Burnham-On-Sea’s Academy Swim Team have made a splash at the Somerset County Swimming Championships.
The event saw the young Burnham-On-Sea swimmers achieving a number of successes.
“Over the last 9 months the club has been rebuilding and had 21 swimmers qualify for this year’s champs,” says a spokesperson.
“It was great to see Academy swimmers breaking through, achieving big time drops, making finals, gaining Regional Consideration Times, and for a couple of swimmers, becoming County Champion’s for the first time.”
“Overall, the team achieved 43 Top 10 places, winning 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze medal across all the different disciplines and distances.”
For the Girls Under 12s, Molly Scammell, Elsie Vowles and Rosie Woodrow, Under 13s Lorelai Jimmieson and Charlotte Chard, Under 14s Emily Druce, Evie Rowley-Wall, and Lauren Glanville, Under 17 Lauren Hern and Under 18 Emily Knight all stacked up multiple Top 10 finishes and PB’s between them.
Lorelai reached a first final and gaining a Regional time in the 50M Breaststroke, and Emily Knight winning a great Bronze Medal in the 1500M Free.
For the Boys, 9 year olds Emmott Newton and Lucas Bartlett made very promising debuts in the Under 11 age group, and along with Under 12 Ben Spinner, Under 16 Jay Duggan and Open Swimmer and Club Captain Lewis Duggan all dropped big Personal Bests and achieved multiple top 10 finishes, qualifying for several finals between them.
Under 11 Madox Winder became a double County Champion for the first time, with his first ever county medals being Gold in the 50M and 100M Backstroke, where he showcased his speed and talent with some superb sprinting.
Under 14 Harry Glanville had an outstanding few weeks, also becoming a double County Champion for the first time, winning Golds in the 400M and 1500M Free, along with Silvers in the 200M Fly and 800M Free, picking up 2 Regional times along the way. His 200M Fly performance was good enough to also land him the Junior Championship Bronze medal as the third fastest Under 15 swimmer in the event, a great achievement.
Head Coach Nic Hazelton says: “Our swimmers have done amazingly well at this year’s Counties. Losing our former Head Coach at the end of last April meant that the whole team has had to deal with a lot of changes.”
“Everyone gave it 100% and there is still lots for them to learn and improve upon. By finishing 11th in the teams table, for such a small club, we have continued to punch above our weight.”
“I am very proud of all the swimmers who qualified and they should all be proud too at how well they have swam against some big teams in one of the toughest county championships to qualify for in the country.”
