Essex County Age Group Championships 2019
Overview
NUEL proudly had 54 competitors qualify for Essex age group counties 2019, plus numerous relay teams. Every athlete swam well and competed to the best of their ability gaining many personal bests over the three weekends of competition. We also had numerous medalists & finalists which all contributed to the overall club score & improved ranking of NUEL to 9th best club in all of Essex.
Highlights
We had a number of swimmers achieving finals and medals this year, some for the first time.
Kameliya (16years) qualified for 8 finals and secured 3 Gold medals in her favoured Breaststroke, but also achieved Silver medals in 200IM, 400IM and 100 Butterfly. Kameliya also was in the finals of 50 Free & 100 Free gaining 6th & 7th places respectively.
Tarelle (12years) was also a multi County champion, securing Gold medals in the 50 & 100 Free. He also secured 2 Bronze medals in the 50 Butterfly & 200 Free. Tarelle also was a finalist in 5 other events; 50 Breast in 10th, 100 Butterfly in 5th, 400 free in 6th, 400IM in 5th & 1500 Free in 6th.
Alistair (17+ years) was our final county champion, securing a Gold medal in 50 Butterfly in a really hard fought final.
Romi was just touched into second place in both the 50 & 100 Breaststroke, securing Silver medals in both events. Romi also came 5th place in the 200 Breaststroke.
Mihnea secured 7 final placings gaining Silver in 200m Breaststroke, Bronze in 50m Breaststroke, 7th in 50 Free, 6th in 50 Butterfly, 6th in 100 Free, 4th in 100m Breaststroke and 7th in 1500m Free.
Steven proved hard work does pay off in achieving 9 finals and 2 Bronze medals, his first ever county medals, in 100 & 200 Butterfly. His other placings were 50 butterfly in 8th, 100 Breaststroke in 8th, 200IM in 8th, 400 Free in 8th, 400IM in 5th, 800 Free in 4th and finally 1500 Free in 4th.
Tunmise achieved 6 final placings, securing 2 Bronze medals in 50 & 200 Butterfly, proving she is coming back into form. Her other finals were 50 Backstroke in 9th, 100 Butterfly 6th, 400 Free 8th, 800 Free 5th & 1500 Free 4th.
Sami also gained his first ever county medal securing Bronze in 1500 Free. He also gained 11 final positions, 50 Backstroke 9th, 100 Backstroke 7th, 100 Butterfly 7th, 200 Free 8th, 200 Backstroke 4th, 200 Breaststroke 8th, 200 Butterfly 6th, 200IM 4th, 400IM 4th and 800 Free 4th.
Our final individual medallist was Reddy who secured Bronze in 400 Free. He also placed 4th in both 100 & 200 Free.
Our other medals were secured in relay events with our Boys 15+ medley team of Joe Northover, Mihnea, Alistair & Adam winning Bronze, which was followed by a Silver for the team of Adam, Reddy, Alistair & Joe for the freestyle team.
The boys 11/12 relays our medley team was unfortunately disqualified but the team bounced back strongly to secure Bronze in the Freestyle team event.
Our other multiple finalists were as follows;
Competing in the open age groups at 17 for the first time were Adam, who made the final in 50 Free 8th, 50 Backstroke 9th & 100 Free 5th, Jack who came 5th in the 200 Butterfly and Drew who placed 7th in the 200 Butterfly and 400 Freestyle.
Joe Northover also competed in the open age group securing 4th in the 50 Butterfly & 7th in the 100 Butterfly.
Rhys in the 13 years age group sum in 3 finals placing 6th in the 50 Breaststroke, 7th in the 100 Breaststroke & 8th in 200 Breaststroke.
Georgi (14 years) gained 3 final places in 8th 50 Free, 7th 50 Butterfly & 8th 200 Butterfly.
Joe Munden (15 years) also made 3 finals, 6th 50 Breaststroke, 7th 100 Breaststroke & 8th 200 Breaststroke.
Hadi (13 years) despite injury managed to gain 5th place in the 50 backstroke.
Qaiyan (12 years) came 10th in the 50 Freestyle final.
David achieved 4 finals, 10th 50 Breaststroke, 4th 50 Butterfly, 8th 100 Butterfly & 8th 200 Butterfly.
Our final individual points came from our talented group of 10/11 year old girls. Salina came 5th in the 200 Backstroke and 10 year old Margarita came 8th in the 200 Breaststroke showing great promise for next years counties where she will compete in the same age group again.
We also gained valuable points from our boys 13/14 relay teams. Georgi, Hadi, Kurt & Steven achieved 6th place in the Medley relay and 8th place in the Freestyle relay. Our 9/10 girls team of Margarita, Migle, Ivett Szerena & Nicole came 9th in the Medley relay and equal 9th in the Freestyle relay.
Overall the team finished in 9th place for the whole competition, improving last year’s position by 1 place, our number of finalists improved by 11% against 2018 and were 3 medals above last year’s total medals.
Thank you and a big well done to all of the swimmers who took part and worked hard to achieve county standard. You were all a credit to the club and we are proud to be your coaches.
Roll on 2020 Essex Counties!