FIFTEEN swimmers from the Kelly College Development Squad recently set off with their coach, Wendy Carter, for the Bodmin Sprint Meet.
It was a long and tiring day in the hot atmosphere of Bodmin Pool but the squad was marvellous — not once did their enthusiasm waiver. Every time one of them swam, the rest of the team were cheering them on.
The encouragement each swimmer received paid off with some terrific results. Beth Compbell-Boseley, 11, was awarded top girl of the meet. She entered every event and was in every final coming home with five golds and one silver.
Sarah Thomas, 12, had some close races with some interesting friendly rivalry, with Cassie Patten from Bodmin. Sarah's better technique won her the gold in her best event, the backstroke. In the freestyle Sarah won the heat in a personal best time of 30.81 seconds, but in the final Cassie's strength just got her to first place by a whisker.
Nye Levett, 10, who is at Kelly College Junior School had a superb day being placed in four out of five events. His 50m butterfly time went from 47.56, which he was entered at, down to 43.37 in the final giving him second place. In every event, he took several seconds off his previous best times.
Simon Wright surprised everyone by excelling himself in the individual medley, where his good technique in all strokes paid off giving him first place in his heat in a personal best time of 1.24.63. seconds — almost seven seconds faster than he had ever swum before.
Gavin Court, a seasoned campaigner at only 12-year-olds, entered three events and won bronze in all of them, all with new personal best times. In only his second competition ever, Ross Ohlenschlager, with his determination and strength, managed to knock four seconds off his 50m fly time giving him a place in the final and sixth place.
In the breaststroke, his time was four second off his individual medley time coming third in his heat, five seconds of his 50m fly time giving him a place in the final and sixth place — four seconds faster than he had ever swum.
Edward Robinson, 10, also from the Junior School kept smiling all day, and no wonder, he entered four events and did personal best times in all of them. In the 50m backstroke he did a personal best time of 42.82 seconds in the heat and 43.58 seconds in the final to give him a well-deserved sixth place.
Felicity Snow who had been off swimming due to an injured shoulder and had only returned to training during the week of the competition did very creditable times in the 50m backstroke, freestyle and butterfly.
In the 12-year-old girls' individual medley the all round improvement in Louise Amer's strokes and turns was apparent when she cruised to first place in her heat in a personal best time which was six and a half seconds faster than her previous time.
In the freestyle, Laura Foster managed a personal best time by one hundredth of a second! we will hear more of this young lady if she decides to commit herself to her swimming.
The two friends Amy Joce and Charlotte Olive had a very good day; both managed personal best times in all their events. Their hard work on starts and turns during the previous week paid off.
A tired but happy band made their way home laden with prizes and flushed with success.