2015 Yorkshire Swimming Association Age Group / Open Championships Gala 3

The third of four weekends of the Yorkshire Swimming Association Age Group / Open Championships 2015 took place at The John Charles Centre for Sports in Leeds on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th February 2015.

21 Swimmers from BOBSC achieved the qualification times to take part and claimed a medal haul of 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze medals together with 13 other top ten finishes, some near misses and 28 long course personal best times.

Many congratulations to all the swimmers concerned.

Our top medallist was again Abigail Miles competing in the 10 year girls age group emphatically winning Gold Medal in 200m backstroke, Silver Medals in 200m and 400m freestyle and a pennant for 4th place in 200m butterfly closely followed by Lewis Baker in the boys 10 year age group winning Silver Medal in 200m IM, Bronze Medal in 400 freestyle and a pennant for 7th place in 200m butterfly.

Macy Yoxall (9) also performed strongly winning Silver Medal in the 200m butterfly and just missing the top ten with 11th place in the 200m backstroke together with Maisie Inman making a welcome return to competition after a long absence with PB's in her three events, just missing out on the top ten with 11th place in the 10 year girls 400m freestyle and finishing 20th in 200m freestyle and 23rd in 200m backstroke.

Also finishing just outside the top ten in the 10 year girls 400m freestyle in 15th place with a PB was Phoebe McNicholas and in the same event for the 11 year boys Matthew Selous finished in 14th place again with a PB.

The 9 and 10 year events and the 400m freestyle were swum on a heat declared basis; and the 11 year and over 100m and 200m events were swum in heats with the top ten racing off in the finals.

As seems customary Thomas Speed again reached the finals of the 100m and 200m breaststroke in the 15/16 year category winning Silver and Bronze medals respectively as well as achieving "near misses" with 11th place finishes in the heats of both the 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke.

Also reaching the finals for the boys in the 11 year age group was Sam Charlesworth who qualified in 10th place for the final of the 100m breaststroke before increasing his pace to finish 8th in the final itself; whilst in the 13 year age group Greg Lugton again swam majestically with a series of PB's finishing in 7th place in the final of the 200m freestyle, 8th place in the final of the 100m butterfly, 8th place in the 400m freestyle and just missing out on the final of the 200m IM finishing in 14th place in the heats.

For the 13 year old girls Libby Turner reached the finals for all her events picking up four pennants with 6th place in 200m IM, 5th place in 100m freestyle, 7th place in 100m backstroke and 9th place in 200m backstroke; whilst for the 12 year old girls Elizabeth Safonkina reached the final of the 100m backstroke finishing in 9th place and the final of the 200m IM finishing in 10th place. Elizabeth also finished in 16th place after the heats of the 200m backstroke and 27 in 100m freestyle.

Also reaching the finals of the 100m backstroke were Harriet Ostrowski-Jones  at 11 year age group who finished in 8th place and Claire Berry at the 14/15 year category. Unfortunately Claire was unable to take part in the final. Harriet also scored two near misses finishing in 12th place after the heats of the 200m IM and in 13th place after the heats of the 200m backstroke and finished 22nd in the 100m freestyle.

In other results Nathan Billingham (13) finished 24th in the 200m IM; Ben Nutt (16) finished 37th in 200m freestyle; Corinne Hill (15) finished in 24th place in 400m freestyle and in 45th place in 200m backstroke; whilst also in the girls 14/15 200m backstroke other finishes included Claire Berry in 28th, Emily Norton in 44th, Lauren Heywood in 48th and Alanah Hill in 50th. In the heats of the 16 years and over 100m freestyle Holly Milnes (16) finished in 20th place. 

Alex Tikhonov was unable to take part due to illness.

All in all some fantastic swims!

After extremely long days, the swimmers maintained their morale and the atmosphere was amazing on poolside with swimmers cheering on their team mates at the end of the lanes.

Well done to all!

Carly Herbert

Head Coach

2015 Yorkshire Team Championships Report

An exciting day of swimming saw teams from BOBSC compete in the 2015 Yorkshire Team Championships held at The John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds on Sunday 8 February 2015 with swimmers swimming for one another and putting personal glory and aspirations to one side.

Pride of place goes to our 9-10 year swimmers where both our boys team and the girls "A" team reached both of their finals in 200m Medley and 200m Free thereby securing much coveted commemorative pennants.

Swimming for the girls "A" team were Maddie Barker, Phoebe McNicholas, Abigail Miles and Macy Yoxall who qualified in 4th place in the Medley relay heats and in 5th place in the freestyle relay heats facing competition from 21 other teams including a young BOBSC B team made up of Georgia Lee, Megan Sharp, Isabelle Speed and Lola Yoxall. Some tenacious swimming saw the "A" team finish in 4^th place in both finals. The 9-10 years girls "B" team finished 17th in the medley and 16th in the freestyle.

The 9-10 years boys team made up of Lewis Baker, Alex Tikhonov, Myles Tupman and Jonathon Wightman were competing against 17 other teams qualifying in 9th place in the medley heats and 8th place in the freestyle heats before battling for 5th place in the medley final and retaining form with 8th place in the freestyle final.

In the 11-12 years age group our girl team of Millie Hamby, Harriet Ostrowski-Jones, Jessica Richardson and Elizabeth Safonkina faced very strong competition from 30 other teams finishing 13^th in the freestyle and 15^th in the medley whilst a relatively inexperienced boys 11-12 years team made up of William Kenny, Sam Charlesworth, Kallum Smart and Matthew Selous, found the opposition to be very tough finishing 19^th out of 20 teams in the freestyle and 16th out of 19 teams in the medley

Similarly our 13-14 years girls team of Lauren Heywood, Georgia Hamblett, Megan Mitchel and Libby Turner also came up against fierce opposition finishing 15^th out of 21 teams in the medley and 17^th out of 21 teams in the freestyle.

With only 10 teams competing in the girls open age group our team of Mollie James, Emma Smith, Emily Norton and Libby Turner only had to negotiate their heats without being disqualified to reach the finals; and this they did successfully before finishing in 10^th place in both medley and freestyle finals to complete a most enjoyable day for all the swimmers involved and some excitement too for the club's supporters in the stand.

Carly Herbert

Head Coach

January 2014 News Round Up

BOBSC NEWS HEADLINES

January has been a very busy month starting off with a last chance for swimmers to achieve qualifying times for the 2015 Yorkshire Championships (and the chance to release some energy after the Christmas holidays) and culminating with the start of the championships themselves.

This issue includes a report on the first weekend of the 2015 Yorkshire Championships featuring the 50m events… PLUS

Libby Turner has qualified for two events for the British Swimming Championships… PLUS

Gala reports for other January Level 1 and Level 3 meets!

The Yorkshire Swimming Association Age Group / Open Championships 2015

The first weekend of the 2015 championships saw the 50m events held at Ponds Forge Sheffield on Saturday 31 January.

There was a change to the format of the 50m events this year with 9 and 10 year olds swimming on a heat declared winner basis and only 11 year age groups and upwards competing in heats with the top ten in each age group swimming in finals.

20 Girls and 10 Boys from BOBSC took part. Swimming in the Yorkshire Championships often brings out the best in swimmers and this year's 50m events lived up to that with a total of 43 long course PB's from 70 swims in spite of a busy competitive schedule in the run up to the Championships. Many congratulations to everyone who contributed to the "haul" of PB times!

Our top medallist (and also our 2014 Swimmer of the Year) was Abigail Miles competing in the 10 year age group who won Gold Medal in breaststroke, Silver Medal in backstroke and also received "top ten" pennants for 4^th places in both freestyle and butterfly.

Our other 9 and 10 year old girls excelled themselves contributing significantly to the total number of PB's on the day with the following securing top ten finishes and receiving "top ten" pennants:

Georgia Lee (9) 4^th place in breaststroke; Macy Yoxall (9) 7^th place in freestyle and 9^th place in backstroke; and Phoebe McNicholas (10) 7^th place in breaststroke.

For the 9 and 10 year old boys Lewis Baker again performed very strongly securing top ten finishes and receiving "top ten" pennants for 5^th place in freestyle, 7^th place in breaststroke and 9^th place in backstroke. Lewis also finished just outside the top ten with 11^th place in butterfly.

In the older age group categories Thomas Speed swimming at the 15/16 year category was again our top boy swimmer reaching the final and winning Gold Medal in breaststroke and just missing out on the butterfly final finishing in 11^th place in the heats. Thomas also finished 17^th in backstroke and 21^st in freestyle.

Also for the boys Greg Lugton (13) reached the butterfly final and received a pennant for a battling 8^th place finish. Greg just missed out on the final of the backstroke finishing 11^th in the heats and also finished 14^th in freestyle.

For the girls Elizabeth Safonkina (12) reached the backstroke final and received a pennant as reward for an excellent 9^th place finish. Elizabeth also finished 17^th in breaststroke, 21^st in butterfly and 26^th in freestyle.

Other swims deserving special mention for finishes just outside the top ten include Lola Yoxall (9) for 14^th in freestyle and 15^th in butterfly; Megan Sharp (9) for 16^th in butterfly; Georgia Lee (9) 18^th in freestyle; Macy Yoxall (9) 17^th in butterfly; Daniel Miles (9) for 15^th place in breaststroke; Alex Tikhonov (10) for 13^th place in breaststroke (and for competing at all following illness); Harriet Ostrowski-Jones (11) for 11^th in backstroke and 17^th in breaststroke; Sam Charlesworth (11) for 12 place in breaststroke; Georgia Hamblett (13) for a "storming swim" and 16^th place in freestyle; and Holly Milnes (in the 16 year and over category) for 12^th place in butterfly.

Other swimmers taking part were Maea Hamby, Isabelle Speed, Maddie Barker, Megan Firth, Megan Mitchel, Claire Berry, Emily Norton, Emma Smith, Alanah Hill, Corrine Hill, Curtis Harper, Myles Tupman, Nathan Billingham and Ben Nutt.

Unfortunately Libby Turner was unable to take part due to illness.

Qualification for The British Swimming Championships 2015

Earlier in January Libby Turner (13) secured qualification times for the British Swimming Championships for 200IM when competing at the City of Derby Meet and 50m freestyle when competing at the Burns Open Meet. Libby joins Thomas Speed who has already qualified for 100m and 200m breaststroke.

The championships will be held at the Aquatics Centre London from 14 to 18 April 2015. This will be a truly memorable occasion for Libby and for Tom. As the British Swimming website says, "It will be the first time since the Olympic trials of 2012 that the venue has hosted a British Championships and the Olympic venue will provide a perfect setting for athletes to perform while audiences watch action unfold."

Tickets will be on sale through the British Swimming website.

Level 3 Meets - Harrogate Janus Meet and Leeds New Year Meet

The weekend of 3^rd & 4^th January 2015 provided the last opportunity for swimmers to achieve qualifying times before entries closed for the 2015 Yorkshire Championships and the first opportunity of 2015 to prove themselves after the Christmas break with swimmers attending the Harrogate Janus A/B Grade Meet and a small number also attending the City of Leeds New Year Meet.

At Harrogate:

In summary 14 Swimmers competed achieving 33 short course PB's

Macy Yoxall (9): 6 PB's. A Grade Gold 200m Backstroke and 200m Butterfly; A Grade Silver in 400m IM; and A Grade Bronze in 200m Breaststroke and 200m IM.

Lola Yoxall (9): 5 PB's B Grade Gold 200m Butterfly and A Grade Bronze 200m Backstroke.

Daniel Miles (9): 5 PB's. B Grade Gold 50m Breaststroke and A Grade Silver 200m Breaststroke.

Jessica Richardson (11): A Grade Gold 200m Backstroke and 400m IM; B Grade Gold 200m Butterfly; and A Grade Bronze 400m Freestyle.

Matthew Selous (11): A Grade Silver 400m Freestyle.

Georgia Hamblett (13): 3 PB's. B Grade Gold 200m Freestyle and 400m IM; and B Grade Bronze 50m Butterfly.

Megan Lee (13): B Grade Silver 100m Breaststroke.

Mollie James (16): A Grade Gold 50m Backstroke; B Grade Gold 100m and 200m Backstroke; and A Grade Silver 50m Freestyle.

Emma Smith (15): 4 PB's. B Grade Gold 50m Backstroke; B Grade Silver 100m Backstroke and 200m IM; B Grade Bronze 50m and 100m Breaststroke.

Also taking part were Lucy Hatfield, Georgia Lee, Neve Wilkie, Lauren Sharp and William Kenny.

At Leeds:

In summary 5 Swimmers competed achieving 6 long course PB's.

Lewis Baker (10) won Gold Medal and Matthew Selous (11) finished 4^th on their debut swims in the 1500m Freestyle.

Jessica Richardson (11) won Silver Medal in 800m Freestyle.

Georgia Lee (9) won Gold Medal in 200m Breaststroke and Silver Medal in 50m Breaststroke.

Megan Lee also took part.

Level 1 Meet - City of Derby

Borough of Barnsley's consistently highest performing Level 1 swimmers, Abigail Miles, Lewis Baker, Libby Turner and Thomas Speed were again in action at the City of Derby SC Long Course Level 1 Open Meet held at Ponds Forge Sheffield on 10^th and 11^th January 2015.

Lewis Baker (10) secured Gold Medals in 100m and 200m Breaststroke, a Bronze Medal in 400m Freestyle and 4 PB's.

Abigail Miles (10) secured Gold Medals in 100m Freestyle, 200m IM and 200m Breaststroke; Silver Medals in 100m Backstroke and 200m and 400m Freestyle; and 7 PB's.

Libby Turner (14) secured 3 PB's including, in the heats, a 200m IM qualification time for the British Swimming Championships 2015.

Thomas Speed secured 1 PB in the 15 and over category.

Level 3 Rotherham Metro A/B Meet

At the Level 3 Rotherham Metro A/B Grade long course meet held at Ponds Forge on 17^th and 18^th January 2015 a squad of 13 swimmers secured a total of 27 PB's.

The medal winners included:

Georgia Lee (9): Silver Medal 50m Breaststroke and Bronze Medal 200m Breaststroke.

Phoebe McNicholas (10):  A Grade Gold Medal in 50m Breaststroke and first place and a Speeding Ticket in 200m Breaststroke.

Freya Waller (10): B Grade Bronze Medal in 200m Breaststroke.

Lucy Hatfield (13): B Grade Gold Medal 50m Breaststroke.

Megan Lee (13): B Grade Bronze Medal 50m Breaststroke.

Emily Norton (14) B Grade Gold Medals 50m and 100m Backstroke and B Grade Silver Medal 50m Breaststroke.

Also taking part were Megan Sharp, Lauren Sharp, Maea Hamby, Millie Hamby, Ella Waller, Georgia Clarke and Elliot Robinson.

December 2014 News Round Up including the Presentation Evening

BOROUGH OF BARNSLEY SWIMMING CLUB PRESENTATION EVENING AND SPECIAL AWARDS 2014.

Many congratulations to the swimmers who won trophies and medals in the 2014 Club Championships and especially to those who received special awards at our Presentation Evening which was held at the Dale Tavern on 27 December 2014…………

Abigail Miles

The Coaches Cup for Swimmer of the Year and The O'Connor Cup for Achievement at County, Regional & District Level

Thomas Speed

The Honours Cup for Representative Honours

Libby Turner and Thomas Speed

The Benefit Trophy for National Standard Achievement

Alice Moody

H Wade Memorial Cup for Best Club Supportive Swimmer

Megan Lee

The Interest Trophy for Training Application and Dedication

Lisa Nutt

Alec James Trophy for Volunteer of the Year

Jonathon Wightman

The Weston Park Shield for most improved Junior Club Swimmer

Lucy Hatfield and Alanna Sidebottom.

The Metropolitan Trophy for the most improved Intermediate Squad Swimmer.

Nathan Billingham

The Pollard Trophy for most improved A2 Squad Swimmer.

The A Squad together…

The Joe Walker Trophy for most improved Female A Squad Swimmer and The Olympic Trophy for most improved male A Squad Swimmer.

Rebecca Sanderson and Lawrence Savage

The Hilda Gibson Trophy for most improved Youth Squad Swimmer.

Derventio Excel Christmas Cracker

Four of our most successful swimmers in 2014 took part in the Long Course Level 1 Derventio Excel Christmas Cracker meet held at Ponds Forge Sheffield on 19 – 21 December 2014.

Abigail Miles(10) competing in six events, achieved five long course PB's winning Gold Medals in 50m and 100m breaststroke, 200m IM and 400m IM; and Silver Medals in 100m butterfly and 200m backstroke. Overall Abigail was the 13^th ranked Top Female swimmer at the meet.

Lewis Baker (10) competing in eleven events, achieved nine long course PB's winning a Silver Medal in 400m freestyle and Bronze Medals in 50m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle. Lewis also secured four 4^th place finishes, two 6^th place finishes and an 8^th place finish. Overall Lewis was the 14^th ranked Top Male swimmer at the meet.

Libby Turner (13) competing in four events achieved two long course PB's winning Gold Medal in 200m butterfly and securing 4^th, 7^th and 8^th places respectively in her other events.

Thomas Speed (15) swimming in the 15 and over age group also competed in four events achieving three long course PB's with  5^th, 6^th, 24^th and 28^th place finishes in his events.

Other Borough of Barnsley swimmers taking part were Phoebe McNicholas – with a highly creditable 4^th place in the 200m breaststroke - and Harriet Ostrowski-Jones.

2014 Christmas Sprint Report

53 swimmers from Borough of Barnsley Swimming Club together with swimmers from 24 other clubs took part in BOBSC's very own 19^th Annual Christmas Sprint level 3 gala held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield on 6 December.

Elizabeth Safonkina (12) won a maximum nine events and collected an amazing 8 Gold medals and one Speeding Ticket whilst her brother Alex Tikhonov won Gold Medals in 200m IM and 50m Breaststroke, Silver Medal in 50m Butterfly and Bronze Medal in 50m Freestyle.

Jessica Richardson won Gold Medal in 100m Butterfly, Silver Medals in 50m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 200m IM;

Greg Lugton (13) won Gold Medals in 100m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly, 100m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle together with Silver Medals in 200m IM and 50m Freestyle.

Nathan Billingham (also 13) won Gold Medal in 200m IM, Silver Medal in 100m Butterfly and Bronze Medals in 100m Breaststroke, 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke.

Meanwhile Emily Norton (14) making a welcome return from injury won Gold in 100m Freestyle, Silver Medals in 100m Backstroke, 100m Breaststroke and 50m Freestyle together with Bronze Medals in 50m Butterfly and 50m Breaststroke.

Other top three medals were won in the following events:

100m Backstroke Gold Medal Matthew Selous (11); Silver Medal Mollie James (16);

100m Breaststroke Gold Medals Sam Charlesworth (11), Thomas Stather (14); Bronze Medals Neve Wilkie (10), Lucy Greatorex (11), Lucy Hatfield (12) and Alex Holliday (14);

50m Butterfly Silver Medal Ella Waller (12) and Bronze Medal Kalum Smart (10);

50m Freestyle Gold Medal Macy Yoxall (9); Bronze Medal Mollie James;

200m IM Gold Medals Phoebe McNicholas (10) and Sam Charlesworth; Silver Medals Steve Dallamore (18), Macy Yoxall, Matthew Selous, and Ella Waller;

50m Breaststroke Speeding ticket Phoebe McNicholas; Gold Medal Georgia Lee (9); Silver Medals Lucy Hatfield and Sam Charlesworth.

50m Backstroke Bronze Medals Maddie Barker (10), Drew Walker (14) and Mollie James;

100m Butterfly Silver Medals Georgia Hamblett (13) and Ella Waller;

100m Freestyle Silver Medal Maddie Barker and Bronze Medal Neve Wilkie.

Many congratulations to all of the above and to the others who were awarded medals for finishing in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th to add to the festive fun.

BOBSC swimmers achieved 140 long course personal best times.

During the lunch interval a relay race was held for the inaugural Alex James Memorial Trophy with proceeds in aid of Macmillan. The relay was open to parents as well as swimmers and attracted 30 entries. The eventual winners were Adwick A and around £400 was raised.

Finally thank you to all the volunteers who helped to plan the gala and to make it run so smoothly on the day and without whom such events could not happen.

 

Carly Herbert

Head Coach