Hemel Hempstead Swimming Club youngsters clinch promotion

With the Division One team securing a very creditable third place overall, Hemel will have two teams in the top division in next year’s competition.

The team went into the last round of the competition knowing they faced a squad from Costa who had swept all before them in the first two rounds.

The Hemel team couldn’t be faulted for their effort, posting 22 personal best times out of 32 individual events – remarkably more improvements than in either of the two previous rounds.

They recorded 15 wins and 29 top-three finishes, but in the end Costa were just too strong to be pipped to the top spot.

Wins for Matt Sherriff in the individual open 100m freestyle events, Georgia Purkis in the U14 100m breaststroke, and Jack Christie in the open 100, breaststroke meant they were unbeaten in their events over all three rounds of the competition.

Also unbeaten in both their medley and freestyle relays over all three rounds were the open boys’ squad and the U14 boys’ squad.

Paige Wilding got the evening off to a fantastic start with a win in the open 100m freestyle, following it up with another win in the open 100m fly – both in new personal best times.

Josh Gaines also set a PB in winning the open 100m backstroke, as did Kira Doyle as she won the open 100m breaststroke.

There were also individual wins for Sam Gaines in the U14 50m fly and Jonny Farrow in the U14 100m back, with the open girl’s quartet of Kira Doyle, Molly McLoughlin, Paige Wilding and Lauren Windsor also winning both their relay events on the night.

Other swimmers who showed their total commitment to the team by posting significant PB times were Luke Carl, Ciaran Kilbane, Nathan Lodge and Amber Stratford.

Millie Anderton, Nell Baughan, Emily Holland, Samuel Hutchings, Helen Jennings, Niall Marsden, Becci Rumble, Sam Ward, and Emily Young also PB’d. Izzy Anderton, Freya Beresford, Michael Broner, Lois Goad, Niall Marsden and Chloe Purkis completed the successful team.