Seagulls Summer Nationals Success
Seagulls swimming club had a number of swimmers racing and competing at summer national meets last month with some great success in all of the summer championships. The club had a mix of swimmers experienced to first time national competitors. Seagulls had the following qualifiers
Aquatics GB Summer Championships – Top 28 in qualified in UK from national window (top 20 in distance)
Edward Bell – 50/100/200 BK & 50/100/200 Fc
Sophie Kilby – 100/200 BR
Halle Robinson – 100 BR
Jonathan Thring – 1500 Fc
Swim England Summer Championships – next 30 qualified in England from national window (next 20 in distance)
Jonathan Thring – 400 / 800 Fc
Halle Robinson – 200 BR
Bethany McWilliam - 400 IM
Swim Ireland Summer Championships – Dublin – Under qualification times
Orla Whittaker – 50 BR
Scottish Summer Nationals – next swimmers qualifying from national window that are Scottish
Edward Bell – 50 / 100 Fly & 200 IM
Swim England Open Water Nationals – Under qualification times or top 4 at regional championships
Alex Mclaughlin – 7.5K
Jonathan Thring – 7.5K
Freya Treliving – 5K
Neve Truscott – 5K
Aquatics GB Summer Championships - 20th – 26th July
From the 4 swimmer that had qualified we had 3 swimmers entering and taking on the biggest UK championships of the year that were held at the prestigious ponds forge leisure centre up in Sheffield.
Day 1
First day of the championships saw the 1500m races held as well as a training day in the evening for the swimmers traveling up for the next day. Jonathan Thring was up first in the 1500 Fc putting down a strong performance to finish in a new PB of 16:49.40 by 4 seconds and finishing an impressive 14th overall. A jump of rankings by 6 from his entry.
Day 2
Edward Bell was the solo seagull swimmer on day 2 racing 2 events in the 200 Fc and 50 BK. A strong but a little nervy first race for Edward saw him just off his PB to finish in a 1:59.18 to finish 20th overall in his age group. Despite that bad race he was able to put that behind him and compete in his second event of the day the 50m backstroke. Edward was able to go and smash his heat with the win and come away a new personal best of 27.78 breaking his own club record. Just finishing off the final by margins to finish 16th overall. A good way to recover from a race not going to plan.
Day 3
Edward Bell was back in action on day for his 3rd event of the championships in the 100 Bk. The event that had eluded many seagulls swimming of trying to break the big barrier of 1:00. Edward was able to come away breaking that feat to clock a 59.96 breaking the club record and being the first seagull swimmer to break the 1 min barrier for 100 Bk long course. Sophie Kilby was the next swimmers to take to the water making her British debut in which she has had a season of massive drops in personal bests to make it to these championships. Sophie competed in the 100 BR and despite some big nerves was able to come away with a new personal best and dropping her club records in the mean time to finish 15th overall with a 1.17.50.
Day 4
The 4th day of competition was the 100 Fc in which Edward was up in an event that as seen some great drops throughout the window. Edward just shy of breaking the 53 second barrier coming away with a 53.07 to finish 19th overall and breaking his club record that was only just set a couple of months prior.
Day 6
After a recovery day for all swimmers and coaches’ day 6 brough the splash and dash 50 Fc. An event that can make such difference with little things such as a bad start etc can affect the time massively. Edward despite taking an extra arm into the finish clocked PB number 4 of 5 swimmers to finish in a 24.66 to finish 20th.
Day 7
The last day of competition saw the duo of Edward and Sophie racing again on the same day both in 200m events. Sophie was up first in the 200 Breaststroke and Edward finishing his program with the 200 Backstroke. Sophie come away with lots of experience from these championships swam a 2:52.44 to finish 21st. Edward Bell was the final swim up and continued his PB train and was able to finish in a 2:10.89 coming 15th Overall.
Swim England Open Water Nationals
Next up in the week was the national water championships held just 20 mins away from where the pool championships were being held. Again, seagulls had a number of qualifiers and 3 competed on the day of the championships braving the 1K lap swimming course with the best in the country.
Alex Mclaughlin fresh from his bronze medal at the regional championships in the 5K stepped up to take on the 7.5K swim a first-time swim of this event and ever gruelling. Supported by dad on the side on the feeding station Alex was able to finish in 01:55.20 to finish 24th.
Next up we had the girls turn of Neve Truscott and Freya Treliving take on the 5K swim. Neve taking on her first 5K and only 2nd ever open water swim plus first ever national event held a consistent pace round the 5 laps to finish in the top 20 of the field in 01:14.48. Amazing experience and determination. Freya taking on the 5K swim as well a step up from the 3K qualification swim also swam a fairly well paced race finish just outside the top 20 places finishing 21st overall in a 01:14.24.
Swim Ireland Summer Championships
Orla Whittaker qualified to race in Dublin for the 50m Breaststroke at the Irish summer nationals. A big drop in times this season saw Orla qualify for the event in Dublin which shows her massive progression this season. Taking away a load of experience and motivation to drive onto next season Orla was able to clock a 36.95 her 2nd fastest ever swim to date.
Swim England Summer Nationals
Jonthan Thring was the solo swimmers to compete at these championships in the 400fc and 800fc over 2 days of racing. His heat swim in the 400 Fc was bang on his Pb and did the job done to qualify for the final in 8th with a time of 4:16.70. Taking away the feedback and race execution from the heat Jonathan was able to come back and race the final a lot more tactically and stepping up massively to just finish outside the medals in 4th with a huge drop in PB and club record to finish in a 4:11.44. A great swim and even better execution from heat to final. Lastly the final race of the season Jonathan took on the 800 Fc. This event being one of his strongest events has been on the consistent rise this season dropping time throughout the season. Jonathan was able to use the success of the previous nights racing and same focus to drop a massive season’s best of 11 seconds to be back on his best form to win the 800 Fc. A feat that has not been done for the club since 2018.
Amazing swimming from the team.
Overall Rests from the team:
13 Overall Pool Races
8 New PB’s
6 Club Records
1 x Final
1 x Gold Medal
4 National Debuts
Great job swimmers!
#LETSGOSEAGULLS
