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Swimming: Walker leads the way for top COPS
The senior swimmers from City of Peterborough Swimming club (COPS) won a bagful of medals and set records galore at the ASA East Region Winter Championships.
The senior swimmers from City of Peterborough Swimming club (COPS) won a bagful of medals and set records galore at the ASA East Region Winter Championships.The championships were held at the UEA Sportspark in Norwich over two days and COPS swimmers underlined their recent good form by achieving fourth place in the medal table ahead of some much larger clubs.
The final result was achieved thanks to an excellent all-round team performance as well as some stunning individual swims.
Medal-winning performances came from Sophie Sweet (16), Charlie Walker (19), Liam Knight (15), Zara Bailey (13), Gaby Balls (15), Emily Cook (15)
On the first day of competition Charlie Walker set the standard for COPS' weekend of success in the 200m freestyle final by setting a county record, regional championship record and Philippines national record in the one swim.
Walker's day continued to shine with silver medals in the 50m butterfly and 100m individual medley and two further gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle. Walker also broke the championship records in the two freestyle events and set a new Philippines record in the 100m event.
Liam Knight put in a stunning swim in the 200m backstroke to finish top junior swimmer and fourth overall by breaking the junior championship record.
Gemma Simpson (17) battled through injury to make the B final of the 50m butterfly along with Charlotte Harrison (14) while Zara Bailey and Molly Norman (13) made the B final of the 100m individual medley. Bailey then went on to qualify for the B final of the 200m breaststroke.
The third session saw Gaby Balls add to COPS success by qualifying for the B final of the 100m freestyle. Balls then qualified for the final of the 50m breaststroke in which she won a bronze medal in the junior category and finished in fourth place overall.
Day two of the championships brought more glory for the COPS squad.
Knight and Walker were still putting in stunning swims. Knight swam 2mins 12secs in the 200m individual medley final and Walker swam 26.46secs in the 50m backstroke final to take the silver medal.
Sophie Sweet and Emily Cook went head-to-head in the 50m backstroke final with Sweet taking the silver medal while Cook finished fourth overall and took the gold in the junior age category. Bailey also delivered a strong swim to make the B final of the 100m butterfly.
In the last session of the championships it all ended with a glorious finale.
Walker and Knight made the final of the 100m backstroke with Knight taking the gold in the junior age group in a new championship record while Walker won silver in another new county and Philippines national record in a time of 56.95secs.
Sweet added to her medal haul by taking silver in the 100m backstroke final, after only two weeks of training after a four-week lay-off following surgery.
Bailey qualified for the 200m breaststroke final qualifying in 5th place but after tactical changes put in a life time best performance and came away with the silver medal.
Then just 10 minutes later Bailey joined Balls, Cook and Sweet for the girls 4x100m freestyle relay and produced a stunning team performance beating some well-established teams to win the bronze medal.
COPS Head coach Ben Negus said. "This was our first test of the season and our team passed with flying colours. We have a group of swimmers that are very keen to get the best out themselves and it is starting to show at this level.
"I am delighted see that our swimmers are taking on the challenge this season and receiving the rewards for their efforts.
"Only 10 weeks into the season and we have already broken quite a few of our season goals. Its great to have the headache of setting fresh goals."
COPS are holding an open trials night to find their future record breakers and medal winners on Friday December 4 between 7.10pm and 7.50pm. Prospective swimmers should be able to swim 100 metres using two or three different swimming strokes. For further information contact the club via e-mail at admin@copsclub.co.uk.
Charlie Walker is celebrating his call-up to the Philippines national squad after setting three international records at the East Region Winter Championships.
Walker will be competing at Vientiane, Laos, in December representing the Philippines in the South East Asia Games. This is a bi-annual event, which is similar to the European championships.
If Walker is successful in Laos, he is likely to be selected for the World Short Course Championships that will be held in Dubai and then hopefully he will gain selection for the full Asian Games in late 2010.
This is the second biggest sporting event after the Olympics and in 2010 it is being held in Guangzhou, China.
Walker said: "I am really psyched up about my selection and the opportunity it presents to me. I am in good form at the moment as my record performances last weekend in Norwich show."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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