Matthew Excels at Excel!
Over the Easter bank holiday weekend a team of Rotherham Metro swimmers competed at the prestigious Derventio Excel meeting at Ponds Forge. This gala attracted over sixty clubs from as far afield as the Isle of Man and Dubai.
The high standard of this gala produced National Qualifying times, North Eastern times and numerous PB’s for many swimmers. Matthew Sotheran and Dale Waterhouse each gained two National Qualifying Times, Matthew in the 400IM and 100 Fly and Dale in the 50 and 100 Free which will allow both of them to go on and compete in the National Age Group Championships later this year.
Once again thirteen year old Matthew Sotheran led the way with an impressive medal haul consisting of Gold in the 100 Fly, Silvers in the 100 Free and 400 IM and also Bronze Medals in the 200 and 400 Free and also 200 Back. Other competitors gaining medals were Dale Waterhouse (18) who achieved a bronze in the 50 Free and Charlotte Pearson (15) who achieved Bronze in the 50 Fly.
The following swimmers attained Top ten finishes, Emily Shone ( 4th 100 Back, 5th 200 Back, 7th 200 IM and 9th 100 Breast), Laura Gillott ( 8th 50 Back, 8th 400 Free and 9th 200 Back), Shannon Eades ( 6th 50 Back, 9th 100 Back and 10th 200 IM ), Kelsey Longdon ( 4th 200 Fly, 7th 50 Fly and 10th 200IM ), Nicole Clarke ( 7th 400 Free), James Newton ( 6th 50 Breast ), Josh Whitehurst ( 7th 100 Free), Dale Waterhouse ( 4th 100 Free, 9th 200 Free and 10th 100 Back), Dan McLean ( 9th 100 Back ), Thomas Nelson ( 8th 50 Back and 10th 200 Back ), Ben Bainbridge ( 7th 200 Fly ), Matthew Sotheran ( 5th 50 Back ), Charlotte Pearson ( 9th 100 Fly ), Robert Kirk ( 10th 400 IM ), George Russell ( 6th 200 Fly ) and Josh Hillman ( 5th 200 Back and 6th 400 IM ).