Summer Nationals 2018

Post date: Aug 06, 2018 9:35:59 AM

For the first time in Team Jorvik’s history, three of our swimmers qualified for the National Summer Meets, which is an amazing achievement!  To explain how these competitions work: there is a qualifying period between March and May - the top 24 ranked swimmers in Great Britain in each event and age group are invited to compete in the British Summer Championships, then the next 20 English swimmers are invited to the Swim England Summer Meet. 15 year old Callum Tonkins qualified for 50m Backstroke at the British competition and 100m Backstroke at the English competition. Also at the English competition, Meredith Harness qualified for 50m and 100m Fly in the 15 year old category, while Aidan Fothergill, 14, qualified for 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke. These three were joined by Bethan Endicott, who has just joined Team Jorvik from St Ives – Bethan had qualified in the 12/13 years 50m Fly at the British Nationals and 100m Fly at the English Nationals. The meets both took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

David was keen for the swimmers to enjoy the experience of their first National competition, which they certainly all did. But they also did themselves and the Club proud by each putting in immense performances. At the British Championships, Callum finished 21st in 50m Back (29.39) and Bethan was also 21st in 50m Fly (29.97). At the English Nationals, between them they swam 11 PBs and we had 6 finalists and two Bronze medals! Callum finished 14th in 100m Back (1:04.37); Meredith was 6th in 100m Fly (1:05.84) and won Bronze in 50m Fly (28.95), only 0.09 seconds behind Gold; Aidan won Bronze in 100m Breast (1:11.19), then came 8th in 200m Breast (2:38.36) and 6th in 50m Breast (32.63); Bethan finished 8th in 100m Fly (1:07.33).

It was evident that everyone at Team Jorvik is very proud of these young people, with most of the rest of the Club’s swimmers and parents watching the Live Streams, shouting their support, or following the results at home. Who knows – maybe we will have even more qualifiers next year?