South East Regionals Age Group Championships Weekend 1
South East Swim England Regionals Summer (Long Course) Championship which started on the Saturday 26th of April and goes through to the 11th of May. South East regionals is the main summer competition inside the National Qualifying Window which swimmers use to gain National times and rankings.
Weekend one took place at K2 in Crawley. All the qualified swimmers arrived on time and completed their newly restructured pre-pool to good standards followed by the competition warm up, and it was great to see some of the up and comers compete at regionals for the first time.
Session 1:
The girls 200IM was up first and Ailsa Wotherspoon (11-12 years) finished in 15th with a 2:50.78, followed by Abby Whittaker (13 years) finishing 15th with a 2:42.22.
Next up was the boys 1500m freestyle and Joshua Hutchinson (14 years) stormed to a silver medal performance, clocking in at 17:35.48, a 10 second PB!
The last event for session 1 was the girls 800m freestyle and Abby Whittaker (13 years) finishes in 5th place with a 9:59.95. Ellie Macleod (14 years) seperated herself from the field during the final stages and finished 1st, clocking in at 9:20.96, grabbing her first regional title of the weekend.
Session 2:
Starting with the prelims of the boys 200 breaststroke, where Takara Hasegawa-York finished in 7th with a 2:45.65 and Alex Song finished 8th with a 2:46.93 for the 14 year olds, putting them both through to the finals.
Next up was the prelims of the girls 200m butterfly. Up first was Ailsa wotherspoon (12 years) finishing 11th with a time of 3:01.73. Keeley Thomas (13 years) clocked in at 2:46.81 finishing at 8th place putting her through to the finals.
Ellie Macleod for the 14 year old girls leads the field by 5 seconds clocking in at 2:25.63 making her the top qualifier for the finals.
With 2 swimmers qualifying for the girls 200m butterfly, followed the boys 100m freestyle where Joshua Hutchinson (14 years) swam his final race of the day, finishing 10th with a time of 58.96, which was slightly off his pb.
Final girls event for session 2 was the 100m backstroke. Abby Whittaker (13 years) finishes 20th with a 1:15.55. Francesca Johnson finishes 22nd for the 14 year olds with a 1:14.80.
Session 2 finals:
After a busy session 2, the first finals was the boys 200m breaststroke, which had Takara clocking in at 2:47.26 finishing in 7th and Alex S clocking in at 2:48.98 finishing 8th for the 14 year old boys.
This was followed by the girls 200m butterfly. Keeley Thomas (13 years) finished in 8th with a 2:49.53.
Ellie Macleod for the 14 year old girls finishes first grabbing her second regional title for the day coming in at 2:23.95, and that concluded day one of the south east age group regionals.
Session 3:
Day 2 started off with the boys 50 fly. Alex Song (14 years) finishes 11th with a 30.22 and Israel Marango (14 years) finishes 26th with a 30.91.
Next up was the girls 200m backstroke which saw Abby Whittaker (13 years) finishing in 11th with a 2:37.04.
Followed by the boys 200m freestyle, Joshua Hutchinson (14 years) seeds third for the finals with a 2:06.36.
The girls 100m Butterfly saw Ailsa Wotherspoon (12 years) finishing in 11th with a 1:17.72. Keeley Thomas (13 years) comes in at 1:11.99 missing the finals by a slim margin, placing her in 9th.
Ellie Macleod was the top qualifier for the finals clocking in at 1:05.11.
Next up was the boys 100m breast, where Alex Song (14 years) with a strong back end seeds third for the finals clocking in at 1:14.15.
Session 3 finals:
First up was Joshua Hutchinson (14 years) in the 200m freestyle who managed to lower his prelim time by 2 seconds, moving him up a spot and finished with a silver medal performance.
Next finals was the girls 100 fly where Ellie Macleod (14 years) retained her position and took gold with a 1:04.49, grabbing her third regional title for the weekend.
Last finals the boys 100m breaststroke, Alex song was 8th at the 50 and managed to work the field, finishing just outside the podium in 4th with a 1:14.93.
Session 4:
Final session of the first weekend. First up were Takara, Alex S and Joshua Hutchinson for the 14 year old boys 400IM. Joshua Hutchinson grabs his 3rd Silver medal this weekend finishing at 5:06.68.
Takara finished 10th with a 5:14.44 and Alex S finished 12th with a 5:20.87.
Final swims for the weekend came from the girls 400m freestyle, Abby whittaker (13 years) finishes 6th with a 4:46.98. Ellie Macleod (14 years) grabs a silver medal with a 4:30.22.
Concluding the first weekend of the Southeast age group regionals with:
7 finals
7 medals
3 golds
4 silvers
More photos:
