Swimmers in the medals at Swim England East Region SC Championships

The top swimmers from all six Eastern Counties recently came together for the 2-day Swim England East Region Short Course Championships. Sixteen Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club members qualified: Alex Catton, Bryn Couser, Callum Davis, Callum Harold, Jess Penkul, Josie Pretious-White, Kaia Phillips, Mehdi El Mansar, Mia Carter, Millie Fields, Mohamed (Sami) Zemzami, Nellie Eastland, Niamh James, Nick Botha, Sarah Carroll, Tom Ogden.

All swimmers performed superbly against stiff competition in the Open age group, but Niamh James (18 years) was on sizzling form, with personal best (PB) times securing her Silver (200m Back), Bronze (100m Back) and 10^th in the 50m Back. She was also 7^th in the 200m IM heats. Millie Fields (15 years) also medalled, taking Silver in the 200m Freestyle and 7^th in the 100m Freestyle, where she was the fastest 15 year old in the pool.

Other finalists were Mia Carter (17 years), 4^th in the 50m Back; Alex Catton (16 years), 6^th in the 200m Back; and Bryn Couser (17 years), 7^th in the 200m Breaststroke and 8^th in the 100m Breaststroke.

Given the single Open age category in this Championships, our younger swimmers found it tough to get into the finals, but they showed huge potential for the future being some of the fastest when results were split by age group. Tom Ogden was the fastest 15 year old in the pool taking 12^th place in the 100m Back, 2^nd fastest taking 13^th in 200m IM, 14^th in 100m IM and 16^th in 50m Back, and 3^rd fastest in 50m Butterfly in 36^th place, whilst Mehdi El Mansar was the 3^rd fastest 15 year old in the 200m IM in 20^th place. Sami Zemzami was the fastest 14 year old taking 14^th in the 200m Butterfly, and the youngest competitor in the team, Kaia Phillips, was the 3^rd fastest 13 year old in the 50m Back taking 29^th place out of 72 swimmers and the 4^th fastest in the 100m Back in 40^th place out of 62 swimmers.