Spalding-based South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club were once again well represented at the Swim English National event at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge pool.
Ellisha Cookson had a busy schedule and contested four events, the 800m freestyle, 400m individual medley (IM) and both the 50m and 100m breaststroke, while Emma Croker competed in the 200m freestyle and Mollie Briggs stepped up for the distance freestyle events and competed back-to-back in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m.
Cookson opened the South Lincs campaign in the 100m breaststroke, producing a solid swim just outside of her PB to place 11th, narrowly missing out on a place in the final.
In the 400m IM, she swam a strong breaststroke and freestyle leg to pull her back into the race and post a time of 5.19.24 that did see her through to the final.
The aim is always to go faster in the final than in the heat swim and Cookson managed that with some style, swimming a much stronger opening half of the race on the butterfly and backstroke legs to take eighth.
Croker (14 years) then contested the 200m freestyle and a solid heat swim, just fractionally outside her PB, saw her qualify through to the final. There, she produced an excellent swim and showed great strength in the second hundred 100m to set a new PB of 2.10.04mins for fifth.
Briggs then got her campaign under way with the 400m freestyle – something of a sprint event for her.
She swam strongly throughout her heat to take the lead at the half way mark and never relinquished it, touching the wall in a new PB of 4.38.88mins to qualify through to the girls’ 14 years age group final.
Briggs swam a more controlled opening half of the race in the final, but fought every stroke in the second half to close down on other swimmers and achieve another PB of 4.38.46mins to take ninth place.
Next up, Cookson returned to the pool to storm through her heat of the 50m breaststroke to post a PB of 34.93secs and qualify through to the girls’ 15 years final.
Briggs also took on the longest race in the pool, the 1,500m freestyle and showed real determination from the outset. She went on to smash her PB by 11 seconds (18.20.48mins) and took fifth place in the girls’ 14 years age group.
Cookson then closed out the day with an exceptional final swim in the 50m breaststroke, further lowering her PB to 34.77secs and narrowly missing out on the medals in fourth.
Meanwhile, Briggs turned in another fine performance in the 800m freestyle, taking pole position in her heat and working hard to extend this throughout the race. She touched home in a six-second PB of 9.32.62mins to take fifth place in the 14 years age group.
Then, completing a top day of swimming, Cookson finished up with the 800m freestyle. Working hard throughout her heat, she finished just outside of her best to take fifth place in the girls’ 15 years age group.
Head coach Keith Haynes, said: “The season has been a really successful one for the club. We have performed well at county and regional championships and now we have eight swimmers competing at national level.
“It has been a significant step forward in the level that the South Lincs swimmers are competing at and the year has all been about experience.
“Next year we will be working harder to ensure continued results and see these swimmers step up another level to achieve more qualifying times at the nationals and hopefully achieve some podium finishes.”
- The South Lincs swimmers were also at Thrybergh Country Park, just outside Sheffield, for the National Open Water Championships.
In the 3km event, Briggs was in the top four after a strong start but took a few blows from her rivals and ended up 11th in the 14 years group.
Oliver Sorrell was the first of the younger swimmers to go, all of who contested the 2km open water event.
He produced a strong swim and managed to take 20th place in the boys’ 12 years age group.
Isobel Gosling was also in action in the girls’ 12 years age group 2km open water event, managing 13th spot.
The final swimmer of the day was Nitesh Anbazhagan, who was 21st in the 2km open water event in the boys’ 13 years age group.
