Lancashire Championships - Weekend 2

Ten swimmers swam over the weekend and all did the club proud.Holly Barden (15) produced the outstanding performance by winning a sliver medal in the 100m Freestyle, she was ranked first going into the final having swam 1:01.50 however even though she swam faster in the final, 1:01.36, it wasn't enough for the gold medal as the City of Salford swimmer just beat her in a time 1:00.81.Connie Urumov (16) produced three excellent swims in the 200m IM , 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly all in personal best times with the 50m Butterfly time gaining her qualification for North West Regionals at the end of March. She finished 14th in the 50m Backstroke, 15th in the 200m IM and 11th in the 50m Butterfly.Sydney King (16) swam a strong 50m Backstroke finishing in 18th with a time just outside her pb.Ben Shiels (15) continued his excellent form this time in the 200m IM in which he came 15th and swam another personal best time.Alex Keegan (17) swam in the 50m Butterfly coming 25th but he was happy with his time of 28.96 which was just outside his pb.Olivia Lee (14) swam in the 100m Freestyle finishing 38 out of 54 in what was a long course pb.Eve Schofield, Holly Barden (15) and Lily Anna Ireland (17) all swam in the 100m Breaststroke and all swimming just outside their long course pb's with Eve finishing in 26th, Holly 27th and Lil 10th in their respective age groups.Eric Byrne (14) swam an impressive 100m Freestyle improving his pb by over a second finishing in 13th place but most importantly he achieved the Regional qualifying time for the event. He also swam in the 50m Backstroke in a time just outside his pb and the 50m Butterfly in which he swam a really strong heat equalling his pb, 30.39 and qualifying fourth fastest for the final. In the final he swam slightly slower than the heat and his time of 30.54 was only good enough for a 7th place finish but still an excellent achievement.And so to our youngest qualifier, James Fazakerley (11), who has his own little fan club of our older girls. James was swimming at this level for the first time and the thought of swimming in a 50m pool did not put him off reaching the final in both of his events, in the 50m Butterfly his heat time of 36.63 ranked him 6th going into the final. In the final he swam 36.81 and a 7th place finish but amazingly his heat time was fast enough to qualify him for Regionals in April. In the 100m Free he swam 1:14.85 ranking him 8th fastest in the final. In the final he swam slightly slower but finished in 7th place.So overall albeit a long weekend it was a very successful one for our swimmers.