A host of personal best (PB) times were clocked as seven members of South Lincs Competitive Swimming club attended the first round of the new Grantham Grand Prix series.
Held at the Mere Leisure Centre on Saturday, coach Sian Roberts accompanied Hannah Willis, Cordelia Barber, Edward Skells, Molly Paxton, Mollie Briggs, Emma Croker and Esther Skells to the Grantham Swimming Club-hosted meet.
The series is designed to help encourage young swimmers under the age of 12 to experience competitive racing for the first time – and was a big hit with the Spalding club.
In the age 9-10 girls’ 50m freestyle, Willis and Croker both achieved PBs as they finished first and second respectively.
Next to race were Esther Skells, Briggs, Barber and Paxton in the 50m freestyle – and all achieved new PBs.
Another PB went to Edward Skells in the 50m butterfly as he placed fifth, before all six girls clocked best times in the age 9-10 years’ 50m breaststroke. Willis won that race.
The PBs kept on coming, with 12-year-old Edward Skells taking another in 50m backstroke en-route to fifth.
The final race for the girls was the 200m IM – and once again Willis took top spot, making it a clean-sweep for her on the night.
The other girls put in sterling performances, with Esther Skells shaving over 16 seconds off her previous best time.
Racing concluded with Edward Skells taking on the 200m freestyle. He again placed fifth and improved his previous PB time by more than five seconds.
To add to a successful meet for South Lincs, it was discovered that Willis broke two South Lincs competition records at the meet.
Her new best in the 50m freestyle is 33.61secs, with 3.00.77mins being the new 200m IM benchmark.
