YDSC Yeovil District Swimming Club

Beth Aitchison, Zak Aitchison and Daniel Liu secured their places at this years ASA National Championships with brilliant swims over the bank holiday weekend. Also full ASA SW Regional Youth Report.

Time Trials For Age-Group Swimmers

11 year-old Zak Aitchison was in devastating form in the 200 metres breaststroke calmly stepping up to race 15 to 17 year-olds. His stroke looked superb, relaxed and controlled, smashing 8 seconds off of his pb and clearing the national qualifying mark by 6 seconds. Zak is now one of the top 11 year-old breaststrokers in the UK and will also now be eligible to race the 100 metres breaststroke at the Sheffield event in the Summer. Well done Zak. 

12 year-old Beth has always had to contend with her birthday falling one month before the nationals. This means that she is at the very bottom of her age group with exceptionally tough qualifying times. This year she has 'gone for it' during every length of every training session and had an awesome Mallorca swim camp. She went for it right from the start of her 200 metres breaststroke turning in a 2 second pb for the 100 metres at the half-way mark. Exceptional focus, dedication and sheer hard work brought her home in a 9 second pb. A huge last kick and long stretch into wall saw her dip under the national mark by 5 hundreths of a second. This one swim elevated her from 61st to 21st in the British rankings for the nationals. Great swim Beth. She also pb'd in her 200 metres freestyle just missing her national time.

13 year-old Daniel Liu already has 6 national times but was missing the 200 metres freestyle essential for a full range of BAGCAT events at the nationals. He also went for it right from the start turning in a pb for the 100 metres and brought it home to a 2 second pb overall securing his 7th national time. Daniel also swam a 3 second pb in the 200 metres IM to dip under 2 minutes 20 seconds for the first time and a 1 second pb for his 100 metres butterfly. He is currently ranked in the top-4 nationally in all 7 events so things look good for him in the overall national BAGCAT competition and the medley events. Well done Daniel.

ASA SW Regional Youth Championships

Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday saw the ASA South-West Regional Youth Championships (Boys 15+ & Girls 14+) at Millfield. YDSC had a record 9 swimmers competing here, up from 7 last year. 14 year-old Bronwyn Clifford was competing in her first ever youth event and now stepped up to the 14/15 years double-band age-group. Bronwyn swam 5 great pb's (discounting last summer's swims in a polyurathane suit now disallowed in swimming). She finalled in all 3 breaststroke events placing 6th in the 100 (narrowly missing the national qualifying time by 3 tenths of a second), 7th in the 50 and 8th in the 200 metres. She also smashed 8 seconds off of her 200 metres freestyle pb. Well done Broni.

15 year-old Charley Stone kicked off her weekend with a great 100 metres freestyle smashing over 1 second off of her pb in 62.11 seconds. She finished equal 8th and was called back for a head-to-head swim-off with the Bournemouth girl for a place in the evenings (8 swimmer) final. Swim-offs are very exciting as everyone watches the 2 swimmers (with the same time) do battle! Charley has just returned from a great weeks training in Mallorca which gave her the background and mental toughness to step up and command the race. She touched first in an incredible 61.57. Charley moves to 1/2 second off of her national time and placed 8th in the final. Charley also swam to a 2 second pb in the 200 metres freestyle placing 12th. Great swimming Charley.

16 year-old Bethany Adams has officially returned to form after a tough 2009 during which she fractured her elbow. In the 100 metres freestyle she was in the same heat as team-mate Charley Stone. Beth and Charley both established a strong start and dead-heated equal first in 62.11. This was a 2 second pb for Beth and an 18th place finish in the 16 years & over catagory. Beth's best swim of the weekend for me was her 200 metres freestyle where she pb'd by over 3 seconds in 2:14.57 and placed an awesome 11th. She also smashed 7 seconds from her 200 metres IM pb to touch in 2:35.31 and take 18th place. Well done Beth - great weekends work.

16 year-old Sam Johnson pb'd on his 100 metres freestyle to place a highly respectable 15th. Sam also placed 15th in the 50 metres freestyle with a 0.8 second pb. 14 year-old Yasmin Chick was swimming in her first ever youth championships and she swam 4 magnificant pb's from all 4 of her events. In the 400 metres IM she smashed 10 seconds off to place a fantastic 20th in 5:45.00. She also pb'd in the girls 200 metres backstroke. She took 4 seconds off of her 200 metres freestyle time and completed her weekend by taking 3 seconds off of her 200 metres IM time. Well done both.

16 year-old Robyn Sharp took 3 seconds off of her 200 metres backstroke pb to grab a great 16th place. This is Robyn's highest ever regional placing. 16 year-old Catherine Thomas was competing in her first ever regional championships swimming 2 great pb's to place 17th in the 100 metres backstroke and an awesome 12th in the 50 metres backstroke. 14 year-old's Courtney Bishop and Yasmin Andrews-Urvoy swam great pb's in their first ever regional youth championships. Well done girls. 

Full results can be viewed at: http://www.swimwest.org/results/youth10/index.htm    

If you would like any further information or would like to enquire about the opportunities that YDSC can offer you please contact our Head Coach Alex Pinniger: 07919 540737 / apinniger@somerset.gov.uk