WITH five young swimmers representing the club for the first time, Tavistock Swimming Club travelled to Exmouth for a friendly gala on Saturday.
The well-organised gala saw the young swimmers get terrific support from poolside from their older team-mates.
The boys? 9/u relay team of Sam Campbell, Felix Davies, Jonathan Evans and Joshua Hughes were outstanding, taking first in both the 4x 25m freestyle and the 4x25m medley relay, which they won convincingly. It was especially of note as, with the exception of Joshua, it was the first time the boys had represented Tavistock.
In the individual events, Jonathan won the 9/under 25m backstroke and 25m breaststroke in convincing style and team-mate Felix swam the 25m butterfly at a cracking pace to take first place with Sam taking second in the 25m freestyle.
Charlotte Mellor and Ella Waddington were competing for Tavistock for the first time and swam extremely well. Charlotte and Ella took third in the 9/u freestyle and 25m breaststroke respectively in close races.
Michael Best had an excellent swim, taking four seconds off his time to win on the touch in the 15/u 50m breaststroke.
Second places went to Joshua Stephens in the 11/u 50m breaststroke, Kirsty Best, 13/u breaststoke, Tom Crocker, 50m backstroke.
Individual third places went to Will Crocker, 15/u 50m butterfly, Kirsty Best, open 50m breaststroke, Kirsty Smith, 11/u 50m freestyle, Joshua Stephens, 11/u 50m freestyle, Jake Broome, 13/u 50m freestyle and Catriona Smith, 11/u 50m butterfly.
Third place in the relay events, 13/u 4 x 50m, Laura Aspen, Francesca Gould, Alice Warnett and Kirsty Best in both the freestyle and medley events; boys? 13/u 4x50m, Tom Waddington, Joshua Stephens, Tom Crocker and Jake Broome; boys? 11/u 4x25m medley relay, Rufus Gould, Adam Browner, Tom Crocker and Joshua Hughes; girls? 9/u 4x25m medley relay, Rosanne Walsh, Abigail Best, Ella Waddington and Charlotte Mellor.
Will Crocker, Sebastian Lee and Chris Ralph all improved their 50m times by one second in butterfly, backstroke and freestyle respectively. Jake Chinn improved his split time for 50m breaststroke by four seconds and Rebecca Windemer narrowly missed a personal best time in the 25m freestyle. A total of 21 personal best times were recorded.
With no girls? open age group swimmers being available, Kirsty Best, Alice Warnett, Francesca Gould, Laura Radgick and Amy Warnett all swam up at least one age group and put in a huge effort in the open events.
The unenviable task of selecting swimmer of the gala fell to Paul Chinn (head coach) and Wendy Stephens (assistant coach) with the award going to Jonathan Evans. Both coaches had nothing but praise for all the young swimmers who had put 100% into the gala.
Final points: Dawlish 241; Dinnaton 235; Exmouth 225, Tavistock 174, Newton Abbot 164; Devonport Royal 140.