Warriors at the UK School Games - a Taste of the Olympics!

Warriors had three swimmers selected to represent Northern England at the UK School Games, which saw 1,600 of the UK’s most talented young people from across 12 sports competing at the highest level in the magnificent venues of the Olympic Park. The team travelled down on Sunday and experienced first hand what it is like to live as an Olympic athlete and compete on the biggest stage imaginable.

The buzz of the Aquatics Centre and 7,000 spectators inspired the swimmers to perform at their very best. First to compete for Warriors was Leah Evans in the 100 fly, she achieved a new PB of 1:03.72 and a bronze medal in what was a very close finish, just two-tenths of a second separated the top three! Adam Ravenscroft got a silver medal and took almost three seconds of his PB with an impressive 1:08.29 in the 100 breast.

Coral Farrell, still aged just 10, had to compete against swimmers 5 years older than herself in the 50 & 100 free disability events and came 7th and 4th respectively with new PB’s of 42.11 and 1:28.64.

All three did their bit to ensure that Northern England were the overall winners.

The games concluded yesterday (9th May), with athletes and spectators enjoying a closing ceremony with performances from Cover Drive and Gymnastics troupe Spelbound

ASA North West Region 2012 Youth Championships 5th/6th May

Some fast swimming against strong opposition saw a team of 12 youth swimmers from Warriors of Warrington Swimming Club qualify through the heats and into a total of 18 finals at last weekend’s ASA North West Region 2012 Youth Championships, winning in the process a total of eight medals.

Day 1 saw the Warriors team qualify for 10 finals with Adam Ravenscroft winning gold in the 50 metre breaststroke and bronze in the 200 metre breaststroke. Catherine Parker also raced to two medals, winning silver in the 50 metre backstroke and bronze in the 200 metre backstroke. Leah Evans qualified for two finals winning a bronze medal in the 100 metre butterfly.

Other finalists on Day 1 included Lauren Smith in the 200 metre freestyle, Brendan Spencer in the 200 butterfly and Michael Ross in the 400 metre individual medlay.

Brendan also gained his second NQT of the season in the heats of the 200 butterfly.

Day 2 of the Championships saw the Warriors team qualify for a further 8 finals, with the highlights being Catherine Parker’s gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle, silver in the 100 metre backstroke and Michael Ross’s bronze medal in the 200 metre backstroke.

Other finalists on Day 2 included Caitlin McNicholas in the 50 metre breaststroke, Ewan Miller in the 200 metre freestyle and 100 metre butterfly, Michael Ross in the 200 metre individual medlay and Rachel Heesom in the 400 metre individual medlay

Brendan Spencer also gained his third NQT of the season, this time in the heats of the 100 metre butterfly.

Top Club Success for Warriors at Macclesfield!

Warriors of Warrington Swimming Club travelled across to Macclesfield last weekend to take part in the Satellites of Macclesfield Level 2 Open Meet.  As always, Warriors were represented by a strong team consisting of 51 swimmers ranging in age from 9 to 17 years old.

The first day saw Warriors get off to a great start, winning 19 heats and in addition going on to win 5 finals in those events that were not heat declared winners.  Whilst there were too many strong performances to list them all, multiple event winners included William Camden, Lewis McGhee, Aaron Kirchin-Brown and Brendan Spencer. 

Competition remained strong on Sunday, but the Warriors again rose to the challenge magnificently. They matched the previous day’s haul of 19 first place finishes, which were backed up by very strong performances and finishes by all the swimmers.  With the previous day’s winners continuing in the same rich vein of form, further standout performances came from Bradley Harrison, James Ross and Caitlin McNicholas.  By the time the final session started, Warriors had an unassailable lead in the scoring and secured the Top Club Trophy. 

Brendan Spencer had a very successful weekend, and finished the Event winning the Top Boy award.  Bethany Young also performed very strongly and was rewarded for her overall consistently high level of performance by finishing 3^rd in the Girls category.

As ever, the swimmers have been a credit to the Club and deserve huge congratulations for their efforts and success over the weekend. 

Warriors success at Stockport!

With 37 swimmers making their way over to Stockport this weekend Warriors of Warrington were sure to have a very interesting and exciting few days. From 10 year olds Imogen Young and William Camden to 17 year old Brendan Spencer the swimmers gave some brilliant performances throughout the competition.

Without having medals to win, the swimmers were competing for placings and points. Overall Warriors won a total of 34 1^st place finishes, 17 2^nd place finishes and 39 3^rd place finishes and with a fantastic team effort they managed to secure the winning place for the Top Visiting Club with 1021 points.

Individual performances that stood out were from Brendan Spencer, Alicia Pierce and David Richardson who secured new national qualifying times in the 1500m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke respectively. David Richardson also won the top spot for the 14yr old age group BAGCAT award, an amazing 200 points in front of 2^nd place.

The competition also got very exciting at the end of both Saturday and Sunday with the SKINS competition. The top 8 swimmers in the 200 Individual Medley from 14 & unders and 15 & over battle it out in a knock out competition and win themselves some cash. On Saturday the boys were up and David Richardson, James Ross and Aaron Kirchin Brown qualifying in the 14&under age group. Aaron went out in the first round whilst David and James managed to give us some exciting races for us to cheer them on. James fought valiantly and finished 3^rd, but it was David who came out on top and took the big prize money.

On Sunday it was the girls turn and Warriors of Warrington had Bethany Young in the 14&under age group and Leah Evans in the 15&over age group. With faulty timing equipment and then faulty goggles trying to put Bethany off, she didn’t let anything stop her from crawling her way up through each round and successfully finished 2^nd whilst Leah managed to stay in for two rounds and finished 6^th.

A huge well done to all the swimmers who took part in the competition

City of Birmingham Open Meet - Easter PBs Galore!

A group of 35 dedicated Warriors of Warrington swimmers took part in the Birmingham Level 2 and Level 3 Open Meet over the Easter Weekend. Rather than relaxing and eating too much chocolate, they focussed their energies on pool performance. Their efforts were rewarded handsomely, with a total medal haul of 20 Gold medals, 13 Silver and 16 Bronze. 10 of the swimmers also managed to secure places in Finals, with special mention to Rebecca Coy for achieving 3 first place finishes.

Whilst all of the swimmers produced very strong performances, the highlight individual performances came from Lewis and Ryan McGhee, who both finished 3rd in their respective Age Groups. 1^st place finishes were achieved by Rebecca Coy, Lauren Smith, Lauren Goddard, Mia Rowbottom, Brett Takemoto, Dominic Crawley, Ricardo Santander, Connor Healy, Liam Roscoe and Lewis and Ryan McGhee.

This event was, however, all about the Team performance. Perhaps the clearest measure of overall performance is the number of Personal Best times that have been achieved. The Birmingham Open Meet awards a trophy for the Team that has improved their collective times by the largest amount. Warriors showed their overall team strength by improving their times by the most of all entered Clubs, and were awarded the Dave Corbett Trophy for their efforts. This was true reward for all of the swimmers who competed, and they all deserve a huge well done for their efforts!

Warriors finished the Meet as the 3^rd most successful visiting club behind City of Oxford and City of Coventry. Congratulations to all who took part!