AST Burnham reach Cotswold League A Final with a hard fought home gala win

Last Saturday evening saw the final qualifying round of this year’s Cotswold League held at our home swimming pool at the Burnham-On-Sea Swim & Sports Academy. After an excellent run in the first 3 rounds of Gala’s the Academy Swim Team were very much in the hunt for a place in the top 8 and qualification for the A final in April. Starting the gala in 3rd spot overall AST Burnham knew they were in for a tough night’s racing with visitors Wells currently 7th, Backwell 9th and Bristol Penguins 10th in the table with only a few points between them and the teams above them vying for a final place. Both Wells and Backwell competed in the A final last year alongside AST, with Backwell finishing runners up to Bridgwater.

Despite the strong opposition Head Coach Sara Dykes selected a large squad with an eye on finals day where the Academy Swim Team will be without a number of regular Cotswold Swimmers who will be at the South West Regional Championships. This saw several young swimmers making their debut in the competition with others either swimming up age groups for the first time or in less familiar events where they will potentially have to cover for our missing swimmers in the final. For AST Burnham to still win the gala overall and qualify for the A final was not just another great win but a hugely promising one for the club.

With the quality of the swimming on show being very high it was not a surprise that the victories across the evening’s events were evenly spread amongst the 4 teams, but where AST Burnham edged it was by finishing 36 of the 53 events in the top 2 places. This consistency across the evening saw the Academy Team establish an early lead after 10 events that they were able to maintain until the end, despite Backwell and Wells both coming close to overtaking at times.

Olivia Matthews and Darrell Moroogan got the gala off to a good start with a pair of 2nd places in the Girls and Boys Under 15 IM before Evie Vowles and Lewis Duggan won the Open IM events, although Lewis was then unfortunately DQ’d for being just too quick off the blocks. The momentum continued though with wins for Kandra Nicholas in the Under 11 Girls Freestyle and Kobe Budd in the Boys Under 15 Backstroke with Agnes Alexander and Elijah Langley-Hobbs finishing second in the Under 13 Breaststroke.

AST Burnham established an early lead of 6 points over Wells and Bristol Penguins that Phoebe Poole extended with a win in the Girls Open Butterfly. The Under 11 Girls Medley Team of Evie Rowley-Wall, Charlotte Chard, Lauren Glanville and Kandra Nicholas then had what looked to be another impressive win before they were DQ’d for an early takeover. The Under 11 Boys Medley team were then 2nd, as were the Boys Under 13 Freestyle Relay Team, before Evie Vowles finished 1st and Xander Powell 2nd in the Open Backstroke events. This kept Burnham in the lead overall by 5 points from Backwell after 20 events.

The next 10 events only brought two 1st places as Wells and Backwell threatened to catch up. There were still some great swims and 2nd places for Lauren Glanville in the Girls Under 11 Fly, Olivia Matthews in the Girls Under 13 Free, Harry Glanville in the Boys Under 11 Back and for the Girls Open Medley relay team of Debbie Atkins, Kelsey Webber, Evie Vowles and Macy Noad. However, timely wins by the Girls Under 15 Medley relay team of Lauren Hern, Eleanor Rees, Phoebe Poole and Emily Knight and by Evie Rowley-Wall in the Girls Under 11 Back, coupled with a DQ for Backwell saw AST Burnham’s lead extend to 6 points after 30 events.

The Academy Swim Team then began what proved to be a decisive run of results as Penguins and Wells also started to collect more wins. Matilda Taylor won the Under 13 Girls Butterfly before Ryan Smout, an 11 year old already swimming up an age group, produced a great but unfortunately Too Fast time in convincingly winning the Under 13 Boys Fly event. Thea Faubel and Issac Masley bagged a pair of 2nd Places in the Under 15 Free events before Kelsey Webber won the Girls Open Breaststroke. The Boys Under 11 Free relay team of Harry Glanville, Henry Matthews, Killian Faubel and Ryan Smout won their event, quickly followed by the Under 13 Girls Medley team of Olivia Matthews, Agnes Alexander, Matilda Taylor and Phoebe Robinson doing the same. The Under 13 Boys Medley team of Xander Powell, Leo Woodrow, Ryan Smout and Henry Matthews then finished 2nd which saw AST’s lead extend to 9 points after 40 events.

Eleanor Rees extended that lead with victory in the Under 15 Girls Fly before Fin Fooks finished 2nd in the Boys event. Macy Noad was 2nd in the Girls Open Free along with Kira Nicholas also finishing 2nd in the Under 13 Girls Backstroke. Wins were then delivered by Leo Woodrow in the Under 13 Boys Backstroke followed by the Girls Under 15 Free relay team of Eleanor Rees, Emily Knight, Thea Faubel and Evie Horsfall. Heading into the last few events the Girls Open Freestyle relay team of Macy Noad, Kelsey Webber, Debbie Atkins and Evie Vowles finished 2nd to ensure that going into the last event, the always noisy and popular Cannon relay, the home team maintained a winning lead overall. The Mixed Cannon relay then completed amongst a lot of excitement as Burnham and Wells competed right to the finish and the home relay team of Lauren Glanville, Harry Glanville, Phoebe Robinson, Elijah Langley-Hobbs, Macy Noad, Darrell Moroogan, Evie Horsfall and Lewis Duggan were just edged into 2nd place by 6 hundredths of a second.

Coach Nic Hazelton was really pleased with the team’s efforts after a 3rd win in 4 meets. She said “Another amazing performance by you all and demonstrated by a great win. Special shout out to all the swimmers who took part in their first gala, thanks to all our helpers and finally keep the training up and keep the 22nd April free.”

Committee Chairman Simon Robinson also reflected on the home gala, saying “The swimmers turned out an excellent performance this evening and should all be proud, especially those competing for the first time. I felt that the gala ran seamlessly and felt well delivered, so thank you to all the volunteers, officials, starter, announcer, time keepers and all those who helped move and sort the leisure centre. We are not blessed with lots of space but we used what we had well. Thank you everyone.”

Results Summary

Full Results & Times

Full results and times can be viewed by clicking here.