National Inter-County Competition

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Dorset promoted to Inter-County Division One

By In National Inter-County Competition, Swimming0 Comments19 Views
Once again swimmers from Dorset clubs have joined together to represent the County at the annual ASA National Inter-County Championships in Sheffield, a competition which involves a total of 36 counties. In recent years, Dorset has been known as the “yo-yo” team, moving between Division One and Division Two each season so how would they fare in 2016? Following relegation from the top division in 2015, the team staff consisting of Team Managers Andy and Sue Smart, Head Coach Barry Alldrick (Poole) and Assistant Coach Sam Woodward (Swim Bournemouth) felt the County team could once more push for promotion. Full support was given by Dorset County ASA President Mark Hoskins (Bridport Barracudas) and his wife Margaret, and Dorset Team Official Madeline Tysoe (Swim Bournemouth). With a leisurely travelling day on Saturday, the team was picked up by coach at the two meeting points of Dorchester and Bournemouth before making its way to the City of Steel. On arrival the athletes checked into their rooms and an hour later were enjoying a meal, followed by a team meeting to discuss logistics and expectations, announce Team Captains and present awards as follows. Team Captains: Luke Roxburgh and Jasmine Holmes. Vice Captains: Henry Stanbrook and Jessica Richens. First Selection awards: BCS – Josh Wickens; Bridport Barracudas – Nathan Moorey; Swim Bournemouth – Ella Bowman, Amy Brown; Tornadoes of South Dorset – Josh Frampton; West Dorset – Finley Jarvis, Daniel Kingman (West Dorset). Third Selection awards: BCS – Izzy Pryce, Ben Samuel, Christian Tai, Finnian Trehane; Poole – Matthew Collins, Luke Roxburgh; Henry Stanbrook (Swim Bournemouth). The team was made up by the following athletes competing in their second National Inter-Counties: BCS – Ella Chown, Honor Davies, Lottie James, Kayla van der Merwe; Poole – Jessica Kelleway, Jasmine McCrea; Swim Bournemouth – Jessica Richens. The Dorset team was completed by seasoned competitors Jasmine Holmes (Poole), Harriet Perfect (BCS) and Jacob Peters (Poole). fullsizerender-9 Photo: Dorset boys Competition Day  The team arrived in bright green hats and war paint in the traditional green and white colours of Dorset, readied for battle by the Captains. Luke and Jessica R carried the banner for Dorset in the opening parade while Jasmine prepared for Event 1. As a Captain should, Jasmine stepped up to the mark from being ranked fifth to touch in first place and dipping under 57 seconds for the first time to win the 16/17 years 100m Freestyle in 56.99. With some great step-ups by the swimmers, a further win was delivered by Harriet who led from start to finish in the 16/17 years 100m Backstroke in 1:04.32. Jacob repeated the performance in  the 16/17 years 100m Butterfly touching first in 55.56, as did Ella in the 12/13 years 100m Butterfly in 1:04.18 while the girls team of Honor, Kayla, Jasmine and Izzy went on to win the 14/15 years 4x50m Medley Relay. fullsizerender-5 Photo: Dorset girls Dorset held the lead in Division 2 until the half way point but were eventually worn down by Scotland West winning with 554 points and Dorset with 527 points, finishing in second place ahead of county neighbours Devon with 490 points. Sussex placed fourth with 455 points to complete the quartet of teams to gain promotion. Reflecting on the day, Head Coach Barry said, “This was such a great team performance, that it is hard to pick anyone out as we had some amazing step-ups with personal best times along with 13 top three finishes. It was great to see athletes from six Dorset clubs working together and they delivered such a strong performance.” Top three finishers from Dorset were: 100m Breaststroke – Finley Jarvis and Kayla van der Merwe (2nd places), 4x50m Medley Relay – Henry Stanbrook, Luke Roxburgh, Jacob Peters and  Matthew Collins,  Ella Bowman, Amy Brown, Ella Chown and Jessica Kelleway (2nd places); 100m Breaststroke – Amy Brown, 100m Butterfly – Jasmine McCrea, 100m Freestyle – Jacob Peters, 100m Breaststroke – Luke Roxburgh (3rd places). Full Results can be seen at www.swimming.org/countyteamchamps/division-two-live-stream  
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2016 Dorset team for Inter-County competition published

By In FEATURED, National Inter-County Competition, Swimming0 Comments20 Views
The ASA National County Team Championships 2016 will once again take place in the familiar Sheffield battleground with around 1,200 swimmers set to descend on Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Sunday 23 October. With a little over one month to go the countdown to this year’s competition has now begun with selections for the Dorset team being published as follows: Bournemouth Collegiate – Ella Chown, Honor Davies, Charlotte James, Kayla van der Merwe, Harriet Perfect, Izzy Pryce, Ben Samuel, Christian Tai, Finn Trehane;  Bridport Barracudas – Nathaniel Moorey;  Poole SC – Matt Collins, Jasmine Holmes, Jessica Kellaway, Jasmine McCrea, Jacob Peters, Jessica Richens, Luke Roxburgh;  Swim Bournemouth – Ella Bowman, Amy Brown, Henry Stanbrook, Josh Wickens; Tornadoes of South Dorset – Josh Frampton; West Dorset – Finley Jarvis, Daniel Kingman.
N.

National Inter-County Championships 2015

By In FEATURED, National Inter-County Competition, Swimming, Uncategorized0 Comments20 Views
October saw all the Counties from England, Wales and Scotland converge on Ponds Forge in Sheffield to compete in the prestigious National Inter-County Championships, a competition with archived results back to 1974. Dorset had finished fourth in Division 2 in 2014, joining Worcester, Suffolk and Devon in gaining promotion to Division 1, so the aim of coaches Barry Alldrick (Poole) and Adam Parfitt (Bournemouth Collegiate) was for Dorset to stay in Division 1 and break Dorset’s habit of yo-yo’ing between divisions on an annual basis. After the first six events with swimmers stepping up in rankings in every event so far, Dorset had started strongly and were at a gala highest of eighth in Division 1. Swims from Poole’s Jacob Peters, who won the 14/15years 100m Butterfly in a Dorset Junior Record of 56.58, and BCS’s Finn Trehane finishing second in the 12/13 years 100m Breaststroke with a PB of 1:09.86 contributed to these high points. Kayla Van Der Merwe (BCS) also made the top ten in the 12/13 years 100m Breaststroke with a PB of 1:17.71. The Dorset team impressively racked up many personal bests, but had to wait a further ten events before making the top ten again, and this came in the Boys 14/15 Medley Relay team of Poole’s Jacob Peters, Swim Bournemouth’s Kelvin Wong and Bournemouth Collegiate’s Christian Tai and Ben Samuels. Jacob’s back stroke leg of 26.95 was enough to break his own Dorset Junior Record. At this point the team was now down to 19th place and in need of some more top ten finishes. Over the next ten events, many more personal bests were gained along with a further three Dorset Records being lowered. Top ten finishes were earned by Finn Trehane gaining sixth place in the 12/13 years 100m Backstroke with another PB of 1:04.38, club mate Ben Samuels touched ninth in the 14/ 100m Freestyle in a PB of 54.94, with Zak Aitchison racing well to break the Dorset Senior Record to touch fifth in the 16/17 years 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:04.88. Poole’s Harriet Perfect finished ninth to break her PB and the Dorset Junior 100m Backstroke record in the 14/15 years with a time of 1:03.56. Club mate Jacob Peters took his second win of the day and third Dorset Record in the 100m Backstroke in a time of 57.91. With just four events to go the team lay in 18th place. The last four relays again saw some impressive times and step ups but no top ten finishes, meaning that Dorset finished 19th with 240 points. Fellow promoted counties from last year Worcestershire and Devon finished 18th and 20th respectively, along with 17th placed Scotland West to start the 2016 competition with Dorset in Division 2. First time selection badges were awarded to: BCS – Ella Chown, Honor Davies, Zoe Gannaway, Lottie James, Kayla Van Der Merwe (BCS); Poole – Morgan Hiles, Jessica Kelleway, Jasmine McCrea, Alex Price, Guy Selwood; Seagulls – Bethan O’Hara, Max Weeks. Poole’s Madison Kemp and Bournemouth Collegiate’s Zak Aitchison were selected as team Dorset Captains. One of the captain’s roles is to parade on poolside with all the other Counties. As Zak was in the second race requiring time to prepare, Swim Bournemouth’s Henry Stanbrook stepped in for Zak for this role to make a grand entrance to poolside with Madison to some impressive cheering by the rest of the team. Special thanks go to Nadine Honeybun, Dorset County ASA President, Chris Mills and Mandy Thomas for representing Dorset as Technical Officials, and Team Captain’s Madison Kemp (Poole) and Zak Aichitson (BCS).