South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club members produced a host of excellent results at the first weekend of the Lincolnshire County Championships.
The opening events contested were the 800m and 1,500m freestyle at Grantham, with the Spalding-based club very well represented.
Matteo Monaco got the team off to a flying start as he romped to victory in the boys’ 13 years age group 800m freestyle.
Maintaining a good rhythm throughout the swim, he touched the wall in a new personal best (PB) time and broke the ten-minute barrier for the first occasion with a time of 9.59.35mins.
Monaco went on to the distance freestyle double as he followed up his win in the 800m event, with a further gold in the 1,500m freestyle in a new PB of 18.44.89mins.
Not only did he win his age group in both events, he took silver for both swims in the boys’ junior championship – making him the second fastest swimmer aged 14 and under.
Oscar Goldsmith did the distance freestyle double as well, sweeping to gold in both the 800m and 1,500m.
He swam both his events well out in front of the rest of his heat and was racing the clock for the best time possible.
In the 800 freestyle, his amazing time of 9.10.57mins was a new club record as well as a PB, while in the 1,500m freestyle he clocked 17.39.33mins.
Goldsmith also took gold in the boys’ 14 years age group and won both events in the boys’ junior championship.
In the boys’ 15 years age group, it was a South Lincs clean sweep of the medals in the 800m freestyle – and all three swimmers set new PBs on their way to the podium.
Gold went to Alfie Bisby in a time of 9.09.02mins, Alex Sadler took the silver medal in a time of 9.13.50mins and Oliver Sorrell bagged the bronze medal in a time of 9.21.49mins.
It was a similar story in the 1,500m freestyle event the following day, with all three boys back on the podium in new PB times – with only the order that changed.
Sadler took the gold medal on this occasion (17.27.71mins) and also finished third in the men’s senior championship.
Bisby added the silver medal to the club haul with a time of 17.34.06mins and once again Sorrell took bronze (17.49.87mins).
Rico Bringeman was the third South Lincs swimmer to do the double and win both the 800m and 1,500m freestyle.
In two very solid swims, he found himself out in front of the rest of the field and was in a race against the clock.
In the 800m event, Bringeman set a PB and club record of 8.45.87mins, while in the longer 1,500m event he was marginally outside of his best with 16.59.83mins.
He also took gold in both the boys’ 16 years and over age group and the men’s senior championship.
Bringeman was joined on the podium in the 800m freestyle by Luke Blanchard, who took the bronze medal in a PB of 9.05.00mins.
The girls were not to be outdone as they brought home a wealth of medals for the club, too.
Daniela Bringeman took a brace of bronze medals as she took third place in both events in the girls’ 15 years age group. She swam an excellent 800m freestyle to post a PB of 10.23.54.
Lillie Hamilton made it a podium finish in the girls’ 14 years age group of the 1,500m freestyle.
She swam an excellent race to lower her PB by almost one minute, touching the wall in 19.54.97mins to take the bronze medal in her age group – and for good measure took bronze in the girls’ junior championship, too.
Mollie Briggs was also in action over the weekend and took bronze in the girls’ 16 years and over age group of the 1,500m freestyle.
She put in a tremendous effort having only just recovered from COVID-19, finishing in a time of 18.26.58mins.
Meanwhile, Emma Croker turned her hand to some distance freestyle swimming rather than her preferred sprint events.
She swam an excellent 800m freestyle to set a new PB and club record of 9.09.66mins that saw her take both gold in the girls’ 16 years and over age group and also win the ladies’ senior championship title.
With that victory, the South Lincs swimmers finished the weekend having won 18 medals, comprising of nine gold, two silver and seven bronze.
Pleased head coach Keith Haynes said: “The swimmers have got county championships off to a great start for South Lincs.
“We are aiming to better our medal haul from 2020 and this weekend has been very positive.
“I’m excited to see how our swimmers get on in the coming weekends of county championships.”
