2024 Somerset County Championships off to a great start

After a long wait the Academy Swim Team returned to competitive action for the first time in 2024 at the much delayed and now truncated Somerset County Championships. For some the extra wait and time to train was hugely beneficial, whilst for others the timing of the championships proved to be less than ideal. For AST Burnham there were some great successes over the weekend with many excellent performances, with some first time entrants learning what swimming at County level was like, some breaking through and winning medals for the first time, and some carrying on their success from 2023 into this year’s meet.

As one of the youngest competitors at the Championships, Albany Powell (9) kicked things off in the first heat of the day, the Girls 200M Medley, putting in a great effort to set a new best time. It was then over to the more senior Girls where Macy Noad (16) produced a great swim to finish 7th.

The first medal then arrived in the Boys 200M Fly where Ryan Smout (12) dug deep to make it through one of the toughest events of the weekend, hanging in well during his heat to be rewarded with a great Bronze medal for his efforts.

The first sprint event of the weekend followed with the Girls 50M Backstroke seeing some great performances by Rosie Woodrow (10), Imogen Mawby (11), Charlotte Chard (11) and Lorelai Jimmieson (11) who all lowered their best times. Imogen was unlucky to not grab a medal after a very fast swim, having to settle for 5th place in a highly competitive field.

The Boys 50M Breaststroke was then split over the first session break but before the first session ended Toby Baker (12) marked his first appearance for the club in an individual county event by setting a new long course PB. At the end of session 1, in an event he claimed beforehand to not like, Leo Woodrow (12) produced one of the outstanding swims of the weekend, propelling himself off the blocks to smash over 5 seconds off his best time to win the Gold medal.

Following the session break the 50M Breaststroke resumed and usual fast starter Jay Duggan (14) dealt admirably with a cancelled race start and then a rerun heat before delivering a great new best time for the event. Older brother Lewis Duggan (17) also dropped his PB to finish in the top 10, whilst Zach Powell (15) claimed 7th place.

The Girls 200M Breaststroke followed next where Eleanor Rees (14) swam hard to finish in 5th place, whilst Lauren Hern (15) also picked up a top 10 finish. The Boys 200M Free then saw some more excellent swimming where Arthur Astill (11) demonstrated the great strides that he has been making recently with a big PB and a 9th place finish. Leo Woodrow (12) and Harry Glanville (12) then both took 4 seconds off their entry times which saw Leo pick up the Bronze medal and Harry finish in 7th place. Xander Powell (13) then claimed an excellent Silver medal with a great swim and a big 7 second PB, starting off what would be a very successful weekend for him.

In the last event of session 2 AST Burnham’s young Girls once again produced some great performances in the 100M Backstroke with Albany Powell (9), Rosie Woodrow (10), Imogen Mawby (11) and Charlotte Chard (11) all setting new best times. Imogen once again went unrewarded for an excellent swim with another commendable 5th place finish.

Saturday’s 3rd session then brought with it the ultimate test of swimming endurance, the Mixed 1500M Free. AST Burnham fielded an unprecedented 5 swimmers from the club with only Millfield having more entrants in the event. The Emily’s took part first, with Emily Druce (12) marking her first individual appearance at a County Championships with a great 46 second PB, only to be thwarted by the other girls around her also achieving big time drops, meaning she had to settle for 4th place. Under 17 Emily Knight (16) just missed out on a new PB but swam a very good race to pick up the Silver and her first ever County medal.

Evie Horsfall (16) continued a successful evening for the Academy Swim Team as she went one better than 12 months ago, also taking home the Silver medal for the Under 16 age group. Harry Glanville (12) then took on board Head Coach Sara’s advice to ‘swim at a pace that feels uncomfortable’ to produce a great performance that had other club’s coaches giving him some nice complimentary words afterwards. A huge 1 minute 13 second PB saw him jump from 4th seed to pick up the Silver medal, a first ever individual County medal for him. Not to be outdone, twin sister Lauren Glanville (12) marked her first individual event appearance at the Counties with a 40 second PB, enough to propel her to an unexpected Gold medal by just 3 seconds. The look of surprise and joy on her face as the result came in was great to see as she also won her first ever County medal.

Some tired bodies were then back in the pool early Sunday morning for the Boys 400M Free. 12 year old’s Leo Woodrow and Harry Glanville both hit excellent new PB’s for the event to finish 4th and 6th respectively, whilst Zach Powell (15) and Killian Faubel (11) were 7th and 8th respectively in their age groups. The Girls 100M Free then saw Albany Powell (9), Elsie Vowles (10), Rosie Woodrow (10), Imogen Mawby (11), Eleanor Rees (14), Phoebe Poole (14), Thea Faubel (14) and Macy Noad (16) all record new best times for the event. Imogen produced another very quick swim to finish in 6th place, highlighting once more just how tough the competition is for the Girls in Somerset.

The Boys 50M Back then finished off the first session with a lot of very fast swims from the Academy Swim Team. In one of his strongest events Xander Powell (13) led the way with an outstanding performance to win the Gold medal. Lewis Duggan (17) and Leo Woodrow (12) finished just outside the medals in 4th place, as did Zach Powell (15) in 5th place, whilst Harry Power (10), Joe Hay (10), Killian Faubel (11), Arthur Astill (11), Harry Glanville (12), Jay Duggan (14) and Aaron Mawby (14) all put in a great effort to lower their PB’s.

The next event in session 2 for the Academy Swim Team was the Boys 200M Backstroke where Xander Powell (13) again led the way to make it 3 top 2 finishes from 3 events with an excellent swim to win the Silver medal.

Killian Faubel (11) and Zach Powell (15) were just outside the medals with 5th place finishes, whilst Leo Woodrow (12) was unlucky to finish 4th after a great swim that was quick enough to be a Welsh National qualifying time, which just shows the high standard of the Under 13 Boys currently competing in Somerset.

Having come into this year’s championships with lower expectations for himself now that he is competing in the Over 18 age group and training to be a future club coach, a relaxed Lewis Duggan (17) produced an outstanding effort to win the Open Bronze Medal for the 200M Back, finishing off a very successful event for AST’s Boys.

The Girls 50M Breaststroke rounded off session 2 on Sunday and saw Eleanor Rees (14) find her best form as she won the Silver medal and the Junior Bronze medal for the event with a very fast performance. Youngster Elsie Vowles (10) continued her strong first Counties appearance with another big PB, whilst Lorelai Jimmieson (11) also made a big dent in her PB for the event to finish just outside the top 10.

The Girls 200M Free then started off Session 3 and whilst fatigue was beginning to set in, AST Burnham’s swimmers continued to make big improvements. Albany Powell (9) continued to deliver impressive best times up against girls a year older than her in the 200M Free and Imogen Mawby (11) once more knocked out a big PB. Rosie Woodrow (10) also finished off a good weekend for her with another PB whilst Lauren Glanville (12) and Phoebe Poole (14) also took some seconds off their best 200M Free times.

There was still time for another Counties debut as Ben Spinner (10) arrived for the Boys 100M Breaststroke. He marked his first ever County event with a big 8 second PB, whilst Killian Faubel was still able to shave a few tenths off his time for the event after a very busy day for him.

The Girls 50M Fly rounded off a packed weekend’s action. Phoebe Poole (14) placed the highest just outside of the medals in 6th place whilst Lauren Glanville (12), Matilda Taylor (13), Eleanor Rees (14), Lauren Hern (15) and Emily Knight (16) all produced one last PB to round off a great first weekend of the 2024 championships.

Head Coach Sara Flinton was very pleased with everyone’s performances over the weekend, saying “This was a great start to this year’s championships. Some real ups and downs and having to learn that races need to be hard, they don’t just happen. Well done to all who took part and for responding to my challenge to smile, have fun and remember why we do this. I think we can all celebrate some breakthroughs after this weekend. There were countless new Long Course PB’s and an amazing combined overall time drop of exactly 404 seconds.”

Medals Total So Far