Academy Swim Team pick up a great Cotswold League Round 3 win in Bath

On Saturday evening the Academy Swim Team travelled to Bath Dolphins for their 3rd Round Gala of this year's Cotswold League, along with Trident and Dursley Swimming Club's. It promised to be AST Burnham's toughest test yet this year with Bath topping the table overall after 2 rounds and it did not disappoint for those taking part and watching. Bath and Burnham slugged it out all evening winning 46 of the Gala's 53 events between them amongst a lot of noise and enthusiasm from those present. In the end the Academy Swim Team pulled off a tremendous win to keep themselves in contention for a place in the A final of this year's competition.

The Academy Swim Team got off to a great start over the first 10 events to establish an early lead. A steady first couple of races by Olivia Matthews and Xander Powell in the Girls and Boys Under 15 100M Individual Medley saw them pick up a 3rd and 2nd Place respectively, which was upgraded to a 1st for Xander after Bath were DQ'd in the Boys Event. Evie Vowles then picked up a 2nd place in the Girls Open 100M IM before Lewis Duggan won the Boys Open 100M IM. Twins Lauren and Harry Glanville then followed this up with wins in the Girls and Boys 25M Freestyle which started off a dominant evening for the Under 11 Boys who went on to win all but one of their events.

Agnes Alexander and Elijah Langley-Hobbs carried on the winning streak by finishing first in the Girls and Boys Under 13 50M Breaststroke before Lauren Hern and Kobe Budd finished 2nd in the Girls and Boys Under 15 50M Backstroke with Kobe just beaten to the wall by Bath. After 10 events Burnham held a 9 point lead over Trident who pushed both Burnham and Bath hard all evening.

AST Burnham remained consistent over the next 10 events as Bath came back strongly and Trident continued to push hard. The Girls Open 100M Butterfly produced one of the best races of the Gala as Phoebe Poole from the Academy Swim Team and Trident's swimmer went neck and neck for 4 lengths before Phoebe finally reeled her in to grab the win in the final 10 meters. Lewis Duggan then backed this up with another win in the Open Boys 100M after finishing second but taking advantage of a DQ for Dursley's swimmer who initially won the event.

The Under 11 Girls 100M Medley Relay Team of Evie Rowley-Wall, Charlotte Chard, Kandra Nicholas and Lauren Glanville then finished 2nd but were unfortunately DQ'd, before the Boys Under 11 Medley Team of Killian Faubel, Henry Matthews, Ryan Smout and Harry Glanville won their event. The Girls Under 13 Freestyle Team of Agnes Alexander, Kira Nicholas, Matilda Taylor and Phoebe Robinson then finished in a close 2nd place behind Trident before the Boys Under 13 Freestyle Relay Team of Leo Woodrow, Henry Matthews, Ryan Smout and Elijah Langley-Hobbs won their event.

There was then a consistent run of 2nd places in the Girls and Boys Under 15 100M Breaststroke and Open 100M Backstroke for Matilda Hicks, Kobe Budd, Evie Vowles and Xander Powell respectively that saw AST Burnham hold an 8 point lead over Bath after 20 events. Bath then started to build momentum over the next 10 events whilst AST Burnham kept in touch with some consistent performances.

Kandra Nicholas finished second in the Girls Under 11 25M before unfortunately getting DQ'd, although Harry Glanville then picked up a win in the Boys event. Olivia Matthews and Leo Woodrow gained a pair of 2nd places in the Girls and Boys Under 13 50M Freestyle and then the Under 15 100M Medley Relay teams of Lauren Hern, Matilda Hicks, Phoebe Poole, Emily Knight and Kobe Budd, Elijah Langley-Hobbs, Jay Duggan and Aaron Mawby followed suit with another pair of 2nd places. The Girls and Boys Open 100M Medley Relay Teams of Hannah Carter, Kelsey Webber, Evie Vowles, Mia Noad and Lewis Duggan, George Vowles, Finley Fooks, and Kobe Budd then kept up the run of 2nd places, along with Evie Rowley-Wall finishing 2nd in the Under 11 25M Backstroke. Under 11 Killian Faubel then ended the run of second places by winning the Boys 25M Backstroke, but after 30 events Bath had narrowed Burnham's lead to just 3 points.

In the Girls and Boys Under 13 50M Butterfly Matilda Taylor and Ryan Smout finished 2nd, followed by Eleanor Rees winning the Girls Under 15 50M Freestyle. Kelsey Webber picked up another 2nd place in the Girls Open 100M Breaststroke as Bath threatened to take the lead. However, Swim Team Coach George Vowles then delivered a much needed win in the Boys Open 100M Breaststroke and this set off a run of results where AST Burnham either won their events or crucially finished in front of Bath. The Under 11 Girls and Boys 100M Freestyle Relay Teams of Lauren Glanville, Kandra Nicholas, Charlotte Chard, Evie Rowley-Wall and Harry Glanville, Henry Matthews, Killian Faubel and Ryan Smout delivered a pair of convincing wins with the Under 13 Girls 100M Medley relay team of Olivia Matthews, Agnes Alexander, Matilda Taylor and Phoebe Robinson then finishing 2nd.

The Under 13 Boys 100M Medley Relay Team of Xander Powell, Leo Woodrow, Ryan Smout and Henry Matthews pulled out another win to help extend AST Burnham's lead after 40 events back out to 9 over Bath. Heading into the last 13 events this was where the Academy Swim Team were overtaken in their Round 2 Gala at Cheltenham but this time they were able to hold out with some highly competitive swims despite Bath Dolphins winning 7 of the last 13 races.

Emily Knight and Fin Fooks maintained Burnham's consistency with a pair of 2nd places in the Girls and Boys Under 15 50M Butterfly before Macy Noad produced a great win in the Girls Open 100M Free. George Vowles then put in another great swim to finish 2nd in the Boys Open 100M Free, managing to pip Bath's swimmer into 3rd place. Under 11 Charlotte Chard then grabbed a great 2nd place in the Girls 25M Breaststroke which was then upgraded to 1st after Bath won the event with a Too Fast time.

Despite Bath picking up the wins Henry Matthews finished 2nd in the Boys Under 11 25M Breaststroke, Leo Woodrow was 2nd in the Boys Under 13 50M Backstroke, the Girls Under 15 200M Freestyle Relay team of Eleanor Rees, Emily Knight, Matilda Hicks and Phoebe Poole were 2nd and the Girls Open 200M Freestyle Relay team of Macy Noad, Kelsey Webber, Mia Noad and Hannah Carter also finished 2nd. Going into the final event, the always exciting Mixed 200M Cannon, the Academy Team and Bath knew it was close and produced one more great race of the evening amongst a crescendo of excitement and cheering. The AST Cannon Relay team of Lauren Glanville, Leo Woodrow, Phoebe Robinson, Xander Powell, Macy Noad, Fin Fooks, Mia Noad and Lewis Duggan then delivered a great win to round off a successful evening.

Coach Nic Hazelton was full of praise for the team saying “it was an amazing performance by all of the swimmers tonight and great to come away with the win, you deserved it and I am proud of you all”. Round 4 is at home on the 18th March where AST Burnham will be aiming to make the A Final for the second year in a row.

Results Summary

Full Results & Times

Full results and times can be viewed by clicking here.

Cotswold Series Table After 3 Rounds