Five-star Monaghan leads the way for speed COPS in Norwich
The reigning Peterborough Telegraph Junior Sportswoman of the Year was in red-hot form over the three days and collected five fabulous firsts in individual events.
She won the gold in the 16yrs 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m and 400m individual medley.
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Hide AdShe was also part of three winning COPS relay teams and just missed out on the podium in the 200m freestyle.
Monaghan’s massive effort helped COPS to a second-place finish in the final medals table behind Hatfield - a club with a far bigger membership than COPS.
MEDALS TABLE (top 10)
G S B
Hatfield 26 25 8
Peterborough 21 17 14
Basildon 12 16 12
Ipswich 12 8 7
Cambridge 11 11 8
Norwich 4 6 9
West Norfolk 4 1 6
Colchester 3 3 4
West Suffolk 3 2 3
Dunstable 3 0 0
Other outstanding COPS performances, of which there were many, came from Herbie Kinder, Kenzie Whyatt, Mia Leech and Eve Wright.
Kinder had a very busy programme and made four finals on day one, three finals on day two and four finals on day three.
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Hide AdHe finished his punishing schedule with three individual golds (200m fly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley), a silver and two bronze medals and also featured in two winning relay teams and another that finished second.
Whyatt delivered a cracking performance of speed and endurance swimming by striking gold in the 400m and 800m freestyle and silver in the 100m and 200m freestyle.
Leech touched first in the 100m and 200m butterfly and added a silver in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 200m and 400m freestyle to her impressive haul in the most competitive female age-group.
‘New kid on the block’ Wright, competing in her first year at Youth Regionals, came home with one gold (50m back) and two silvers (100m and 200m back).
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Hide AdOther COPS individual medallists were Jamie Scholes (including gold in 1500m freestyle & 200m back), Tom Wiggins, Myles Robinson-Young, Henry Pearce (gold in 1500m freestyle), Matthew Rothwell, Jaxon Simmons, Poppy Richardson, Rachel Wellings (gold in 100m back) and Emma Leslie.
COPS head coach Ben Negus said: “I’m very happy with our performance at this year’s regional championships.
“With the movement on to further education or retirement of five swimmers from last year’s championships we were potentially going to miss 21 medals from last season.
“However, an amazing team performance saw us pick up 52 medals and finish second on the medal table. Even better, we have easily the best medal to member ratio in the region.
“The resilience of some of our team was very admirable.
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Hide Ad“We had a large group of those 16 year-old swimmers racing in eight to 10 events a day, with quality every time too.
“That’s very impressive at this level. I’m delighted with their attitudes and look forward to the Summer Nationals in July and August.”