the 50m back. Natalie broke all her pbs in the events and her weekend was nicely rounded off when she won Top Girl for her age group.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
