BSSC swimmers rounded off the 2023 Hertfordshire County Championships in style on the third and final weekend, securing fourteen more age group medals (1 Gold, 8 Silver, 5 Bronze), 34 more top 8 event finishes in the County, two Championship relay Golds and a Bronze 15/under relay medal.
Ella Greatbatch continued her complete domination of the 15 year old Breaststroke events taking the age group Gold, the Junior Championship Gold and the County best time in the 50m Breaststroke. Her outstanding performances across the first two weekends and the addition of Silver in the 200m IM and 4th in the 400m Freestyle helped secure her the title of Top 15 year old Girl in Hertfordshire, an award that recognises excellence across multiple strokes and distances. Four other BSSC swimmers also had the privilege of being recognised as being in the top eight in their age groups: 3rd Kirsty Neill (16+ years), 4th Brandon Macdonald-Williams (15 years), 4th Callum Cox (16+ years), 5th Dylan Davenport (14 years).
There were more swimmers with success in the Hertfordshire Junior (15yr and under) and Open Championship (10yr and over) awards. Lucy Wheeler took Gold in the 200m Freestyle Championship final and Jago Derrington Bronze in the 400m Freestyle Championship. Brandon Macdonald-Williams had an outstanding 400m IM swim dropping a whopping 29 seconds off his previous personal best time to secure him the Junior Championship Silver, whilst Ella Greatbatch achieved Bronze in the 200m IM.
One of BSSC’s youngest competitors, Guy Spearman-Baines, was in superb action in the 50m Breaststroke, achieving a two second personal best time of 48.23 seconds to qualify 7th for the 10/11 years final where he valiantly battled to take Bronze in a new PB of 47.17. Both 12 year old swimmers in action also achieved PBs to reach the finals of their events, with Eddy Cheng finishing 5th in the 50m Breaststroke (46.25) and Lois Fields 6th in the 50m Backstroke (39.05).
Yet again the relays were some of the most exciting moments of the weekend and BSSC had six teams with top eight finishes rounding off Counties 2023. The Mixed Championship 200m Medley team of Niamh James, Callum Davis, Callum Cox and Laura Burgess were chased down by Hatfield in the final leg but held them off to take Gold by less than one second. The Women Championship 200m Freestyle team of Lucy Wheeler, Imogen Tang, Emma Fields and Laura Burgess were so perfectly matched with the Hatfield team that each swimmer had an individual race and it came down to the final anchor leg. Laura Burgess, having just caught her breath from the medley relay, fought with every stroke to bring BSSC home for Gold with just 0.05 seconds between the teams. Laura deserves special mention as the BSSC anchor leg supremo, as she brought three Championship relay teams home to secure Gold medals.
Amalgamating the results from all three weekends, BSSC finished a superb fourth out of the nineteen Hertfordshire clubs, behind the large club trio of Hatfield, Watford and CoStA (City of St Albans). Congratulations to all swimmers who contributed to that success and special thanks to Coach Joe Collins who was there at every session, giving out great pep talks, celebrating successes, talking swimmers through the highs and lows of their performances and encouraging those hadn’t performed as they’d hoped. Thanks also to our Team Managers Claire Fields, Danielle Reilly, Kat Gore, our officials who took part over all three weekends and the parents who volunteered to help so they didn’t have to sit outside in the car park!
Weekend Three Age Group Medals:
- Gold: Ella Greatbatch (50m Breaststroke 15 years)
- Silver: Dylan Davenport (200m Freestyle 14 years), Brandon Macdonald-Williams (400m IM 15 years), Ella Greatbatch (200m IM 15 years), Callum Cox (200m Freestyle 16+ years), Jago Derrington (200m IM & 400m Freestyle 16+ years), Kirsty Neill (200m IM 16+ years), Lucy Wheeler (200m Freestyle 16+ years)
- Bronze: Guy Spearman-Baines (50m Breaststroke 10/11 years), Elliot Hall (200m & 400m Freestyle 13 years), Dylan Davenport (400m Freestyle 14 years), Meisha Trend-Evans (400m Freestyle 16+ years)
- Top 8 finishes: Brandon Macdonald-Williams, Callum Cox, Dylan Davenport, Eddy Cheng, Ella Greatbatch, Elliot Hall, Emma Fields, Kirsty Neill, Lauren Gore, Lois Fields, Meisha Trend-Evans, Molly Greatbatch, Robert Gor, Zoe Opiyo
Six of the relay teams were top 8 finishers:
- Gold Women Championship 200m Freestyle – Lucy Wheeler, Imogen Tang, Emma Fields, Laura Burgess
- Gold Mixed Championship 200m Medley – Niamh James, Callum Davis, Callum Cox, Laura Burgess
- Bronze Men Championship 200m Freestyle – Callum Cox, Jakey Hayes, George Grimwood, Callum Davis
- 5th Women 15/Under 200m Freestyle – Freya Hadnutt, Felice Chan, Zoe Opiyo, Ella Greatbatch
- 5th Men 15/Under 200m Medley – Ethan David-Tostevin, Robert Gor, Dylan Davenport, Beau Reilly
- 6th Mixed 15/Under 200m Freestyle – Dylan Davenport, Zoe Opiyo, Felice Chan, Beau Reilly
