West Norfolk’s older swimmers joined the action for the second weekend of the Swim England East Region Championships – with Millie Harris kickstarting proceedings by making the final in the Girls 15 Years’ 200M Butterfly – where she went on to take fifth position.
Nathan Wells and Tobias Oglesby also qualified for finals early doors – Oglesby went on to finish in eight place overall in the Men’s 50M Backstroke, whilst Wells took first place and with it the Regional Title.
Harris, a dual-registration swimmer with both West Norfolk and Wisbech SC, was back in the pool for the 50M Freestyle, alongside Erin Woodrow and Sarah O’Brien – with O’Brien putting in a season’s best performance.
Rhys Burrell, Alex Florence, Freddie Laws and Finn Ryan opened their championships with the 100M Breaststroke. Laws and Ryan progressing onto the final where the duo took third and seventh place finishes respectively.
Harris’ third event of the morning, and O’Brien’s second, saw them joined by Kristina Sutika Totlebena for the 200M Breaststroke. Personal best swims were the order of the day for both Harris and Sutika Totlebena.
Burrell, Robert Addis and Joseph Wells closed out Saturday morning with the 100M Butterfly – with Addis swimming a season’s best time.
Laws, Oglesby, Joseph Wells and Jake Lammas got the afternoon underway with their 100M Freestyle before Woodrow was joined by Chloe Bellamy for the 200M Backstroke.
Nathan Wells and Harvey Isle then took on the gruelling 400M Individual Medley – where Wells took another Regional Title – before eyes turned to relay events.
The Boys 16 Years’ 4 x 100M Freestyle team of Thomas Garnett, Joshua Jones, Nathan Yeaman and Rhys Burrell finished sixth of nine teams competing, whilst Bellamy, Pemberley Hornigold, Harris and Woodrow teamed up for the Girls’ 16 Years’ 4 x 100M Medley.
The morning of a Sunday 30th April commenced with Nathan Wells and Dan Grimmer tackling the 200M Butterfly, where Grimmer swam a personal best, before seven swimmers, including Wells, contested the blue-riband 50M Freestyle. Wells and Oglebsy progressed onto the final, finishing fourth and seventh.
The Women’s 100M Breaststroke saw West Norfolk represented by the now long-established duo of Sarah O’Brien and Molly Lee – with Lee moving onto the final where she bettered her time from the heats by two-tenths of a second.
Burrell and Laws both made the final in the 200M Breaststroke – Burrell placing sixth in the Boys 16 Years’ contest whilst Laws bagged himself some silverware with a second place finish in the Men’s event.
Millie Harris then qualified for the final in the 100M Butterfly, where she placed fourth, before swimming a personal best time in the 100M Freestyle event also contested by O’Brien.
The 200M Backstroke saw a pair of Nathans, both Wells and Yeaman, secure final spots – Yeaman eventually placing eighth of the 16 Year Old Boys and Wells fifth in the Men’s Open Category.
Both then led off with the Backstroke legs of West Norfolk’s 4 x 100 Medley relay teams for their age categories. Yeaman’s 16 Years and under team featuring Burrell, Jamie Wilson and Thomas Garnett placed a respectable 9th of 12, before the Men’s team of Wells, Laws, Grimmer and Ryan swam their hearts out to narrowly edge out the City of Cambridge for a set of silver medals.
A Bank Holiday Monday on the 1st May allowed the championships to continue into its fourth of seven days of competition.
Harris, O’Brien, Laws and Nathan Wells opened the day with the 200M IM, with both of the men progressing onwards to the final. A personal best swim saw Laws secure fourth place whilst Wells added yet another East Region title to his collection.
Wells then quickly secured another medal by taking second place in the 100M Backstroke.
Lee, O’Brien, Burrell, Laws, Florence and Oliver Kenny all contested the 50M Breaststroke. Lee secured a place in the Women’s final, finishing fifth, whilst Laws went one better with a fourth place and a season’s best time in the Men’s final.
West Norfolk were even better represented in the 50M Butterfly, with O’Brien, Burrell, Kenny and Laws joined by Addis, Harris, Oglesby and Joseph Wells. Harris and Burrell both progressed to their respective finals with Harris taking a fourth place and Burrell swimming a personal best time of 27.87 seconds on his way to the same finishing position.
The 200M Freestyle was the last event on the start sheets for day – seeing a season’s best swim for Joseph Wells.
