14 & Under South East Regional Championships 2018 Weekend One

Day 1 - Saturday 12th May

The first day of the 14 & Under Regionals saw 3 of our female swimmers compete down in Crawley at the K2. A wet and dreary day descended on Sussex - a far cry from the 15 and over championships last weekend where the temperature had hit 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!

The first event of the championships, the 800m freestyle, saw Annabel Pilgrim and Cerys Howells compete. With only 9 swimmers qualifying for each age group in the South East, both Annabel and Cerys did well to even get to this stage! Annabel raced in the 1st heat and won her heat with 10.28.82 - a PB of 5 seconds! She was placed 5th in the region in the 12 year old category.

Cerys was up next with a strong, solid swim and with a great time of 10.17.77, she was placed 8th in the 13 year old event.

The afternoon session saw Annabel and Cerys joined by Kyarra Steele for the 50m freestyle. Kyarra swam a good heat and gained a 0.57 second PB with a time of 30.38. This earned her a place in the 12 year old final as 5th fastest qualifier. Annabel and Cerys soon followed in their heat. Although Annabel was marginally off her PB, she also gained a place in the 12 year old final with a 30.39 seconds. Cerys swam well and although slightly off her PB as well, she should be pleased with her performance. 2 seconds separated 1st to 30th place in her 13 year old age group!

The 50m Freestyle Final

EPSC was the only Surrey club to have any swimmers in the 50m freestyle 12 year old final - and we had 2 out of the 8 finalists from the South East! Annabel and Kyarra both swam a great final. Annabel swam a PB with 30.20 and was placed 5th in the South East. Kyarra came 6th with 30.57 seconds. They should both be very proud as this was both their 1st regional competition and their 1st regional final!

Day 2 - Sunday 13th May

Sunday morning at the K2 saw our female 50m breaststroke qualifiers out in force! Esme Sherriff, Emily Shaw, Kyarra Steele and Zara Pratt-Hart battled it out in the breaststroke heats.

Esme was first up and swam a fabulous PB breaking 40 seconds with a 39.93. She earned herself 14th place out of 43 qualifiers! Esme should be very pleased with her performance, as she was only one of five 11 year olds to have qualified in the joint 11/12 year category and out of these five, she was 3rd fastest!

Emily and Kyarra were in subsequent 11/12 year old heats and although marginally off their PB's they still swam good times of 40.60 and 40.48 respectively.

Zara was racing in the 14 year old category and put in a solid swim of 39.20.

The afternoon saw Annabel and Cerys race again, this time in the 400m freestyle. Both girls were determined and swam strongly to gain PB's. Annabel's 5.03.86 earned her 6th place in the 12 year old age group out of 24 qualifiers. Cerys' 4.56.33 earned her 11th place in the 13 year old category out of 22 swimmers.

Thanks go to the coaches Glen and Clara on Saturday which was a long day due to our swimmers making the finals! Caffeine levels were high! Thanks to Glen on Sunday too.

Roll on the 2nd weekend of these regionals on 26th & 27th May! More reports to follow…..