Kicking off the 2022/23 short course championship season is the Swim England East Region SC Championships, aka Winter Regionals. Fifteen BSSC swimmers headed to Luton to compete against the best swimmers that the six Eastern counties of England could offer. Qualification had been split into three age groups to ensure the most talented younger swimmers could enter, but the event itself was an open race, so young qualifiers like 14 year old Ella Greatbatch battled against seasoned competitors in their twenties. Reaching a final meant you were in the top eight swimmers in the East Region for that event, irrespective of age.
The first full day of competition kicked off in style with Niamh qualifying for the 50m Backstroke final with a personal best time (PB, 29.76), and finishing 6th in the final (30.05). Later that day as returning champion in the 200m Backstroke, she fought off a strong challenge from a Team Ipswich 16 year old to take Gold by 0.23 seconds in 2:14.75.
In the 50m Freestyle, Callum Cox, Callum Davis and Jake Lloyd all swam PBs (23.57, 24.45, 25.96). Sixteen year old Callum Cox’s time secured him a place in the final where he came 4th (23.82) in an event won by an eighteen year old.
Emma Fields was on form in the 100m Freestyle with a PB in the heats of 59.17 and she knocked 0.01 seconds off that new PB to come 7th in the final.
Callum Cox swum a great heat in 50m Butterfly with a PB of 25.40 and was straight into the final, whilst Callum Davis was joint 8th (25.77) and had to swim off for a final place. Incredibly, both swimmers achieved identical results for the second time in the swim off, but the officials deemed the other swimmer had broken a technical rule and should be disqualified, moving Callum Davis into the final. Both performed well in the final, with Callum Davis coming 5th (25.63), and Callum Cox 7th (25.99, 1st under 18 year old).
The excitement continued on the Sunday, with Niamh coming 4th in the 200m IM final (2:22.21) and 5th in the 100m Backstroke (1:04.17).
Kirsty Neill and Ella Greatbatch swam strong times to secure places in the 200m Breaststroke final (2:37.08 and 2:39.54 PB), where they came 6th and 7th (2:39.71 and 2:40.29) and were the 1st and 2nd under 16 year old competitors.
Callum Davis and Callum Cox both qualified for the 100m Butterfly final (57.44 & 57.71 PB), where Callum Davis came 6th (57.86) and Callum Cox came 8th (1:01.21), the 2nd swimmer under 18 in a field dominated by 22 year olds.
Lauren Gore secured her place in the 50m Breaststroke final with a PB (33.43) and came 6th in the final (33.53), the 2nd under 18. Fourteen year old Ella was 12th in the event with a PB (33.85) and a 14/15 year BSSC Short Course club record. In July 2021, Kirsty Neill broke the 14/15 year 50m Breaststroke record (35.1) with a time of 34.85, that had stood since 2007 (Bernice Edgeworth). Since then she dropped it multiple times down to 34.37, but 14 year old Ella smashed that record with a 33.85.
Full list of qualifiers: Ella Greatbatch (14 years); Alice Longman, George Taylor, Jacob Hayes, Kirsty Neill (15 years); Callum Cox, Emma Fields, Grace Mason, Lauren Gore, Meisha Trend-Evans, Miriam Moukdad, (16 years); Bella Parkus (17 years); Callum Davis, Jake Lloyd, Niamh James (18 over).
Qualified but unable to swim: Laura Burgess, Jago Derrington (16 years).
