With older swimmers and top BSSC Gold medallist after weekends 1&2 Kaia Phillips away at a meet in Sheffield, the responsibility was left with the younger BSSC swimmers for the final weekend of the Hertfordshire County Championships.  All swimmers stepped up and performed admirably, securing eight more medals and ensuring that BSSC finished fourth in the individual medals table behind the large clubs of Hatfield, Watford and City of St Albans (third if we could have counted new recruit Callum’s medals as ours!).

On Saturday the 14 year olds dominated the Butterfly events, with Gold for Jessie Fields in 50m, and Golds for Grace Mason and Callum Cox in the 200m, whilst Jago snatch Gold in the 200m Back.  Kirsty Neill (13 Years) added to her medal collection with her fourth Gold of the Championship (400m IM).

The final day of Counties wrapped up with the fast and furious freestyle and medley relays.  Twenty one BSSC swimmers were in action but it was the 14/15 year old girls who were on superb form, with both the Womens 10/15 Yrs 200m Freestyle relay team (Issy Good, Meisha Trend-Evans, Jessie Fields, Lilian Opiyo) and the Womens 10/15 Yrs 200m Medley relay team (Freya Reilly, Lauren Gore, Jessie Fields and Lilian Opiyo) storming past the Watford teams on their way to Bronze medals.  It was a great way to end a fantastic Championships.

Congratulations to all our competitors for their successes, the way they supported each other and how they represented BSSC.  Thanks to everyone who helped in some way to the running of the sessions – let’s try and get even more of us helping out next year as our attendance continues to grow.  Finally, well done parents – you survived three weeks of bag packing, food provision, snack sourcing and emergency purchases and provided lots of great encouragement and cheering.

The Weekend 3 County finalists (50/100m events), top 8 finishers (200/400/800m events) and medallists were:

• Womens 50m Fly: Gold Jessie Fields (14 Yrs), Silver Alice Longman (13 Yrs), 4^th Issy Good (15 Yrs), 5^th Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs)
• Mens 50m Back: Silver Callum Cox (14 Yrs – Ware), 4^th Jago Derrington (14 Yrs), 6^th Oliver Gisborne (12 Yrs)
• Womens 200m Back: 4^th Freya Reilly (15 Yrs)
• Mens 200m Fly: Gold Callum Cox (14 Yrs), 7^th George Taylor (13 Yrs)
• Womens 200 Fly: Gold Grace Mason (14 Yrs), Silver Jess Penkul (16/Over), 8^th Ellen Millar-Bond (13 Yrs)
• Mens 200m Back: Gold Jago Derrington (14 yrs), 7^th Beau Reilly (12 Yrs) & Callum Cox (14 Yrs), 8^th George Grimwood (13 Yrs)
• Womens 400m IM: Gold Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs)

The 21 relay swimmers were:

• 11 Yrs Ethan David-Tostevin, Zoe Opiyo
• 12 Yrs Eliza Andrews, Leo Suo-Saunders
• 13 Yrs Ellen Millar-Bond, George Cooper, George Grimwood, George Taylor, Imogen Tang, Kirsty Neill
• 14 Yrs David Badcock, Fergal Barry, Jago Derrington, Jessie Fields, Lauren Gore, Lilian Opiyo, Meisha Trend-Evans, Sam Carter, Seb Clark
• 15 Yrs Freya Reilly, Issy Good

Final relay results were:

• Bronze: Womens 10/15 Yrs 200m Freestyle Team
• Bronze: Womens 10/15 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 5^th place: Mens 10/13 Yrs 200m Freestyle Team
• 5^th place: Womens 10/13 Yrs 200m Freestyle Team
• 5^th place: Womens 10/13 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 6^th place: Mixed 10/13 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 6^th place: Mixed 10/15 Yrs 200m Freestyle Team
• 6^th place: Mens 10/13 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 7^th place: Mixed 10/15 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 8^th place: Mens 10/15 Yrs 200m Medley Team
• 9^th place: Mens 10/15 Yrs 200m Freestyle Team

On a cold, stormy Tuesday evening (14^th Jan), when the rest of the world were safely tucked up indoors, two intrepid Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club members, Kaia Phillips and Eleanor Mason headed off to Borehamwood for the 800m Freestyle event of the Swim England Hertfordshire County Championships.  The trip and the 32 length swim proved worth it as both got personal best times, with Kaia taking Gold in the 14 Yrs Age Group and Eleanor placing 8^th in the 16Yrs & Over age group.

They were back again this weekend, but this time as part of a 46 strong squad of swimmers who managed to match last weekend’s outstanding performances.  BSSC’s youngest two competitors, 10-year olds Ethan David-Tostevin and Zoe Opiyo, both reached multiple event finals and the squad added an amazing twenty four medals (8 Gold, 5 Silver, 11 Bronze) to the 23 from the weekend before.

The County finalists (50/100m events), top 8 finishers (200/400/800m events) and medallists were:

• Women 800m Free: Gold Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), 8^th Eleanor Mason (16Yrs/Over)
• Men 50m Breaststroke: Bronze James Gisborne (15 Yrs), 4^th Bryn Couser (16Yrs/Over), 5^th Leo Suo-Saunders (12 Yrs), 6^th Oliver Gisborne (12 Yrs)
• Women 50m Back: Gold Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs) & Mia Carter (16Yrs/Over), 5^th Freya Reilly (15 Yrs), 6^th Laura Hull (15 Yrs), 7^th Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs)
• Men 50m Free: Bronze Callum Cox (14 Yrs – Ware) & James Gisborne (15 Yrs), 6^th Ethan David-Tostevin (10/11 Yrs), 7^th Leo Suo-Saunders (12 Yrs)
• Women 50m Free: Silver Alice Longman (13 Yrs), Bronze Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), 5^th Zoe Opiyo (10/11 Yrs) & Lilian Opiyo (14 Yrs), 6^th Meisha Trend-Evans (14 Yrs)
• Men 200m Free: 4^th Callum Cox (14 Yrs) & James Gisborne (15 Yrs), 6^th Tain Phillips (12 Yrs), 7^th Jago Derrington (14 Yrs) & Mehdi El Mansar (16Yrs/Over), 8^th Brandon Macdonald-Williams (12 Yrs)
• Women 200m Breast: Gold Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs), 7^th Hannah Robinson (12 Yrs)
• Women 50m Breast: Silver Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs), Bronze Alice Longman (13 Yrs) & Lauren Gore (14 Yrs), 8^thCatherine Clune (12 Yrs)
• Men 50m Fly: Gold Callum Cox (14 Yrs), Bronze Callum Davis (16Yrs/Over), 8^th Ethan David-Tostevin (10/11 Yrs)
• Women 100m IM: Gold Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs), Silver Millie Fields (16Yrs/Over), Bronze Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), 4^th Jessie Fields (14 Yrs), 8^th Zoe Opiyo (10/11 Yrs)
• Men 100m IM: Bronze Leo Suo-Saunders (12 Yrs), 6^th Tain Phillips (12 Yrs), 7^th Callum Davis (16Yrs/Over)
• Women 200m Free: Gold Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), Bronze Alice Longman (13 Yrs) & Millie Fields (16Yrs/Over), 5^th Meisha Trend-Evans (14 Yrs), 8^th Zoe Opiyo (10/11 Yrs) & Lilian Opiyo (14 Yrs)
• Men 200m Breast: Gold James Gisborne (15 Yrs), Silver Bryn Couser (16Yrs/Over), 5^th Oliver Gisborne (12 Yrs) & Nick Botha (16Yrs/Over)
• Women 400m Free: Silver Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), 4^th Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs)

2020 has started with a bang for Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club, with the Swim England Hertfordshire County Championships.  Only the top swimmers across Hertfordshire are selected for each age event, and BSSC have 57 swimmers heading to Borehamwood to take part in more than 300 individual swims over eight exhilarating days of competition.  For some swimmers, this is the first time they are competing at a County level, including Ethan David-Tostevin and Zoe Opiyo, who are competing in 15 events in the 10/11 Yrs age group.

The first weekend of competition kicked off with the 100m Free/Fly/Breast/Back events, the 200m IM and the Male 400m Freestyle.  It promised to be an exciting weekend and it did not disappoint!  Places in finals and battles for medals came down to hundredths of a second and lengths of fingernails, with swimmers digging deep to be the first to touch that wall.  So many swimmers stepped up and achieved Personal Best times and across the first two days of competition BSSC won an amazing 23 age group medals (8 Gold, 9 Silver and 6 Bronze).

The finalists (100m events), top 8 finishers (200/400m events) and medallists were: 

• Women 100m Fly: Gold Jessie Fields (14 Yrs), 5^th Grace Mason (14 Yrs) & Jess Penkul (16Yrs/Over), 7^th Issy Good (15Yrs)
• Men 100m Back: Gold Alex Catton (16Yrs/Over), Bronze Jago Derrington (14 Yrs), 5^th Callum Cox (14Yrs), 6^th Ethan David-Tostevin (10/11 Yrs)
• Women 100m Free: Gold Alice Longman (13 Yrs) & Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs), Silver Millie Fields (16Yr/Over), 5^thLilian Opiyo (14 Yrs), 6^th Zoe Opiyo (10/11 Yrs) & Meisha Trend-Evans (14 Yrs)
• Men 100m Breast: Silver James Gisborne (15 Yrs), Bronze Bryn Couser (16Yrs/Over), 4^th Leo Suo-Saunders (12 Yrs), 6^th Oliver Gisborne (12 Yrs), 7^th Mehdi El Mansar (16Yrs/Over)
• Men 200m IM: Gold Mehdi El Mansar (16 Yrs/Over), 4^th James Gisborne (15 Yrs), 7^th Oliver Gisborne (12 Yrs)
• Women 200m IM: Gold Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs), Bronze Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs) & Millie Fields (16Yrs/Over)
• Men 100m Fly: Gold Callum Cox (14 Yrs – swimming for his old club Ware), Silver Sami Zemzami (15 Yrs), 4^th Callum Davis (16Yrs/Over)
• Women 100m Back: Silver Kaia Phillips (14 Yrs) & Mia Carter (16Yrs/Over), 4^th Freya Reilly (15 Yrs)
• Men 100m Free: Silver Callum Cox (14 Yrs) & Sami Zemzami (15 Yrs), 4^th James Gisborne (15 Yrs), 5^th Leo Suo-Saunders (12 Yrs)
• Women 100m Breast: Silver Kirsty Neill (13 Yrs), Bronze Alice Longman (13 Yrs) & Lauren Gore (14 Yrs)
• Men 400m Free: Gold Sami Zemzami (15 Yrs), Silver Mehdi El Mansar (16 Yrs/Over), 4^th Jago Derrington (14 Yrs) & James Gisborne (15 Yrs)

Congratulations to all swimmers for their performances, but especially Ethan and Zoe who reached finals at their very first County Championships!  Good luck to everyone for the next 6 days of competition.

Full list of swimmers by age group:

 

11 years: Ethan David-Tostevin, Zoe Opiyo

12 years: Alexander Filionescu, Alice Lowe, Beau Reilly, Brandon Macdonald-Williams, Catherine Clune, Eliza Andrews, Hannah Robinson, Leo Suo-Saunders, Megan Hull, Oliver Gisborne, Tain Phillips

13 years: Ellen Millar-Bond, George Cooper, George Taylor, Imogen Tang, Jacob Hayes, Alice Longman, George Grimwood, Kirsty Neill

14 years: David Badcock, Elizabeth Clune, Emma Fields, Fergal Barry, Grace Mason, Jago Derrington, Jessica Fields, Kaia Phillips, Lauren Gore, Leanne Suo-Saunders, Lilian Opiyo, Meisha Trend-Evans, Miriam Moukdad, Samuel Carter, Sebastian Clark, Callum Cox

15 years: Freya Reilly, Isabella Good, James Gisborne, Laura Hull, Mohamed Zemzami

16Yrs/Over: Alexander Catton, Amy Wright, Bryn Couser, Callum Davis, Callum Harold, Eleanor Mason, Hannah Morgan, Jessica Penkul, Josie Pretious-White, Mehdi El Mansar, Mia Carter, Millie Fields, Nellie Eastland, Nick Botha, Sarah Carroll

Towards the end of November, Christmas came early for nearly 70 BSSC swimmers, aged 9-17 years old, who headed to Braintree for the BBSC and DASC Christmas Cracker Open Meet.  It was a fun Christmas themed meet and the squad beat their recent Basildon performances with even more great times (including some superb County & Regional times), bringing back 94 fabulous Christmas themed medals (29 Gold, 34 Silver and 31 Bronze) along with another 82 place medals (4^th-6^th).

This time a number of our 9- and 10-year olds got in on the medal collection as well – well done to everyone:

• 9 years: Florence Hills (Bronze 50m Back, 100m Free), Grigory Grishin (Gold 100IM, Silver 100m Breast, Bronze 50m Back), Samuel Bird (Silver 100IM, 50m Back, 50m Free), Tia Wardell (Bronze 50m Fly)
• 10 years: Ethan David-Tostevin (Silver 50m Free, Bronze 50m Back)
• 11 years: Brandon Macdonald-Williams (Bronze 100IM/200IM, 200m Free), Catherine Clune (Gold 100IM, Bronze 100m Free), George Cooper (Bronze 50m/100m Back), Hannah Robinson (Silver 200m Breast, Bronze 100m Breast), Oliver Gisborne (Gold 50m/100m Breast, Silver 200IM), Robert Gor (Silver 200m Breast), Tain Phillips (Silver 200m Free)
• 12 years: Alice Longman (Gold 50m Breast, 50m Fly, 100m/200m Free, Silver 200IM, 50m Free), George Grimwood (Gold 50m/100m/200m/400m Free, 50m/200m Back), George Taylor (Silver 200m Free), Kirsty Neill (Gold 100m/200m Breast, 100IM/200IM, 400m Free, Silver 50m Breast, Bronze 50m Fly, 100m Free)
• 13 years: Emma Fields (Silver 200m Back, Bronze 100m Back), Grace Mason (Silver 100m Fly, 400m Free, Bronze 200IM), Jago Derrington (Gold 400m Free, Silver 50m Back, 200IM), Jessie Fields (Gold 50m/100m Fly, Silver 50m Breast, Bronze 50m Back), Lauren Gore (Gold 50m Breast, Silver 200m Breast, Bronze 100m Breast), Lilian Opiyo (Gold 400m Free, Silver 50m/100m Free), Meisha Trend-Evans (Gold 200m Back, Silver 50m/100m Back, 100IM/200IM, Bronze 50m/200m Free), Miriam Moukdad (Bronze 200m Breast), Sam Carter (Bronze 200m Back), Seb Clark (Silver 100IM)
• 14 years: Evie Smallbone (Bronze 100m Back, 100m Free), Freya Reilly (Silver 200m Free Bronze 50m/200m Back, 400m Free), Issy Good (Silver 400m Free, Bronze 50m Fly), James Gisborne (Gold 100IM, 100m/200m Breast, 200m Free, Silver 200IM, 100m Free)
• 15/Over: Amy Wright (Bronze 200m Breast), Aoife James (Silver 200m Back), Hannah Morgan (Silver 100m Free, 200m Breast, Bronze 100IM, 200m Back)

Additional Place medal winners were:

• 10 years: Charles German, Dylan Davenport, Zoe Opiyo
• 11 years: Alex Filionescu, Beau Reilly, Eliza Andrews,
• 12 years: Ellen Millar-Bond, Hannah Davidson
• 13 years: David Badcock, Fergal Barry, Jaymee Wardell, Leanne Suo-Saunders,

Congratulations to all swimmers on their great performances.