Last weekend saw the East Region Championships held at the Inspire pool in Luton.
Cheshunt Swimming Club had 3 qualifiers for the weekend, who between them took part in over 20 events.
First up was Tegan Wollaston in the 400m Freestyle in which she set the bar high, with a personal best time of 4:41.07, finishing 7th fastest – in the region – in the 16yrs age group. No time to rest as Tegan was straight back in the pool in the gruelling 200m Butterfly again coming away with a strong time of 2:36.17 as well as qualifying for the evening final.
Session 2 saw Olivia Pawson and Daniel Lush enter the fray. Olivia recording a very strong 200m Backstroke time of 2:30.60, which qualified her for the evening finals in 4th place. Daniel opened his account with an excellent PB of 58.32 in the 100m Freestyle.
Session 3 saw both Tegan & Olivia hold onto their 6th (2:34.84) and 4th (2:31.32) places respectively in the 200m Butterfly & 200m Backstroke finals. Megan Pope &Alara Norton made the trip to Luton (as the youngest competitors) for the 4x100m Freestyle relay. Strong swims from all 4 girls saw them finish in 10th place over all.
Regional Squad Weekend 1 2015
The following morning saw all Daniel, Olivia and Tegan back in the water. This time it was Daniels turn for the 400m Freestyle. A strong swim from Daniel saw him dominate the race and he was able to mark up yet another excellent PB of 4:38.26. Another fantastic swim from Olivia saw her qualifying for the 50m Backstroke final in a time of 32.78 and Tegan finished 16th in the region for the100m Butterfly with a time of 1:11.88.
Continuing their busy day the afternoon session saw Tegan in the 400m Individual Medley with Olivia in the 100m Freestyle. Both girls swam excellent races with Olivia in 13th place with a time of 1:04.15 and Tegan just outside the medals in 4th with a time of 5:30.20. The club also entered the 4x200m Freestyle Relay with Megan and Alara joining Tegan & Olivia. It was really good experience for the team as out of over 20 clubs taking part in the championships only 2 others entered teams. Alara & Megan have 2 more years in the age group which will stand them in great stead for the future.
The finals session saw Olivia finish a credible 7th in the 50m Backstroke with a time of 32.93 and also saw the 4 girls compete in the 4x100m Medley Relay finishing 5th in their heat.
Monday was the final day of the Championships and saw all 3 Cheshunt swimmers back in action. Daniel competing in the 200m IM and the 200m Freestyle where he again achieved PBs in both events finishing in 15th (2:28.23) & 12th (2:08.66) position in a very competitive age group. Tegan completed her championships with another final in the 200m Freestyle finishing in 7th place in a time of 2:15.33. Not to be outdone Olivia managed to reach the final in both the 200m Individual Medley as well as the 100m Backstroke. She came 8th in the 200m IM final in a time of 2:36.51 and left her best performance until last with an excellent PB of 1:09.05 and 4th place in the 100m Backstroke.
Next up for Cheshunt swimmers is the 11-14yrs Regional Championships at the end of the month in Norwich. The club has it biggest contingent of swimmers for many years with a total of 8 swimmers qualifying to compete against the best in the East Region.