Posted By : Cheshunt SC On 2016-04-26 14:00:09
Saturday 2nd April 2016 saw our junior swimmers take part in the Harlow Development Meet at Harlow Leisure Centre. In what was a very competitive meet our swimmers did themselves proud with some excellent swims.
The girls kicked off the evening in the 100m Individual Medley which saw a strong start to the evening from 10 years olds Victoria Townsend (1.54.89) & Tara Safavi-Zadeh (1.43.78), both setting new personal bests.
The first event for the boys saw 9 year old Sam Safavi-Zadeh and 11 year old Luis Fitzgerald in the Boys 50m Butterfly. Sam competing in his first official open meet was unlucky to be disqualified, though the experience from the race was vital, Louis recorded his first PB of the night in a time of 55.09
The next event of the night saw all of our girls compete in the 50m freestyle. This began with Phoebe McGreal aged 9, who was competing in her first ever competition. Though very nervous, Phoebe swam a fantastic race where she recorded a time of 52.10. This followed with 10 year old’s Ashlee Willett (46.94), Victoria Townsend (45.52), Simran Misir (41.45) and Tara Safavi-Zadeh (41.98) who all recorded new personal bests.
The boys were up again next when they competed in the 50m backstroke. Solid swims from Sam Safavi-Zadeh (50.25), 12 year old Alex Smith (53.57), Luis Fitzgerald (50.11), Finlay Jackson (48.98), Ben Crossman (51.83) both aged 10, and 11 year old Rohan Misir (45.75) who all set new personal bests. Max Coltman brought home our first medal of the night in a stunning race which saw him come home 3rd overall in the 9 year old age group in a new PB of 44.89. This was quickly followed by Jake Evans who also finished 3rd in the 11 year old age group in a time of 47.06.
Up next was the girls 50m breaststroke, where Victoria Townsend (1.06.50) and 10 year old Simran Misir (54.54) swam really well to see new PB’s. Tara Safavi-Zadeh (56.08) was outside her PB that she set a few weeks previously.
The boys followed on again, this time with the 100m Individual Medley, this saw 10 year old Rory Connolly-Harding (1.58.95) and Finlay Jackson (1.52.27) record good time in there first time in doing the event. Personal bests were then followed by Luis Fitzgerald (1.52.05) & Jake Evans (1.40.53).
Event 7 saw the girls up again, this time in the 50m Backstroke. In the first event we had Victoria Townsend (54.67) recorded another PB on the night, and Ashlee Willett (1.01.85) did well. This was the proceeded with more personal bests from Simran Misir (50.59) and Tara Safavi-Zadeh (47.50).
The penultimate boy’s event of the night was the 50m Breaststroke where Luis Fitzgerald was unfortunately disqualified in the first event. This was then followed with decent swims from Rory Connolly-Harding (1.03.74) and Sam Safavi-Zadeh (58.17). New personal bests were then achieved by Finlay Jackson (1.04.45), Max Coltman (59.80), Ben Crossman (1.00.78), Rohan Misir (52.13) and 12 year old Max Dickinson (51.24).
The final girl’s event of the night was the 50m Butterfly, where Victoria Townsend (56.47) capped off an excellent night by achieving her 5th PB. Tara Safavi-Zadeh (49.99) again was just outside her PB that was set only a few weeks earlier.
The final event of the night was the boys 50m Freestyle where new personal bests were set by Rory Connolly-Harding (48.24), Luis Fitzgerald (43.44), Sam Safavi-Zadeh (46.50), Alex Smith (42.14), Ben Crossman (45.89), Max Dickinson (39.24) and Rohan Misir (39.05). Finlay Jackson (44.18) was just fractionally outside his best. Max Coltman (41.43) set a new PB while coming 2nd in his age group, and Jake Evans (37.57) stormed to a new PB in his last race of the night and taking home a silver medal.
Coach Richard Walker said that the swimmers were brilliant tonight. The training that this group of swimmers have put in over the last few months has been fantastic and that showed tonight. This was just a small group of the youngsters that the club had at Harlow tonight, with these that were here and those coming though the club has some exciting times in the future.