WREKIN SWIMMING CLUB
17-18 SEASON
ENGLISH SUMMER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 31st July - 4th August 2018
The National Summer Meet is Swim England’s biggest domestic swimming event of the year. The Summer meet forms part of a swimming competition structure in Great Britain whereby the top ranked swimmers in each event are invited to compete at the British Championships (click
here to see 2018 report) The next ranked swimmers are then invited to compete at the English/Welsh/Scottish Nationals.
Summer National Championships Competitors 2018
This year WCSC had eight swimmers invited to compete at the English Summer Championships - Will Slawson, Aron Preece, Sam Neeld, Zara Leleux, Ella Thatcher-Plant, Anya Preece, Eve Leleux and Harriet Smith. The event was held over six days at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge, with each day having heats in the morning and finals in the evening.
After a long year of training hard, early mornings and putting in the hours, it all came down to this last event of the swimming calendar year and our swimmers did the club proud with some fantastic performances.
All eight swimmers finished in the top ten of their age group in at least one event. Seven swimmers qualified for a total of fourteen finals and many Long Course Personal Best times were achieved in heats and in finals.
The finals saw Will Slawson
take his first National gold medal in the 18&over 200m FC with a lifetime PB in a time of 1.54:00. Ella Thatcher-Plant
won a Bronze medal in the 16yr 400m Free. In her first ever Nationals Harriet Smith
competed in the 14yr age group, over the course of the week she took Silver in the 400m IM in a very close race gaining a LCPB in a time of 5.10:11, and bronze medals in both the 400m Free and 800m Free, also gaining LCPB in both events.
All the finals produced close races between all the swimmers, and medals were decided on tenths or even hundredths of a second, giving everyone some very exciting and close racing to watch. It was great to see so much support for the team, from swimmers poolside, parents spectating and the home supporters watching live streaming from wherever they may be, all making Wrekin College SC a great team to be a part of.
OTHER TOP TEN SWIMMERS & EVENTS
Will Slawson -
4th 200 IM LCPB - 4th 50 FLY LCPB - 8th 200 BR -
10th 100 FLY
Sam Neeld -
7th 200 FC -
8th 400 FC LCPB - 10th 400 IM LCPB
Aron Preece
- 8th 800 FC
Eve Leleux -
4th 400 FC LCPB -
8th 200 BA LCPB - 10th 800 FC
Anya Preece - 5th 200 FLY LCPB -
8th 400 IM
Zara Leleux -
6th 400 FC
BRITISH SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIPS 24th - 29th July 2018
This event took place across six days at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
Swimmers are invited to take part based on the British National rankings. The top 24 in each age group and event are invited to compete, with the exception of the 800m and 1500m events where the top 18 are invited.
The qualifying window runs from 1 March – 28 May 2018.
A massive well done to all our swimmers who competed at the British Summer Championships.
This was Sam Neeld's
first time competing at this competition. Having qualified for all the Breaststroke events, Sam produced some great swims and times, achieving a lifetime Personal Best in the 50m Breast finishing 14th in the 17/18yr age group.
Will Slawson
swam in three events, swimming very close to his PB's on most, Will just missed out on a new PB on his 200 Fly by 0.1sec. His highest finishing position was in the 400FC where he came 12th in the 19&over age group.
Zara Leleux
had to compete in the 17/18yr age group, which meant she was competing against much older swimmers. However, she swam a good race in the 200Fly just missing out on a place in the final by 0.2sec, finishing in 11th overall.
Ella Thatcher-Plant
swam in the two long distance events 800 & 1500m Free. Having had a good swim in the 800m Ella went on to have a great swim in the 1500m, gaining a new lifetime Personal Best and finishing 12th in the 16yr age group.
Harriet Smith
was also competing at her first ever British Champs, qualifying for the 1500m Free event, Harriet had a fantastic race, knocking 8 seconds off her previous time and gaining a new lifetime Personal Best finishing 12th in the 13/14yr age group.
With a weekend to rest up the team are back to Sheffield to compete in the English Summer Nationals starting July 31st.
For full results click here
CONGRATULATIONS to both Leon Steer and Alannah Kay.
Following on from their performances at the West Midland Championships both have been selected to attend the West Midland regional development camps to be held in September, October and November.
Well done to you both and keep up the hard work in training.
Huge thank you to all those who helped out at our weekend of bag packing at Morrisons, Lawley. Special thanks to this lovely bunch who turned up for both days with smiles and energy aplenty. Now for the hard work of counting it all.
SHROPSHIRE COUNTY SUMMER MEET 2018
June 23rd/24th - Wolverhampton
Shropshire County Summer meet is an opportunity for our swimmers to take part in a friendly, low key gala, which gives them a chance to swim against fellow Shropshire swimmers in a relaxed Level 3 meet. As well as having relay events, this year the County has brought the ‘skins’ events into the programme, which for many of the team was a first.
For most of Rachel’s squad this was their last completion of the 2017/18 swimming season, making this a nice meet to finish on. Everyone who competed swam well and achieved many more Personal Best times since last month’s competition, as well as winning plenty of medals between them.
The relay events had several age groups including a Cannon, which gave many of our swimmers the opportunity to race, relays are always fun for both swimmers and parents andWrekin are proud to say we won all relay events we entered, a big well done to all those who competed.
At this year’s Summer Counties the
‘skins’was introduced. This is a fun and exciting race for all competing and for everyone spectating. A huge well done to those who qualified for the event and a special well done to the following, who achieved top three places and came away winning money.
SKINS RESULTS
Jess Backhouse – 1st in both 13&under Medley and FC
Macy Males - 3rd - 13&under FC
Hannah Ross – 2nd – 13&under Medley
Mason Carter - 3rd - 13&under FC
Eleanor France – 3rd 14&over FC
For full results click here
NATIONAL QUALIFIERS 2018
Congratulations to this years National Qualifiers, all the hard work in training and racing brings us to the pinnacle competitions of the season for some of our members.
Five of the team have qualified for British Summer Championships with ten qualifying times between them - Will Slawson, Sam Neeld, Zara Leleux, Ella Thatcher-Plant and Harriet Smith. For Sam and Harriet this is their first time competing at this event so a huge well done to both.
This years Swim England English Summer Nationals sees a record eight swimmers gaining entry times. As well as the five British qualifiers we have Aron Preece, Anya Preece and Eve Leleux
competing at this event, with Eve, Anya and Harriet all being first time qualifiers for 2018. With the team qualifying for twenty seven different events between them this five day event should see plenty of pool action for the club. Well done to you all for achieving entry times for the Summer Nationals.
On behalf of the swimmers and parents, a very big thank you to David
and Rachel
for their constant support, encouragement and belief in their swimmers abilities, through what can be a challenging journey at times, but also a hugely rewarding one too.
Full list of events available here
NORTHGATE SPRING OPEN MEET 2018
May 19th & 20th - Wolverhampton
Following two weekends of Regional Championships it was chance for other squad members to compete and show how their hard work in training is paying off, they didn't disappoint.
Over the weekend there were so many new Personal Bests and medals that it was hard work keeping track. Most of the swimmers were the younger members of the club, some were managing to knock 15 seconds or more off their PB's, proving that hard work in training pays.
Special mention to both Alannah Kay
and Mason Carter
for winning their age groups, along with numerous others in second and third places.
Junior Coach, Rachel Reilly is very proud of all her swimmers, and the team as a whole coming away with Top Visiting Club. Well done everyone.
Full results click here
ALANNAH KAY - TOP GIRL - 12yr age group
MASON CARTER - TOP BOY - 12yr age group
Sonny Goodall and Megan Suffell accepting the £50 prize for Top Visiting Club
WEST MIDLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
April 28th/29th & May 5th - 7th - Coventry
Huge well done to all our swimmers who competed at the West Midland Championships 2018. This year's event had a stronger representation from some of the bigger clubs in the region, with City of Birmingham and Ellesmere Titans in attendance, making it a tougher competition.
West Midland Champs competitors 2018
Eighteen of our swimmers attended the two long weekends of the Championships. For some of our Junior members of the club, not only was this their first time competing at this level, but also their first time racing in a 50m pool. Alannah Kay
reached all three Fly finals and won Silver in the 200fly event. Leon Steer
dominated the 11/12yr breaststroke events by winning Gold in the 50m, 100m AND 200m, some great racing from the youngster. Aidan Hofland, Jess Backhouse, Joeleen Charlery and Jack Males, who was one of the few 11yr boys competing in the 11/12 age group, gained LC PB's and race experience at a higher level open meet.
Having missed out on last year's Champs, Woody Goodall
made a great come back in his Backstroke events, winning bronze in the 50m, 100m AND 200m. Will Timmins
had some fantastic heat swims, gaining some great LC PB's and qualifying for his first Champs final in the 200FC and finishing a credible 6th. Will Slawson
and Sam Neeld
dominated the 17&over age group with some outstanding racing over the two weekends, winning Gold medals, gaining more PB's and hopefully making the top flight rankings. Aron Preece
swam slightly off form due to illness, however he still managed to make several finals of his events across both weekends. Also competing with the team, at his first West Midland Champs, was Lucian Valle.
Swimming in the girls 17yr&over was Zara Leleux, while not at her usual high standard due to illness she still managed to take Silver in the 200Fly. Meanwhile her sister Eve Leleux
had some outstanding swims, gaining some fantastic LC PB's in many events, taking Gold in the 100Fly and 800FC and podium spots across a variety of races, Eve has put her name well in to the National rankings. Anya Preece
started the Champs off well in a nail biting 200Fly final, with the race decided on the finishing touch she took a well earned Silver medal, more medals were to come in the 400IM and 400FC. Harriet Smith
showed yet another year of improvement in her age group, taking many Silver and Bronze medals across her events and gaining some excellent PB's especially in the 200Fly and 1500FC. Ella Townson
decided to only swim in the one individual event this year, the 100Fly, swimming 6 seconds faster than last year saw her finishing 5th in the final. Ella Thatcher-Plant
showed her usual form in the distance events, winning medals in the 400m, 800m and 1500m FC and just missed out on a medal in the 400IM.
Wrekin doesn't usually enter the relay events, as a small club we don't have the depth of swimmers and those swimming relays would usually have 2 or 3 finals to swim afterwards, which, from past experience, can be too much. However, this year due to the Medley relays falling at the end of the heat sessions we entered a 14-16yr girls team and a 17&over boys team. The girls had a great swim finishing just outside the medals in 4th, while the boys went one better taking Bronze just missing out on Silver on the touch.
All in all this years Champs has been a great success, not only have we had a record number of swimmers qualifying for the event, the team had some outstanding swims between them gaining plenty of LC PB's, making many finals and winning medals. With a few weeks left of the qualifying window for British Champs and Summer Nationals, Wrekin has several swimmers in contention for making it into those top ranking places. Keep up the good work team.
Boys 17&over 4x100Medley Relay - 3rd
LUCIAN VALLE - ARON PREECE - WILL SLAWSON - SAM NEELD
Girls 14/16yr age group 4x100Medley Relay - 4th
ELLA TOWNSON - ANYA PREECE - ELLA THATCHER-PLANT - EVE LELEUX
DERVENTIO EXCEL OPEN MEET 2018
Ponds Forge, Sheffield - April 6th-8th
Eleven of Wrekin's top swimmers travelled to Sheffield this weekend to compete in the Long Course Level 1 meet with the aim of achieving Long Course Personal Best times and race preparation for the West Midlands Championships coming up at the end of April.
Over the three day event our swimmers excelled themselves with some excellent racing from all who competed, achieving many LC PB's between them. With eight of our team finishing many races in the top three places, and Sam Neeld, Will Slawson, Zara Leleux, Ella Thatcher-Plant and Leon Steer taking Gold medals, the team put in a fantastic performance across this full weekend of competition.
As a club we finished sixth in the Top Club rankings, an amazing achievement against some big City clubs with only eleven swimmers. Congratulations to the following swimmers who placed in the Top three overall places:
Will Slawson-17&over boys - 1st
Zara Leleux-17&over girls - 1st
Woody Goodall-15/16yr boys - 3rd
Ella Thatcher-Plant-15/16yr girls - 2nd
Leon Steer-12yr boys - 3rd
For full results click here
Also competing this weekend, chasing Regional Qualifying times, were Aidan Hofland
and Alannah Kay, both individually attending open meets at Leicester and Wiltshire, respectively. Both achieved what they set out to do, with Aidan gaining a QT in the 400Free and Allanah achieving QT's in the 50m Fly and Back. Huge well done to both.
Full list of current West Midland Qualifiers here
24TH & 25TH MARCH 2018
This weekend has been a very busy one for most of our Wrekin swimmers, with members attending both long course and short course meets across the Country.
Some of our Youth Squad competed at Sheffield and Stockport Long Course meets gaining some good times for the rankings qualifying window for Summer Nationals.
Sam Neeld was competing in Crawley at the English Secondary Schools inter divisional Championships, with the West Midlands Senior team taking third place bronze in the Medley Relay.
Meanwhile, most of our Junior Squad swimmers were competing at the Stourbridge Open meet at Wolverhampton. This was the first time most had competed since the January Shropshire County Champs, with so many massive Personal Best times gained and lots of top three finishes, both David and Rachel were impressed with all their swimmer's achievements this weekend.
However, the highlight of the weekend was our younger swimmers who gained their first ever West Midland Qualifying times, Aiden Hofland gained a hat-trick in 100/200Back and 200FC, Alannah Kay and Jess Backhouse gained two each 100/200Fly and 100FC 200Back respectively and to finish off the achievement Joeleen Charlery gained her first in the 50FLY.
Well done to all who competed this weekend, keep up all the hard work in training team.
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL SWIM MEET inc BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh - March 1st - 4th 2018
The British Championships is the pinnacle National meet of the swim calendar, and this year was incorporated into the Edinburgh International meet. With teams from Europe attending and the GB team’s final competition before heading to the Commonwealth Games it was a great experience for those attending.
With this in mind, we would like to congratulate Zara Leleux, Will Slawson and Sam Neeld, who achieved their first British Championship qualifying times, a total of seven between them, as well as several consideration times, ensuring these swimmers had plenty of racing at this high-level competition. We also had Aron Preece and Ella Thatcher-Plant attending the meet due to being amongst the swimmers who had consideration times for their events.
Zara missed two of her events, due to the weather, but put in good performances in the 400Free and 200Fly, just missing out on a place in the Junior final.
Will competed in eight events in total, with solid performances in all and secured a new Personal Best in the 200Breast.
Sam competed in seven events, swimming close to his PB in most and achieving a new Personal Best in the 100Breast.
Sadly, due to the inclement weather over this weekend, Aron and Ella were unable to travel to participate in their three events.
This meet is right at the start of the summer National qualifying window so a great opportunity to get some times on the rankings. Well done to all for achieving the times needed to participate in this event, we shall look forward to the exciting season ahead.
SWIM ENGLAND WEST MIDLANDS TEAM 2018
Amiens,France-January 18th-22nd
As part of the regions coach and athlete development programme, Swim England West Midlands selected a team of 29 athletes and staff to attend the 9ème Trophée National des Hortillons in Amiens, France to experience competing in overseas competitions. Wrekin College had two of our swimmers selected for this, Zara Leleux and Sam Neeld. Its a great achievement for them both to have been selected to represent their region overseas.
Competing in a foreign country for the first time without their home coach and team mates, Zara and Sam were given the challenge of setting process goals for all their events, looking to improve small aspects of each swim.
Amiens Metropole Swimming Pool, France
Zara Leleux and Sam Neeld
Zara had 7 races, with a strong start in her first 800Free of the season. Making 2 A finals and finishing an amazing 2nd and 4th, 3 B finals with 3rd, 3rd and 5th and a final 3rd in her C (junior) final.
Sam had 6 races, making 3 A finals, finishing 4th, 6th and 8th. 1 B final finishing 6th and a 1st and 3rd in the C (junior) final. Sam achieved two Personal Best times in the 50m Breast and 200IM.
Both achieved improvements from all heat times to finals and a large percentage of their process goals.
SHROPSHIRE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TOP OVERALL AGE GROUP WINNERS
Boys 16&Over Age Group
1st - WILL SLAWSON
2nd - ARON PREECE
Girls 15yr Age Group
1st - ANYA PREECE
2nd - EVE LELEUX
Girls 14yr Age Group
1st - HARRIET SMITH
Boys 10/11yr Age Group
1st - JACK MALES
SHROPSHIRE COUNTY CHAMPS 2018
Thomas Telford School - January 27th
Final weekend of the Shropshire County Championships involved the distance races of 800m and 1500m Free, Wrekin had 16 swimmers competing in these two events and after two full weekends of competition its no easy task to finish the Championships with the hardest races of all.
However the team rose to the occasion, as always, and gave some
amazing swims, achieving 13
Personal Best Times and 3
West Midland qualifying times.
Medal Winners
Harriet Smith
- Gold
Anya Preece
- Gold
Will Timmins
- Gold
Leon Steer
- Silver
Aidan Hofland
- Bronze
Click here
for full
results
SHROPSHIRE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
Wolverhampton - January 21st/22nd
Summary of the second weekend results
Yet another fantastic weekend of swimming for the team competing at the second full weekend of County Championships. Wrekin had 46 members from the Senior, Junior and Development squads competing this year giving plenty of exciting races across all the age groups.
This weekend saw the team achieve 44
West Midland Qualifying times and 174
Personal Best times, well done to all who competed. With one more session to go next weekend, top boy/girls results will be announced after the distance races.
MEDAL WINNERS
Harriet Smith -
7 Gold, 1 Silver
Jack Males - 5 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze
Will Slawson
- 4 Gold, 4 Silver
Anya Preece
- 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Eve Leleux - 4 Silver, 2 Bronze
Aron Preece
- 2 Silver, 5 Bronze
Ella Thatcher-Plant
- 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Will Timmins
- 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Tiegan Dunne
- 1 Silver
Hannah Ross
- 1 Bronze
Amy Pryce
- 1 Bronze
Aidan Hofland
-1 Bronze
Leon Steer
- 1 Bronze
SHROPSHIRE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018
Wolverhampton - January 13th/14th
Summary of the weekend results
Huge well done to all those who competed at the first weekend of the County Championships. It was a busy weekend with lots of tough competition and racing but as always Wrekin swimmers rose to the occasion and produced some fantastic results.
Special mention to Sam Neeld who broke the County record in the 16&over 50m Breaststroke with an incredible swim of 29.98.
With 70
West Midland Qualifying times achieved and 179
Personal Best times gained over the first weekend of competition, credit must go to the team for putting the hours in and training hard.
MEDAL WINNERS
Harriet Smith - 8 Gold
Anya Preece - 2 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze
Leon Steer
- 2 Gold, 4 Silver
Sam Neeld
- 2 Gold
Eve Leleux
- 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
Jack Males
- 1 Gold, 3 Silver
Will Slawson
- 2 Silver, 4 Bronze
Will Timmins
- 1 Silver, 2 Bronze
Abby Birchall
- 1 Silver
Zara Leleux
- 1 Silver
Ella Thatcher-Plant
- 1 Bronze
Amy Pryce
- 1 Bronze
SWIM ENGLAND NATIONAL WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017
Ponds Forge, Sheffield - 13th-17th December
National Winter Champs competitors
Will Slawson, Zara Leluex and Ella Thatcher-Plant
The National Winter Championships is the biggest English Level 1 meet of the winter months, with Britain's top senior swimmers often involved. Usually a short course event, this year was a 50m long course competition, with many swimmers either looking to qualify or fine tune their racing for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. With no age groups involved all swimmers are up against each other, making this an extremely tough competition. So to have three of our Wrekin swimmers competing was a phenomenal achievement.
Will
competed in four events, his best finishing position was in the 200IM where he came 23rd.
Zara
had just the one event, the 200Fly, after a good swim she finished 32nd.
Ella
competed in both the 400 and 800 Free, swimming well in both events and finishing 29th and 17th.
Both girls did well as they had GCSE mock exams leading up to this competition which limited their training hours somewhat.
Huge well done to all three swimmers for qualifying and competing at this National event, you've done your club proud.
NORTHGATE PB BUSTER 2017
Wolverhampton Central Baths - 25th & 26th November
PB Buster is always a great start to the swim season for our younger swimmers and this year didn't let us down. All credit to the Northgate team who run this meet for providing such a fun and relaxed environment for swimmer's new to competitive swimming.
With the County qualifying window coming to an end, Northgate PB Buster gave our younger swimmers the opportunity to qualify for the upcoming 2018 County Champs.
For Rachel's Junior Squad and Development Squad, this was a very busy weekend of competition. Not only chasing County times but also trying to improve on any already achieved.
There were so many great performances from all the swimmers with plenty of Personal Best times and medals gained over the two day competition. As a result the team now have plenty more County qualifying times across all events. With lots of top six results from the team it meant Wrekin came away with second place for top visiting club, a great achievement against much bigger clubs.
Special mention must go to:
Sonny Woodall
for gaining his first ever County qualification.
Emma Makepeace
for swimming at her first ever competition AND gaining County times.
Eleanor Ray, Lily Thatcher-Plant, Teigan Dunne, Sophie Williams, Aimee Corkhill, Eva Sambhi, Amy Pryce, Evy Hawkes-Faulkner, William Milne who have all achieved County qualifying times.
AND
Leon Steer
for some amazing swims and taking the Top Boy trophy in the 11yr old age group.
Well done team, keep up the hardwork.
Click here for Results
LEON STEER
Top Boy - 11yr age group
MIDLAND LONG COURSE CHAMPTIONSHIPS 2017
Harvey Hadden Sports Village, Notts - November 4/5th
With Swim England changing Winter National Short Course to a Long Course Meet, regional swimming changed our Winter Short Course to Long Course also. This event has only two age groups 15&under and 16&over. It also brings both West and East Midlands Swimming together, unlike the Spring Regionals, making this a tough competition with the elite from both areas competing.
Midland Long Course Competitors
Aron Preece, Will Slawson, Sam Neeld, Eve Leleux
Zara Leleux, Ella Townson, Ella Thatcher-Plant
Anya Preece
Wrekin College had eight swimmers qualify for this year's Midland Champs, which is the most ever, and with the performances our swimmers gave this was our most successful championships to date.
For Anya Preece
and Ella Townson
this was their first time qualifying for this meet. Anya made the most of her one event, the 200Fly, and swam a great race gaining a 6 second Personal Best. Ella competed in both the 100 & 200 Fly and swam Long Course Personal Best's in both races.
Eve Leleux
doubled up from last year by qualifying for both the 100 & 200 Back, she put in two solid performances by being just outside her LCPB'S.
Ella Thatcher-Plant
put in some good swims, her best being the 800FC where she finished 4th in the 15&under age group.
Zara Leleux, Sam Neeld, Will Slawson
and Aron Preece
qualified for eleven finals between them. Zara came away with two 4th places in the 100 & 200 Fly. Aron finished a credible 5th in the 400IM. Sam gained two 4th places in the 50 Breast and 100FC and Will took two 3rd places in the 50 Breast and 400IM.
This Midland Champs was our most successful to date, showing that hard work and commitment pays, keep up the good work team. See Results
CHASE SC OPEN MEET 2017
Walsall Central Baths - Sept 30th - Oct 1st
Chase Open Meet was the Club's first competition of the new swimming season, the aim of this meet is for some good race practice working towards bigger events later in the year. Unfortunately due to this event being heavily over subscribed many of our younger swimmers were rejected.
Those who did compete all had a very good weekend of racing, with many top three places being won. Surprisingly there were also many Personal Best times achieved over the course of the weekend, this is all due to the hard work these swimmers have put into their training since the summer break.
Special mention to Zara Leleux
who claimed the Top Girl in the 16&over age group and to Anya Preece
who, after gaining a massive 11 second PB in the 200 Fly, qualified for her first Winter Midland Championships.
Well done to all our swimmers, hopefully this is a sign of more great swimming to come, keep up the good work team.
ZARA LELEUX - Top Girl 16&over age group
