THE Kelly Swim Squad got off to a flying start at the 1st round of the Premier Division Speedo League in Weston-Super-Mare last weekend. Kelly?s Jack Cockerton, 17, and Amanda Sanderson, 16, showed great early season form to win the Open 200m Individual Medley, Jack posted a new pb by breaking the 2min 10 sec barrier for the first time. Outstanding performers included Ben Clark in the 15/u 100m Freestyle and Danny Brown in the 13/u 100m Breaststroke who produced a best time and won their events by almost half a length. Matthew Henry produced a best time in the 15/u 100m Backstroke but unfortunately missed breaking the magic minute barrier by a mere 0.1 of a second. Kelly?s Sophie Calpin beat GB Squad Member Alex Warren in the Girls 15/u 100m Breaststroke. Holly Yeo although finishing a close 2nd in the Open 100m Breaststroke produced a best time and established a new Kelly School Record in her age group. Other new school records were set by Kathryn Stacey in the 11 years 100m Freestyle and Backstroke, Amanda Sanderson in the 16 years 100m Backstroke, Matthew Henry in the 15 years 100m Backstroke and Jack Cockerton in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley. Libby Miller and Lilly Batten started training two weeks ago to add support to the 11/u relay squad. This was their first ever swimming competition and both young swimmers helped the relay team secure valuable points. Kelly went on to win 9 out of the 16 relay events. Para Olympians David Hill and Claire Cashmore, double bronze medallist from Athens, played significant roles in relay swims and used this event as preparation for their National Championships in 3 weeks time. The highlight of the evening is always the 6 x 50 cannon relay. The ladies set the standard by winning their event by a clear 3 seconds over the City of Exeter. The Men secured Kelly?s win by just over a 1 second. In the final round up, despite the strong push from Kelly swimmers securing 20 first place finishes and 11 second place finishes out of 50 events, the overall points score ? Kelly won with 214pts ? was separated by a mere two points from Swindon Tiger Sharks who very steadily averaged 3rd and 4th place finishes throughout the competition. The next round of the Speedo League is on November 12 at Exeter where Kelly takes on Bridgend, Truro, Stroud, Cairns and Ferndown. Individual event winners: Jack Cockerton Open 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke, Amanda Sanderson Open 200 IM and 100 Backstroke, Laura Sprague Girls 13/u 100m Breaststroke, Danny Brown Boys 13/u 100m Breaststroke, Matthew Henry Boys 15/u 100m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly, Ben Clark Boys 15/u 100m Freestyle, Sophie Calpin Open 100m Breaststroke.
