KELLY College swimmers were again involved in the thick of the action at the second round of the Devon County Championships held at Plymouth last weekend, winning 22 gold, 12 silver,12 bronze medals and setting four new competition best performance times.
Sarah Thomas, 15, was back to her best form, winning five gold medals and setting two new competition best performance times. She was involved in a real battle with swimming star Cassie Patten, 16, from Plymouth Leander in the championship race of the 200m fly. They were locked stroke for stroke over the gruelling event with Cassie just getting the touch from Sarah.
Adding to the medal tally for the 200fly was Brikitta Batten, 13, and Sarah Reader, 14, winning gold and silver respectively in their age group. Both girls produced personal best times.
Jonathon Wills, 15, recently back to training, launched his attack on the county championships by winning two gold medals in the 100m and 200m individual medley in new championship best times and adding a third gold to his collection in the 50m backstroke.
Rachel Banfield, 18, Kelly team captain, proved she is still the No1 backstroker in the county by winning both the championship 100 and 200m events in two exciting races against Plymouth Leander?s Sabrina Shrestha. In the age group final of the 100m backstroke she set a new competition best time of 1.04.83.
Holly Yeo, 11, reversed the tables on her closest rival to win both the 50 and 100m breaststroke titles. The 100m event was so far the closest of the competition with Holly winning by a margin of a mere 3/100ths of a second.
Tom Howe, 13, was again in fighting form as he won the 100m individual medley in 1.07.43 in another new competition best time. He went on to win two silver medals in the 200m individual medley and the 50m backstroke.
In the 12-year age group, Matthew Henry and Josh Lake struck gold. Matthew, returning from illness, could not resist a crack at the 50m backstroke title which he won in a personal best of 33.30. Josh produced a phenomenal swim in the final of the 200m individual medley, improving his heat time by six seconds to win in 2.30.97. Josh also picked up a silver in the 100m individual medley and a bronze in the 200m backstroke.
Adam John, 11, won gold in the 50m backstroke and picking up a further two silver and one bronze medals in the 200m backstroke, 200m and 100m individual medley respectively.
Joe Clark, 10, made up for the disappointment of last weekend where he was disqualified for misjudging a turn in the 400m freestyle, swam like a true champion to win the 200m backstroke in a personal best time by almost ten seconds. Joe also went on to pick up the silver medals in both the 100 and 200m individual medleys.
David Hill, the disability world record holder for the 50m backstroke, was unable to compete as he was participating in a GB squad training camp in Gloucester in preparation for the European Trials in Sheffield at the end of March.
Other medal winners included Amy Bayliss, 11, a bronze in the 50m breaststroke; Rebecca Smith, a bronze in the 400m individual medley, and senior men?s swimmer Russell Page Dove, who showed his strength in the championship final of the 100m individual medley to win yet another gold for Kelly.