The weekend of the 5th and 6th of February saw 40 of the South Lincs swimmers head to Louth for the final weekend of Lincolnshire County Championships.

The team of swimmers already had 37 medals in the bag from the previous weekends of competition, but the final two days of competition saw a gargantuan effort from the athletes who picked up a further 142 medals. 

Kitty Lamb led the way in the girls 11 years and under age group as she stormed to no less than twelve gold medals out of twelve swims and set ten new personal best times. Kitty made her biggest improvement in the 200m backstroke where she lowered her personal best time by more than 5 seconds on her way to a gold medal in a time of 2.46.38. Kitty also set a big new personal best in the 200m individual medley where she lowered her time by almost three seconds to stop the clock in 2.52.08. Kitty won her gold medals across the 50m, 100m and 200m distances in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. There was also gold in the 50 butterfly and the 100m and 200m individual medley.

Charlie Bisby was a big winner over the two days of competition. Charlie was also competing in the 11 years and under age group and picked up nine gold medals from nine swims. Charlie struck gold in the 100m backstroke with a new personal best time of 1.21.42, lowering his previous best by two and a half seconds. Charlie also set a good new personal best in the 200m individual medley, again by more than two seconds to touch the wall in a new mark of 3.00.53. Charlie collected gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m and 200m backstroke, the 50m and 100m breaststroke, the 50m butterfly and the 100m and 200m individual medley.

Emma Croker collected seven gold medals over the final weekend of competition in the girls 16 years and over age group. Emma struck gold in her three favoured freestyle events, the 50m, 100m and 200m distances. Emma set new personal best times in the 50m and 100m events of 25.93 seconds and 56.02 seconds respectively. There were also gold medals for Emma in the 50m and 100m backstroke, again both in new personal best times of 30.83 seconds and 1.05.10 respectively. Emma also showed her prowess over the sprint distances in butterfly as she took gold in both the 50m and 100m distances of this stroke.

Lucy Wilson was competing in her first county championships in the girls 12 years age group and swam to no less than six gold medals. Lucy took top spot on the podium in the 100m and 200m freestyle, both in new personal best times of 1.11.15 and 2.33.49 respectively. Lucy added further gold medals in the 200m breaststroke and the 100m butterfly and both the 100m and 200m individual medley events. In both the medley events Lucy set new personal best times of 1.21.89 and 2.51.87 respectively. For good measure Lucy also collected three silver and two bronze medals for her personal haul.

Rico Bringeman was in action in the boys 16 years and over age group where he collected four gold medals. Rico was victorious in the 200m freestyle, both the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200m individual medley. Rico also collected five silver medals and three bronze medals over the course of the weekend. Rico set a big new personal best time in the 200m breaststroke, lowering his best time by more than eleven seconds to touch home in 2.27.97. There were also impressive swims in both the 50m and 100m freestyle where Rico set new club records of 25.10 seconds and 53.95 seconds.

Ellisha Cookson also put in some fine performances in the girls 16 years and over age group. Ellisha struck gold on four occasions, showing her complete dominance of the breaststroke events, Ellisha won the 50m, 100m and 200m distances to win both her age group and the Ladies Senior Championship. Ellisha also took the gold medal in the 100m individual medley. For good measure Ellisha also added two silver medals to her personal haul. In the 200m butterfly the race came down to the final stroke where Ellisha was just touched out for the gold medal, but set a big new personal best time of 2.23.57.

Alex Sadler won a hat trick of gold medals all of them in new personal best times. Alex set a new mark in the boys 15 years age group of the 200m freestyle of 2.03.99 to claim his first gold medal and then followed this up with a further personal best in the 100m butterfly of 1.04.18 for a second gold medal. Alex rounded out the weekend as he struck gold for the third occasion in the 200m butterfly, again in a new personal best time of 2.23.34. Alex also collected seven silver medals and one bronze medal in his county championship campaign.

Frank Lamb had a hugely successful weekend also collecting a hat trick of gold medals in the boys 13 years age group. Frank was top of the podium in the 200m individual medley in a new personal best time, dropping more than three seconds off his previous best to touch the wall in 2.36.94. Frank also took top spot in the shorter 100m individual medley with a personal best time of three and a half seconds to finish in 1.14.92. Frank also made it a golden finish to his weekend as he won the 100m freestyle, again in a new personal best time of 1.06.38. Frank also collected six silver and four bronze medals to add to his golds.

Oscar Goldsmith was competing in the boys 14 years age group, unfortunately due to injury Oscar had to reduce his programme but still came away with three gold medals. Oscar’s first gold medal came in the 200m individual medley where he lowered his personal best by almost three seconds to set a new mark and club record of 2.24.79. Oscar backed this up with gold in the 200m freestyle, again in a new personal best time of 2.09.99. Oscar’s final gold medal came in one of his favourite events, the 200m butterfly where he sped to yet another personal best time and another club record of 2.23.61. Oscar also collected three silver and two bronze medals from his events over the weekend.

Matteo Monaco was also competing in the boys 13 years age group and showed himself to be the master of backstroke. Matteo sped to victory in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events and set new personal best times in all three distances. In the 200m backstroke Matteo lowered his personal best by over four and a half seconds to finish in 2.34.74. In the 100m backstroke it was a new personal best by over three seconds for Matteo as he touched home in 1.12.74 and in the 50m backstroke Matteo shaved off over a second to finish in 34.31 seconds. Matteo also collected two silver and one bronze medals.

Younger brother Francesco Monaco was also in action. Francesco was the youngest South Lincs swimmer at County Championships but this didn’t stop him becoming a county champion in the boys 11 years and under age group. Francesco topped the podium in the 200m freestyle were he posted a new personal best time of 2.49.09. Francesco followed this up by striking gold in the next event, the 200m breaststroke where he set a further personal best time of 3.43.13. For good measure Francesco also collected one silver and five bronze medals.

Hannah Bruce was a double gold medallist in the girls 13 years age group. Hannah took her first gold medal in the 200m individual medley. Hannah produced a stunning swim lowering her personal best time by over eight seconds to touch the wall in a new mark of 2.42.21. Hannah took her second gold medal in the 200m freestyle, one of her favourite events, with another huge personal best time by more than five seconds to finish in top spot with a time of 2.22.02. Hannah also collected three bronze medals in the 100m freestyle, the 100m butterfly and the 100m individual medley, all in new personal best times.

Alfie Bisby was also a gold medallist over the course of the weekend. Alfie struck gold in the boys 15 years age group of the 100m breaststroke. Alfie set a new personal best time of 1.16.82 to take the win. Alfie had a busy weekend as he claimed no fewer than four silver medals and six bronze medals across a range of events and strokes. Alfie’s biggest improvement came in the 200m freestyle where he lowered his personal best by almost three seconds to finish behind team mate Alex Sadler in a time of 2.04.66.

Aaron Sadler was competing in the boys 12 years age group and showed his butterfly skills over the weekend claiming three medals in this stroke. Aaron set a huge new personal best in the 200m butterfly, lowering his best time by more than twelve seconds to take the silver medal in a time of 3.15.86. There was also a personal best time in the 100m butterfly where Aaron touched the wall in a time of 1.28.04 to claim the bronze medal. Finally in the 50m butterfly Aaron stormed through the race to add a second silver medal again in a new personal best time of 36.41 seconds.

Luke Blanchard took a silver medal in the boys 16 years and over age group of the 200m butterfly, following team mate Rico Bringeman home for a South Lincs 1-2 in this event. Luke also took bronze medals in the 100m butterfly and the 200m individual medley.

Alfie Robinson showed his backstroke prowess as he won a stunning silver medal in the boys 16 years and over age group of the 50m backstroke with an excellent new personal best time of 29.53 seconds. There were also personal best times in the 100m and 200m backstroke with times of 1.03.65 and 2.14.68 respectively that gave Alfie a brace of bronze medals.

Sigourney Bolton showed her breaststroke skills in the girls 13 years age group as she claimed a bronze in the 50m breaststroke and a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke. Sigourney set a new personal best time in the 100m distance of 1.25.66.

Oliver Sorrell claimed a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke in the boys 15 years age group and a bronze in the 100m butterfly, both of which he did in new personal best times of 2.52.10 and 1.10.14 respectively.

Daisy Rummery won a hat trick of bronze medals in the girls 16 years and over age group. Daisy took her medals across the backstroke events. Daisy set new personal best times in both the 50m and 100m backstroke distances on her way to her podium finishes.

There were also bronze medals for Mollie Briggs in the girls 16 years and over age group in the 200m butterfly. Lexie Hamilton took her first county championship medal in the girls 13 years age group of the 200m butterfly as she struck bronze in a new personal best time of 3.25.87. Lucie Lund also took a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly in the girls 15 years age group with a big new personal best time of 2.45.80. Sophie Wilson also took bronze in the girls 14 years age group of the 200m freestyle.

Head Coach, Keith Haynes commented ‘it has been an amazing County Championships for South Lincs. The swimmers have performed exceptionally well. Our target was to better our medal haul from 2020 and we have beaten it by a substantial amount, taking a total of 77 gold, 46 silver and 53 bronze medals. There were so many new personal best times achieved by the swimmers across the age groups, it is really positive to see all our swimmers making this kind of progress in their swimming.’ South Lincs also finished the County Championships by being named Top Club.

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by Website Admin