Hampshire Counties 2016 - Weekend 3

The third and last weekend weekend of the 2016 Hampshire County Championships saw some great performances from Bluefins swimmers.

In the Junior events, Graeme Richardson did a superb job in the 200 meters Breastroke event, reducing his lifetime best by 4 seconds and securing a silver medal placing. 12 yr old Millie Trist also had a fantastic swim in this event, earning herself a bronze medal in a time three seconds faster than her previous best. Charlyne LeBosse showed great form in the 200m Fly event and was rewarded with a Bronze medal placing. Sarah-Jayne Cowlam also did superbly, in the 15 year old age group to finish 5^th and 6^th in the 100 and 50m backstroke respectively, and, in the process achieved her first ever Regional Qualifying times. There were also strong swims from Grace Merrin, Louise Evans and Amy Pennicott.

Breaststroke specialist, Mitchell Coombes, competed in the 16 & over age group and finalled in all three distances in the stroke, with his highest ranked position being 3^rd in the 200 metre event. Just missing out on a medal in the 100 metre event he finished 4^th. Molly Goffin, in the same age group, was the club’s busiest swimmer over the weekend, setting numerous personal best times, she attained 6^th place overall in both the 100 metres Breastroke and 200 Individual Medley events, with her highest ranked position being 5^th in the 200 metres Breaststroke final. While William Sadler swam a 27.75 for the 50m freestyle.

In the youngest age band, 14 & under, Julia LeBosse managed to secure no fewer than four top three placings, with her best result being first in the tough 400 Individual Medley event. This swim was also good enough to place her third overall in the Junior age band, which meant a Bronze medal for her excellent efforts. Not to be outdone by her sister, Charlyne LeBosse won both the 100 and 200 metres butterfly, she came 2^nd in the 50 Fly and third in the 400 Individual Medley. Millie Trist powered on to first place in the 100 Breastroke, which is a great achievement, particularly when considering she was one of the youngest swimmers at the competition.

Whilst the above summary details events in which top three placings were attained, there were also many other superb swims from Bluefins swimmers. Just qualifying for these championships is an achievement in itself, and congratulations should go to all who took part in the championships over the past few weeks.

The swimmers sights now are firmly being set on attaining the coveted Regional Qualifying standards and also on the opening of the time window for National Championship qualification.  If the County championships were anything to go by, we should be in for some exciting racing over the next few months, watch this space!.........