The Longest Day… but the PB’s Kept Coming!

Saturday morning and Hertfordshire teams were back at Westminster Lodge before the sun was up for the next instalment of the County Championships. With a pink sky showing over the Abbey, hopefully this was a good omen for the Pink Army! There were three sessions scheduled for the day, the first one comprising of heats of the female 50m free, male 50m breaststroke, female 200m butterfly and male 200m backstroke, followed by finals. For the 50m races, there were finals in each age group but for the 200m races, only a Championship final was held for the fastest 10 swimmers overall. The session culminated in some exciting relays.

Our first swimmers of the day were Yuet Yau and Catherine Hatherly in the 50m free. Both swam well with Catherine progressing to the final and Yuet being first reserve. In the 13 year old age group, both Jorgi Bhasvi and Aoife Blessing managed times fast enough to qualify for a final swim. In the oldest group, Hatfield managed to advance four swimmers to the final with Katie Jeffrey, Alexandra Nurney, Ever Ives and Erin Currie swimming times with only three tenths of a second separating them all.

In the male breaststroke heats, Dangis Razma and Barnie Sokirkin, two of our young swimmers competing in their first Counties both had great swims to qualify for the 10/11 year old final. We also had three boys in the next age group where Oliver Barrows, Julien Vannier and Ho Him Ng progressed. Leo Sims was our only 13 year old boy to move on to a final with Ching Yau in the 14 year olds also moving on. In the senior boys, Lucas Hartley, back from university for the weekend, also advanced to his final.

Moving onto the 200’s in the session, we saw the first medals awarded as these were heat declared. First to get her hands on some silverware today was another first time Counties swimmer, Skyla Hodges. She swam the gruelling 200m butterfly and achieved third place to earn the bronze. Catherine was up next and with a huge drop in time and just two tenths behind the winner, she captured silver. Nieve Ives competed in the 14 year age group and earned herself a bronze medal as well as Junior bronze. She also qualified for the Championship final. There she was joined by Honor Beverstock who was the bronze medal winner in the 16+ age group. Honor finished in sixth in that final with Nieve in eighth.

The boys took on the 200 backstroke next. Tate Bailey swam a great race to earn himself a bronze medal in the 10/11 category. Julien won himself another silver medal in his age group along with Leo Sims one age up. Tommy Fenwick was the clear winner of gold in the 15 year old male category, winning by seven seconds and Oliver Baskerville swam a controlled race to pick up the gold in the senior age group. Both older boys competed again in the Championship final where Oliver put clear water between himself and the rest of the field to take the win. He also set a new County best time bettering the one he set last year. Tommy, the youngest in the final, finished eighth.

In the sprint finals, Catherine took time off her heat swim to finish third. In a fast final, both Jorgi and Aoife broke through the 30 second barrier finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Our senior girls were involved in a close race with Alexandra placing third just one hundredth behind second. Katie was fourth, Ever fifth and Erin sixth.

In the first breaststroke final of the session, Barnie and Dangis touched in seventh and eighth. In a blanket finish almost too close to call, Oliver won the bronze medal. Julien finished sixth with Ho Him in tenth. Leo touched in eighth place in his final with Ching Yau coming seventh in his. In the last sprint final, Lucas broke through the 30 second mark to take the gold ahead of one of his Birmingham University teammates who was competing for Ware. He also claimed the senior Championship gold.

To finish the session, there were a few relays. In the 10-13 200m free teams, Hatfield stormed to victory with Leo, Aoife, Jorgi and George winning by almost four seconds. Our other team of Julien, Yuet, Charlotte Duggleby and Tommy Camilotti finished in eighth. Our female 10-15 free team of Nieve, Emma Sofronov, Alexandra Kobylyanskay and Aria Waters managed a sixth place finish. In the final event, the male 10-15 200m medley team, our boys, Fox Foster, Ching Yau, Tommy Fenwick and Todd Leung, were just outside the medals in fourth place.

After a short break and a warm up, the second session of the day began. First was the female 50m backstroke then the male 50m butterfly. These were followed by the female 200m breaststroke and the male 200m free. Again, the session wrapped up with some relays.

The first of our girls to qualify for the 50m back finals were Aoife and Jorgi. In the 14 year old age group, Aria Waters surprised herself with a big drop of 3 seconds from her entry time to earn a finals spot. Our senior girls, again showing their strength and depth, qualified four into the final. These were Erin, Alexandra, Camille Vannier and Summer Boswell.

The boys sprint butterfly heats came next. Leonardas La Ville swam a PB to gain a place in his final as did Julien in the age group up. Both the Sims brothers, Leo and George, managed to qualify in their category too. Tommy also earned a spot in the 15 year final. Three Hatfield seniors made sure they would return for another swim with Daniel Williams, Lucas and Sam Jeffrey also making it back. Incredibly, Daniel and Lucas tied on 26.38, third qualification spot was only .01 behind with fourth also a tie .01 behind that on 26.40.

In a change from the sprints, the 200m breaststroke was the next event. Catherine, having a busy day, dropped a massive 11 seconds to take the victory for the 12 year olds. Jorgi just lost out on a medal by .05 seconds when she finished in fourth but did take home a fantastic 10 second PB. Nieve also swam her way to gold and also qualified for the Championship final to come later in the session. Caitlin Hartley also qualified for the Championship final by winning the 16+ age group gold medal.

In the male 200m free Dangis and Julien, swimming in the 10-11 and 12 year old age groups, both narrowly missed medals finishing in fourth place. Leo and George both had big swims to propel themselves up the rankings and into silver and bronze spots. Tommy was in the water again and this time it was silver for him along with a Junior medal too. In a very tight finish, Dan Belsey got his fingertips to the wall .02 ahead to claim the 16+ gold. He and K-ets Yah-Kai would be back later for the Championship final.

Finals time and first to get a medal round their neck was Aoife with a silver. Jorgi finished in seventh. In her final, Aria finished fifth in a close finish. More medals and Championships came along with our first 1-2 of the day when Erin finished first in the oldest grouping with Alexandra second. Camille placed fifth with Summer in seventh.

Leonardas was our first butterfly finalist and he touched the wall in fourth place. Julien was in the next final and he came home in fifth. George and Leo placed sixth and eighth in their final with Tommy coming tenth in his. In a very fast senior boys final, Lucas stopped the clock inside the old county best time but was beaten by his University of Birmingham teammate so took home the silver. Daniel Williams was a place behind him and claimed the bronze with Sam moving up into eighth. Lucas and Daniel also won silver and bronze Championship medals.

Two exciting Championship finals were next on the schedule, the first being the female 200m breaststroke. Caitlin went out strongly from the gun and led to the wall bringing home the gold. Nieve had a very good swim to finish in fifth place with a time that broke the previous county best time for the 14 year age group. The male 200m free followed. This was another exciting and close race which saw Dan taking the Championship silver just .06 behind first and K-ets coming home in fifth.

Relays rounded off the session again and our female 200m medley team of Shreya Kappagantula, Nieve, Niamh Mitchell and Aria finished in tenth place. The boys freestyle team saw Fox, San Farhi, Todd and Tommy finish in seventh.

Already a long day, there was one last session to come. In this, was the female 50m breaststroke, male 50m backstroke, female 200m free and male 200m breast. The relays due to be in the session were moved to the next day.

Catherine Hatherly was our first swimmer to qualify for her final where she was joined by Selena Spaho. Jorgi also qualified in her age group along with Nieve in hers. Ashley Ransome, Caitlin and Katie booked themselves spots in the senior final with Mercy as first reserve. Julien made sure he took a final place in the 50m back as did Leo Sims. Fox Foster, swimming in the 14 year old category, also earned another swim. Tommy qualified in the 15 year olds and three of the Pink Army’s older boys took spots in their final.

In yet another swim of the day, Catherine got herself a bronze medal in the 200m free with a 7 second PB. Not to be outdone, Jorgi knocked 5 seconds off her time to claim a silver. Louise Fiddes took a bronze medal in the 16+ category and also booked her place in the Championship final. Ever Ives also qualified. We had two medallists in the 200m breaststroke. The first was Barnie with a fantastic bronze in his first counties with a big 8 second drop in time. The other was Ching Yau in the 14 year old category where he also brought home a bronze. Oli Fenwick swam a time to earn him a second swim in the Championship final.

In a fast swim from an outside lane, Selena came through to take a bronze medal in the 12 year old girls 50m breaststroke final. Catherine touched the wall in sixth. In a very close finish between second to fourth, Jorgi captured third place in her age group. Nieve completed an excellent hattrick of breaststroke events by taking the win in her final. She also earned another Junior title. With both Ashley and Caitlin swimming under the old county best time, Ashley retained her title as well as resetting the county best time with Caitlin just behind in second. They also won the Championship medals of the same colours. Mercy finished in tenth place.

In another finish that was too close to call in the 50m back, Julien won another silver medal. Leo took eighth place in his final. Fox came seventh in his, just .01 behind sixth. In another exciting and fast race, Tommy was second in the 15 year old category. The last sprint of the night also came down to the wire with Lucas just getting the better of Oliver and both setting new PB’s. Oliver Fenwick also came sixth in the same race.

In the 200m free Championship final, Hatfield again took two medals with Louise winning silver and Ever the bronze. The 200m breaststroke was the last event of a very long day and Oliver Fenwick made sure we stayed until the very end by qualifying for it. He finished in ninth place after only just getting out of the water from the backstroke final.

It was a late finish and the sun had long set, but it had been another successful day for the Pink Army. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity!