South East Regionals - Age Group Championships - Weekend One

Crawley’s K2 hosted the first weekend of the Regional championships 2022. The Age Group championships consisted of the best swimmers in the South East in the 14 and under age groups. Woking had an impressive 20 swimmers qualifying.

Day 1

Woking kicked off the championships with the 200 IM. Although a year younger than most of her competition, Ellie Macleod (11) started off with a solid swim only 0.40 off her PB with a respectable 2.57.88.  Following in the heat straight after, Lucy Wheeler (12) posted another solid time of 2.55.41. 

The second session saw 15 swimmers competing for Woking. Brothers Ryan (12) and Daniel Turner (14) kicked off with some great swims, both gaining PBs with 35.83 and 32.81 respectively. Alex Platt (12) battled the nerves to qualify 5th for the final in the 50 freestyle with a 30.31.  With Tegan Gale (14) having the same idea, reaching the final ranked 3rd. The boys 200 breaststroke included Galahad Reeve (13) swimming very close to his pb with a 3.09.32, doing enough to improve his ranking by 3 spots. Ellie Macleod continued her program with the challenging 200 fly with a 3.07.43, enjoying the swim so much she made sure to qualify for the final just to have another go at it. Ryan Grealou (14) showed his experience with a decent PB in the 100 freestyle (1.02.34). The impressive swim improved his ranking by 8 spots. The busy second session finished with the 100 backstroke which included Ella Pollock (14) further improving her position by 6 places with a solid 1.13.99. 

The Final session of Day 1 consisted of the finals for the day's 50, 100 and 200m events, with the top 8 from each age group come together to challenge for a medal. The first Woking finalist was Alex Platt in the 50 freestyle. Improving on her Heat swim with a 30.16, doing enough to move her from 5th to 4th, only 0.02 off a bronze medal. An outstanding effort. Soon after, Tegan Gale showed her experience with another improved time in the final with a 28.27. The impressive swim was more than enough to make her mark and to grab on to a well-deserved Bronze medal. The final swim of the finals for Woking was with Ellie Macleod having her second shot at the 200 fly. Against some stiff competition she showed maturity well above her age improving from her heat swim by 4.44 seconds with a PB of 3.02.99. 

Day 2

Day 2 kicked off with the 50 Breaststroke with Isla Hanif (14) swimming hard, improving on her entry time with a 40.39. Lucy Wheeler continued her weekend with a solid 39.49 to do enough to get her to the final ranked 3rd. The Turner Brothers competed together again in the 50 fly with Ryan gaining over a second PB with a 34.95 and Daniel showing a solid 30.94. Josh Hutchinson (11) also swum the 50 fly, as his first of 3 events through Sunday, with a PB of 34.47. The girls' 200 back saw Ellie Macleod gaining a PB of 2.51.13 gaining 6 places in the rankings. Neco Truter (13) and Ryan Grealou swum well in the 200 freestyle, both gaining PBs with a 2.24.36 and 2.18.99 respectively. The 100 fly saw Abi Elford (14) gaining a Long Course PB with a 1.11.03, while Ryan Grealou finished the session with the boys 100 breaststroke (1.22.28). 

The second session consisted of the finals with Lucy Wheeler being the sole representative. Though she did not let that bother her, with a professional approach and hard-fought effort she put herself in the mix for a medal, improving on her heat time by 0.44 with a 39.05 only to be touched out at the finish to come 4th. 0.05 away from a medal but still a proud swim from the youngster. 

The final session of the day consisted of the 400s. Ellie Macleod and Josh Hutchinson finished their long weekends with two great swims, both gaining PBs. Ellie was up first in the 400 freestyle with a time of 5.19.43, while Josh finished the weekend with an impressive 13.54 second PB with a time of 6.06.02 in the gruelling 400 IM to finish 5th in the rankings. 

Congratulations to all

The weekend saw an impressive 19 swimmers competing in a total of 41 swims. It was a first Regional experience for a large portion of our Team, though they did not show it with a great support, attitude and professionalism for such a young group. Safe to say all swimmers gained some outstanding experience of high-level swimming and showed just how far they have come. Huge congrats and well done to all the swimmers and let’s hope the great swimming continues in the Youth Regional competition (15 and over) this weekend and the second half of the Age Group Regional Competition in 2 weekends' time.

DAY 1 RESULTS

Finals:

DAY 2 RESULTS

Finals: