AST Burnham on course to break club records once more after Somerset Development Meet

The Academy Swim Team are on course to once more break club records for number of qualifying times for the 2024 Somerset County Championships after a very promising Somerset Development meet at Millfield. Day 1 on Saturday for the Under 12’s saw a lot of new swimmers competing for the first time whilst Day 2 on Sunday saw the club’s older swimmers striving to get more county times as we enter the last 2 and a half months of the qualifying window. With the County Relay’s and 100M IM events being held early on the 15th October there was also a last chance to get some Medley qualifying times.

All of the results are linked to at the bottom of this report but in total across the weekend AST swimmers gained 25 new county qualifying times and set an outstanding combined 117 Personal Best and new times. This saw a combined time reduction of 312.86 seconds and resulted in 38 top 3 finishes comprising 11 Gold, 17 Silver and 10 Bronze medals across the weekend. Their combined efforts saw AST Burnham place second overall behind Millfield which is a tremendous team achievement to go alongside the many excellent individual performances.

Saturday Morning - Session 1

AST Burnham’s youngsters were in great spirits on Saturday and there was a lot of support for each other on display with plenty of cheering (and at times singing), with some of the older more experienced swimmers showing the newcomers how it all works at a competitive meet.

The Girls 200M Free saw massive PB’s and Silver Medals for Albany Powell (Under 9 age group), Rosie Woodrow (10) and Imogen Mawby (11), followed by the Boys 100M Free where Harry Power (10), Henry Matthews (12) and Harry Glanville (12) also picked up new PB’s, with a Silver for Henry and Bronze medals for both Harry’s. Rosie then continued her strong morning with a silver and big PB in the Girls 50M Fly.

Young swimmers Charlotte Howe (10) Isla Ferguson (11), Isla Gardner (11), Audrey Newton (11), Evie Channon (11) and Poppy Collins (11) were also putting in some impressive performances as relative newcomers to the AST Burnham Team and to competing at a County event, with Isla G just missing a medal with a big 50M Fly PB, whilst Audrey also dropped her time by a huge 11 seconds in the same event. In the Girls 50M Breaststroke Albany, Evie C, Audrey and Bella Gold (12) all set some great new best times.

In the Boys 100M Breastroke newcomer and enthusiastic singer Toby Baker (12) dropped his PB for the event by over 3 seconds before the Girls 100M Backstroke saw Imogen (11) pick up the first gold of the weekend with another huge 13 second PB. In the same event there were also great new PB’s for Charlotte Chard (11), Evie Rowley-Wall (12) and Emily Druce (12). More medals followed in the Boys 50M Back with a Gold for Harry G (12), Silver for Harry P (10), Bronze for Henry (12) and further excellent PB’s for Joe Hay (9) and Ben Spinner (10).

In the Girls 100M Medley it was a last chance to qualify for the County event and with everyone striving to get the County time there were a couple of unfortunate DQ’s along the way. However, Albany (9), Imogen (11), Charlotte C (11), Isla F (11), Lauren Glanville (12) and Bella (12) all completed the event, setting new best times in the process with Albany also picking up a Silver medal in her age group. The Boys 50M Free rounded off the morning session where Joe (9) and Ben (10) again set themselves new personal best times.

Saturday Afternoon - Session 2

The afternoon session saw some more AST Burnham swimmers arrive with the Boys 200M Free first up. Arthur Astill (11), Harry G (12) and Henry (12) all set themselves new PB’s with Harry G also collecting a Bronze Medal. The Girls 100M Free also saw further impressive performances from our young swimmers with new arrivals Elsie Vowles (10), Emily Sommers (10), Lorelai Jimmieson (11) and Ivie Taylor (11) all setting themselves new best times. Elsie’s new time was so big it also saw her pick up a Gold Medal for the event, with Imogen (11) continuing her excellent day with a Bronze medal. It was a strong event for the Academy Team with Emily (10), Evie C (11), Audrey (11), Poppy (11), Lauren G (12) and Bella (12) all setting themselves new PB’s.

As Head Coach Sara said at the start this would also be a good day to learn from mistakes and a raft of DQ’s in the Boys 50M Fly provided some opportunities for improvement, although Arthur (11) and Toby (12) both gained new PB’s in the event. Albany (9) was the only entrant in the Girls 100M Fly and she dropped a huge chunk off her PB to win the 3rd Gold Medal of the day.

In the Boys 50M Breaststroke Ryan Smout (12) gained a new PB amongst a couple more DQ’s for AST swimmers. In the Boys 100M Back Henry (12) and Ryan (12) just missed out on a top 3 finish before the Girls 50M Back where Emily S (10), Elsie (10), Charlotte C (11), Isla F (11), Poppy (11), Aurelia Power (12) and Evie RW (12) all delivered new best times. Charlotte also picked up a Silver medal for the event.

The Boys 100M IM proved to be another strong event with PB’s for Killian Faubel (11), Henry (12) and Harry (12) with the 3 of them picking up Silver, Silver and Bronze medals respectively. The day then finished strongly for AST Burnham’s Girls in the 50M Free where Elsie (10), Emily S (10), Charlotte H (10), Isla G (11), Ivie (11), Isla F (11), Audrey (11), Poppy (11), Aurelia (12), Lauren G (12), Emily D (12) and Bella (12) all delivered new PB’s along with a Gold Medal for Elsie and a Bronze Medal for Aurelia.

Reflecting on Day 1 Head Coach Sara Flinton said “What a day! A lot of very near misses, too many to mention, but with so many new swimmers taking part for the first time they were all amazing, took everything in their stride and learned on the way to setting some impressive starting points on their swimming journey. A huge thank you to the young swimmers that helped the new swimmers in showing them how it all works and for cheering your team mates on. As a team we make greater strides forward and it was a privilege to work with you all today.”

Sunday Morning - Session 3

Day two saw the over 12’s take to Millfield Pool and they continued the theme from Day 1 of regularly dropping best times, picking up plenty of medals and County Times along the way. The morning started with the Girls 200M Free and PB’s for Olivia Matthews (14), Matilda Hicks (15) and Kelsey Webber (15). Jay Duggan (14) and Aaron Mawby (14) then completed a 1-2 in the Boys 100M Back along with big PB’s, before all entrants in the Girls 50M Fly, Lily-Rose Baker (14), Jolanta Zak (14), Lauren Hern (15) and Amelia Smart (15) all set new best times with Lauren collecting a Silver Medal. The Boys 200M Breaststroke saw more success with Oscar Anderson (14) finishing first but unfortunately picking up a shoulder injury in the process that ended his participation for the rest of the day.

The Girls 100M Fly saw another Gold Medal and PB set by Emily Knight (15), whilst Jay (14) and Aaron (14) continued to push each other on, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Boys 50M Back, again setting PB’s in the process. The Girls 200M Back saw Kelsey (15) win a Gold medal with Olivia (14) just missing out on a top 3 finish. Jay (14) and Aaron (14) continued their run of new PB’s in the Boys 100M Free before Agnes Alexander (13) won the Silver Medal in the Girls 50M Breaststroke in a new best time, with Lily-Rose (14) and Jolanta (14) also setting new PB’s.

The Girls 100M Medley saw PB’s for Matilda Taylor (13), Lily-Rose (14) and Lauren H (15) with Lauren collecting her second Silver Medal of the morning. Jay (14) and Aaron (14) then completed a full set of PB’s from every event for the morning in the Boys 50M Free which rounded off the morning session.

Sunday Afternoon - Session 4

The afternoon session started strongly with the Girls 100M Back where Thea Faubel (14) finished first and Kelsey (15) third, setting PB’s along the way. The run of top 3 finishes and PB’s continued into the Girls 200M Breaststroke where Lauren H (15) and Matilda H (15) finished first and second respectively. The Girls 50M Back saw further PB’s set by Jolanta (14), Kelsey (15) and Amelia (15), before more best times followed in the Girls 100M Free for Agnes (12), Thea (14), Matilda H (15) and Emily K (15). Thea also collected the Silver medal for her age group.

Jay (14) then made it 5 PB’s from 5 events by winning the Boys 50M Breaststroke event. In the Girls 100M Breast Agnes (13) also set herself another new best time before Matilda H (15) and Lauren H (15) finished First and Second in their age group. The Girls 50M Free then rounded off a very busy weekend with Agnes (13) picking up the Gold medal and Matilda H (15) the Silver amongst new PB’s for Jolanta (14), Emily K (15) and Amelia (15).

Reflecting on Day 2 and the weekend overall Head Coach Sara said “After being over 200 points behind second place in the points table yesterday we blew everyone out of the water today to take second place behind Millfield. Over the weekend we were utterly outstanding. Thank you to Jan Dykes for taking over the announcing at the very last minute, to Steph Powell, Emma Anderson, Adam Gold, Sonja Chard and Stevie Dixon for officiating and to Liz Power, Oliver Astill and Nick Faubel for your help Team Managing. These events cannot happen without our volunteers.”

The results from this weekend can be viewed here. All races from Day 1 were also recorded and can be viewed below.

Saturday Morning - Session 1

Saturday Morning - Session 2