Soundwell SC Regional Qualifier Report

For the second time in March the Academy Swim Team made the short trip to Hutton Moor in Weston, this time to compete at the Soundwell Swimming Club Regional Qualifier. There were swimmers from 14 teams taking part in the meet from across the South West, including teams from Gloucester down to Dawlish, making it a packed and highly competitive meet. For AST Burnham there was a mixture of swimmers chasing regional times and young swimmers continuing to show great progress with some outstanding swimming across the age groups from those taking part over the weekend.

The Girls 400M Medley got the action underway and it started well for the Academy Swim Team with Eleanor Rees (14) and Emily Knight (16) both claiming the Bronze medal for the event. The Girls 200M Free followed where Albany Powell (9) and Molly Scammell (10) produced a couple of excellent swims to finish 5th and 8th respectively and make big dents in their best times for the event. Evie Rowley-Wall (12) and Imogen Mawby (12) finished 8th and 9th respectively with Imogen also setting a new best time for the event, whilst Evie Horsfall (16) and Emily Knight (16) just missed the medals as they finished in 4th and 5th.

The first sprint of the weekend then saw great success for the boys in the 50M Back. Ryan Smout (12) led the way in 1st place with Arthur Astill (12) in 4th and Toby Baker (12) in 5th, all with new PB’s. Jay Duggan (14) continued his great form from the Counties with another PB as he just missed the medals in 4th place, with older brother Lewis Duggan (17) finishing in 5th.

The Girls 50M Fly then brought some more great sprinting as Emily Glanville (9), Rosie Woodrow (10), Lauren Glanville (12) and Emily Druce (12) all took several seconds off their best times for the event. A tireless Emily Knight (16) also placed the highest in 7th place in a highly competitive event overall.

It was then back to the longer distance events with the Boys 200M Backstroke where Harry Glanville (12) and Aaron Mawby (15) delivered a couple of excellent swims with Harry picking up the Gold medal and Aaron finishing in 5th. The Girls 100M Free followed where Elsie Vowles (10) pulled out a great new time to finish in 7th. Eleanor Rees (14) picked up the Silver medal whilst Lily-Rose Baker (14) put in a great performance to take over 10 seconds off her previous best time. Evie Horsfall (16) and Emily Knight (16) then continued their busy afternoon’s by finishing 5th and 6th respectively.

The Boys 100M Breaststroke rounded off a packed first session where Toby Baker (12) and Ryan Smout (12) produced a couple of great performances to deliver a Burnham one-two as Toby took the Gold and Ryan the Silver medal.

It was then an ‘easy’ start to the evening session with the Girls 200M Fly but as they often are Emily Knight (16) and Lauren Glanville (12) were up for the challenge. Lauren continued her great progress in the event with an 8 second PB whilst an understandably tiring Emily dug deep as they both picked up Silver medals. The Boys 200M Free followed with more success for the squad as Harry Glanville (12) and Arthur Astill (12) both produced huge time drops to finish 1st and 3rd respectively.

Another highly competitive sprint event followed with the Girls 50M Back where pocket rocket Molly Scammell (10) produced a great new best time to finish in 7th. Ellia Frost (11) also rocketed along as she took several seconds off her best time with Emily Glanville (9) also shaving some time off her PB. Evie Rowley-Wall (12) also grabbed a new best time as she finished in 7th, with older sister Amelie Rowley-Wall (16) finishing in 8th.

The Boys 50M Fly brought further success for AST Burnham with Ryan Smout (12) smashing out a powerful swim to pick up the Gold medal. A jet propelled Arthur Astill (12) just missed out on a regional time by a few tenths of a second with a huge 12 second PB as he finished in 4th. Further great performances followed as Jay Duggan (14) continued to drop big chunks off his PB’s as he finished in 7th, before TT Magang (15) set a new best time as he claimed the Silver medal, followed by Lewis Duggan (17) picking up the Bronze medal.

AST’s Boys then rounded off Day 1 with another set of great swims in the 100M Free where Harry Glanville (12) picked up a 3rd Gold in a row, with Ryan Smout (12) in 5th and Arthur Astill (12) in 6th. Jay Duggan (14) continued his great form but was thwarted once more as another PB saw him finish just outside the medals in 4th. TT Magang (15) carried on his great evening’s work as he broke the 1 minute barrier for the first time and claimed the Bronze medal, before Lewis Duggan (17) rounded off an excellent first day for the Academy Swim Team with the Silver medal.

The Girls 400M Free started off Day 2 at mid-morning, allowing plenty of time for AST’s swimmers to fuel up on the odd Easter Egg beforehand. Isla Ferguson (11) went first and put in a promising performance before an unfortunate DQ at the end. However, it was great to see her measured reaction afterwards as she took the positives from it. Evie Horsfall (16) then swam well in the last heat to pick up the first medal of the day as she finished in second place.

Next up was the Boys 200M Breaststroke where Zach Powell (15) successfully chased down the regional time for the event with a fast 12 second PB. After a challenging couple of meets for him it was great to see the smile on his face once more as he also picked up the Gold medal.

AST Burnham’s Girls then threw themselves into the 50M Free where many best times were lowered across the board. Charlotte Howe (10) propelled herself to a near 6 second PB as all the Under 10’s put some impressive speed on display with Albany Powell (9), Emily Glanville (9) and Emily Sommers (10) also gaining big time drops. Molly Scammell (10) once more showed some great speed but was unfortunately just too quick at the start. With 147 swimmers competing it was a highly competitive event as usual that saw further great sprinting from Lorelai Jimmieson (11), Rosie Woodrow (11), Evie Channon (11), Audrey Newton (11), Isla Ferguson (11), Lauren Glanville (12), Imogen Mawby (12), Evie Rowley-Wall (12) and Emily Druce (12) who all set quick new best times for themselves.

The sprinting continued into the Boys 50M Breaststroke where Aaron Mawby (15) and Oscar Anderson (15) put in a pair of great swims to finish 3rd and 4th respectively, both setting new best times in the process. The Girls 200M Medley followed where Albany Powell (9) started things off with a great performance as she dropped over 12 seconds off her best time to finish in 6th place. Lauren Glanville (12) then took over 5 seconds off her previous best with a controlled Breaststroke leg before Eleanor Rees (14) powered her way to a new PB and the Silver medal for the event.

The Boys 100M Fly saw further great sprinting as Leo Woodrow (12) and Ryan Smout (12) started things off with an excellent one-two respectively in the event for AST Burnham. Jay Duggan (14) then continued to bring the speed with a great effort as he finished 5th with a big time drop before Lewis Duggan (17) took home the Bronze medal to round off another successful event for the team.

It was more of AST Burnham’s youngsters who then took on the last event of the morning session, the 100M Backstroke. Swimming the event for the first time Emily Glanville (9) and Molly Scammell (10) demonstrated some excellent skill, with Molly once more showing her speed. Emily Sommers (10) also produced a promising performance but was unfortunate to get DQ’d.

The last session began in mid-afternoon with Harry Glanville (12) in the Boys 400M Freestyle. Having just missed 3 regional times the day before by a mere few hundredths of a second he pulled off an outstanding swim to smash his PB by 11 seconds to take home the Gold medal and significantly lower one of his regional times.

The Girls 200M Breaststroke then saw AST’s entrants put in another pair of impressive performances. Lorelai Jimmieson (11) dropped over 8 seconds as she finished in 5th place, followed by Evie Channon (11) who took an outstanding 23 seconds off her time as she finished in 8th.

It was back to some sprinting then for the Boys in the 50M Free where Madox Winder (10) continued to show his promise with a fast near 6 second PB before Arthur Astill continued his strong weekend with another great PB as he finished in 6th place. Ryan Smout (12) also put in a great sprint but unfortunately flew off the blocks a bit too quickly before Jay Duggan (14) once more chopped down his best time as he finished in 7th. TT Magang (15) and Aaron Mawby continued the impressive sprinting as they finished 3rd and 5th respectively before Lewis Duggan (17) just missed out on the top 3 as he finished in 4th place.

AST Burnham’s young swimmers once more demonstrated their skills in the Girls 50M Breaststroke as Molly Scammell (10) and Emily Glanville (9) continued their run of new PB’s. Lorelai Jimmieson once more showed her great progress in the Breaststroke as she finished 6th with a big new PB, whilst Rosie Woodrow (11) and Audrey Newton (11) continued the big time drops for the event.

Arthur Astill (12) then took on the 200M Medley for the first time and continued his good form to finish in 3rd place. The last remaining girl Lauren Glanville (12) then took part in the 100M Fly where she once more delivered a great performance and a big 8 second PB. The final event of a busy weekend saw all top 3 finishes for AST Burnham’s Boys who took part, starting with Harry Glanville (12) who made it 5 Gold medals and PB’s from 5 events before Jay Duggan (14) and Aaron Mawby (15) were rewarded for a good weekend’s work with Bronze medals and new PB’s. Lewis Duggan (17) then finished off the meet also with a great Bronze medal.

Coach Sam Vagg was very pleased with the performances of the team over the weekend saying “I just want to say a massive well done to everyone who raced this weekend. There were some big swims, some very brave swims and some swims where good lessons were learned. Overall the Academy Swim Team dropped a combined 319.95 seconds which is an amazing achievement. I think everyone has earned some chocolate today!”