More Success at Counties for the Pink Army

After a successful Saturday at Westminster Lodge, Hatfield swimmers arrived back at the pool Sunday morning for another day of exciting racing against the best in Hertfordshire. In the first of two sessions, the 400IM was kicked us off. This is one of the toughest events on the program and requires swimmers to be all-rounders to be successful when racing it. Our youngest boy to take on the challenge was Oliver Barrows who swam a strong race to earn himself not just a new PB but his first Counties medal claiming the bronze. In the 13 year old category, Leo Sims had a great swim and dropped almost 20 seconds to ensure himself a bronze medal. Taking almost 15 seconds off his entry time, Tommy Fenwick claimed gold in the 15 year age group in a close race with second place less than a second behind him and third only half a second behind that. In the 16+ category, our boys showed the strength Hatfield have in the senior ranks by claiming first, second and forth places. Taking the gold by 10 seconds was Sam Jeffrey. He was followed by Oliver Baskerville, a strong swim for him in an event we don’t usually see him competing in. Just outside the medals was Oliver Fenwick.

In the girls’ race, Catherine Hatherly continued her strong form from the day before claiming a silver medal with over a 10 second drop in time. Our next medal came for Nieve Ives who also took 10 seconds off her entry time and captured silver in the 14 year old age group. Her sister, Ever, also earned a silver medal and new PB in the 16+ girls.

Double medals in the 400IM were claimed by a number of our swimmers as they either placed in the top 3 in the Junior or Senior championship as well as their age groups. Tommy won the Junior gold with Sam taking Senior gold and Oliver the silver. Ever also took home the Senior silver medal.

After another warm-up, the session continued with the Male 100m freestyle and the Female 100m breaststroke. The PB’s came thick and fast in the freestyle, especially for our younger swimmers. Tate Bailey and Dangis Razma both made the 10/11 final where they dropped more time to finish in sixth and tenth places respectively. We had three boys in the final of the 12 year old race with Julien Vannier out touching his nemesis to capture the gold. Tommy Camilotti-Titon came home in fifth with Oliver Barrows next in sixth. Brothers Leo and George Sims were both back in action in the 13 year category finishing in sixth and seventh respectively. Tommy Fenwick was our lone representative in his age group and was just outside the medals in forth. In the last freestyle final, the Pink Army again had three representatives with Daniel Williams, Liam Rumball and K-ets Yah-Khai all making it back for a second swim. In a close finish, Daniel took the bronze medal with Liam just behind in forth and K-ets in ninth.

In the last group of races in the session, Skyla Hodges continued her run of finals swims with a tenth place finish among the 10/11 year olds. We had two swimmers in the next category up, with Catherine Hatherly just missing the medals in forth place and Selina Sapho just a whisker behind in fifth. Aoife Blessing took to the water with the 13 year olds and was another swimmer just missing out on silverware, finishing in forth. Nieve Ives, in her favoured stroke, dominated her final, winning by 4 seconds. With another strong senior showing, Hatfield returned three swimmers in the oldest age category. In our second 1-2 placing of the day, Ashley Ransome came first with Caitlin Hartley in second. Louise Fiddes was just out of the medals in forth.

To add to the championship medal count, Nieve was awarded the Junior gold, Ashley the Senior gold and Caitlin the Senior silver medals.

The last session of the weekend included the male 100m breaststroke, female 100m freestyle and some exciting relays. The 10/13 200m medley teams, as well as the male and female 10&over 200m medley teams took on the rest of the county and some close finishes made for a loud and thrilling end to the night.

Barnie Sokirkin was first to qualify for a final by dropping 4 seconds from his entry time. In the final, he was involved in a tight finish and moved up a place to sixth. Oliver Barrows was busy on the day with another final qualification. This time he ended up sixth. Leo Sims also swam in his age group final but unfortunately was disqualified. Ching Yau was our last breaststroke finalist and competed in the 14 year old category. He managed a PB in the final to move himself up a few places to sixth, just 1 tenth behind fifth place.

Catherine was back in action in the 100m free final. She knocked off 2 seconds in the heats to qualify for a second swim, then knocked off another second to secure a fifth place finish. In her age group, Aoife had a fantastic swim with a 2 second PB to earn her finals place. She then PB’d again to touch the wall in sixth. The last girls final of the night was awash in a sea of pink hats! Out of the ten finalists, six were Hatfield swimmers. When the waves settled, Alexandra Nurney was confirmed in third place with Ever Ives next. Fifth and sixth were Louise Fiddes and Katie Jeffrey with Ashley Ransome and Erin Currie in eighth and ninth respectively.

In a very exciting mixed 10/13 medley relay, Hatfield entered an A and B team. Both raced well with the B team, Julien, Oliver, Catherine and Yuet Yau finishing in 12th place. The A team of Aoife, Selena, George and Leo shared the podium with Tring as both teams excitingly tied for third place.

The male 10&over 200m medley teams came next. Again Hatfield fielded two teams. Oliver Fenwick, Daniel Belsey (a shock addition to the breaststroke leg), Joshua Ellis (back from Uni) and K-ets Yah-Khai combined for a valiant 10th place result. In a close finish, our A team of Oliver Baskerville, Sam Jeffrey, Daniel Williams and Liam Rumball held on for victory and brought home the gold.

In another show of strength from Hatfield, the evening culminated in the female 10&over 200m medley teams. Our girls took the bull by the horns from the start and never looked back. It was a dominant display of swimming right out of the gate and our teams took well deserved gold and silver medals. Touching first was the team of Erin, Ashley, Alexandra, and Katie. Camille Vannier, Caitlin, Ever and Louise were the foursome making up our second place team. It was a fantastic way to wrap up the weekend!