Yorkshire Age Group Championships
A number of young swimmers from Rotherham Metro Swimming Club recently competed in the Yorkshire Age Group Championships which took place over three weekends at the John Charles Centre for Sport in Leeds and the Ponds Forge International Venue in Sheffield.
Once again this season, many of the swimmers performed new personal best times and the Club had its most successful year in recent years with the swimmers gaining 54 top ten positions overall. This significant improvement was recognised by the Yorkshire ASA as Rotherham Metro were awarded the trophy for the most improved Club in 2010.
Leading the way in the medal stakes was 13 year old Matthew Sotheran who gave some excellent performances to win 7 gold medals in the 400 IM, 200 IM, 100 Free, 100 Back, 50 Free, 50 Fly and 50 Back. Matthew also took the silver medal in the 1500 Free, the bronze medal in the 50 Breast and reached 5th place in the 800 Free. Matthew, who has been selected to join an England development squad for talented young swimmers, added to his medal success by gaining three National Qualifying Times in the 100 Free, 100 Back and 200 IM which will allow him to go on and compete in the National Age Group Championships to be held later this year in Sheffield.
Matthew’s sister, 11 year old Holly Sotheran also had a successful couple of weekends, winning 2 gold medals in the 1500 Free and 400 IM along with a silver medal in the 200 Fly. Holly added to this success with 5th place in the 800 Free, 6th place in the 400 Free and 7th place in the 200IM, 200 Free and 100 Fly. Unfortunately, injury prevented Holly competing in the final weekend of the competition, when she would have almost certainly added to her medal tally.
Fourteen year old Josh Whitehurst and thirteen year old Emily Shone both swam to gold medals. Josh took his gold medal in the 100 Free event and added to this with a silver in the 50 Breast, 4th place in the 100 Breast, 50 Free and 200 IM, 6th place in the 50 Back and 8th place in the 50 Fly. Emily won her gold medal in the 50 Back, swam to silver in the 50 Breast and made 5 more finals reaching 4th in the 100 Breast , 5th in the 200 Breast, 6th in the 50 Fly, 7th in the 400 IM and 9th in the 50 Free. Alice Aucott had an outstanding swim in the final of the 11 years 50 Breast as she moved from 5th position in the heats to win the gold medal in the final of the event. Alice also reached 6th in the 100 Breast, 8th in the 200 Breast and 10th in the 100 Fly.
Young swimmer, 11 year old Connor Neal, won two bronze medals in the 50 Back and 50 Fly and narrowly missed out on another medal when he finished 4th on the 50 Breast. Connor added to his medal success as he reached 6th in the 50 Free and 200 Free and 9th in the 400 Free.
Other swimmers who reached finals in their events were Nicole Clarke (4th 1500 Free, 7th 800 Free), Ben Cliff (7th 50 Free), Hannah Dannatt (4th 50 back), Shannon Eades (10th 50 Back), Josh Hillman (8th 200 Back, 9th 400 IM), Robert Kirk (7th 200 Fly), George Russell ( 5th 100 Fly, 10th 50 Fly), James Shiel (9th 50 Fly) and Lois Vardy (7th 50 Fly).
To complete a very successful competition, a number of Rotherham Metro relay teams reached the finals of their events. Notable performances came from the 13/14 boys freestyle team of Matthew Sotheran, James Shiel, Thomas Gibbons and Josh Whitehurst who swam very strongly to finish in the silver medal position , whilst the 9/10 boys team of Connor Neal, Ben Cliff, Jack McGann and Dylan Clare raced to the bronze medal in their event.
