Deepings swimmer Bethany makes three East Midlands finals

Six members of Deepings Swimming Club raced in Sheffield at the weekend after qualifying for the East Midlands Regional Youth Championships.
The Deepings squad competing at the East Midlands Championships. From the left Bethany Eagle-Brown, Holly Leggott, Louis Metselaar, Christian Rollinson, Tom Adams and Hannah Matthews.The Deepings squad competing at the East Midlands Championships. From the left Bethany Eagle-Brown, Holly Leggott, Louis Metselaar, Christian Rollinson, Tom Adams and Hannah Matthews.
The Deepings squad competing at the East Midlands Championships. From the left Bethany Eagle-Brown, Holly Leggott, Louis Metselaar, Christian Rollinson, Tom Adams and Hannah Matthews.

Louis Metselaar, Tom Adams, Holly Leggott, Bethany Eagle-Brown, Hannah Matthews and Christian Rollinson made the qualifying times in 14 events and swam 11 personal bests and made four finals in the long-course Ponds Foirge pool.

Eagle-Brown had an excellent weekend, reaching the final in all three of her swims in the 16yrs age group, and narrowly missing winning two medals.

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In the 50m butterfly, she finished fifth in a new personal best of 29.48, and came close again in the 50m freestyle, with another fifth place finish. 
She also made the 50m backstroke final, coming seventh in a new PB of 32.70.

Lucia Karic (right) tops the podium at the Grantham Grand Prix with Grace Edwards in second.Lucia Karic (right) tops the podium at the Grantham Grand Prix with Grace Edwards in second.
Lucia Karic (right) tops the podium at the Grantham Grand Prix with Grace Edwards in second.

Leggott was one of the youngest girls to make the 17/over 50m freestyle final after a strong swim in the heats.

Still aged 16, she competed hard to finish a highly commendable 10th against much older swimmers. She also qualified for the 50m backstroke, where she was 15th overall after setting a new best of 32.42.

Metselaar (17) was also competing against much older rivals after qualifying for all four events in the 17/over age group.

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He set a new PB of 31.70 in the 50m breaststroke, finishing 14th, and repeated the feat in the 50m butterfly with a new mark of 27.40. His third PB of the day came in the 50m backstroke (30.29) to finish 19th, while he was just off his best in the 50m freestyle.

Also in the 17/over races, Adams set a pair of PBs, in the 50m breaststroke (32.31) and 50m freestyle (26.52), and was just outside his best in the 50m butterfly.

Matthews and Rollinson were both making their debuts at the regional champs and did themselves proud with a couple of outstanding swims. Matthews took almost half a second off her 50m freestyle long course best to dip below 30 seconds for the first time, at 29.79, while Rollinson set a new mark of 30.46 in the 50m butterfly.

While Deepings’ elite swimmers were in Sheffield, some of the club’s future stars were racing in the final round of the Grantham Grand Prix Series, which featured swimmers aged nine to 12.

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Lucia Karic finished as the top girl in the 10yrs age group, with teammate Grace Edwards coming joint second.

Lilly Tappern was third in the 11yrs category, just two points from second place, after a series of strong swims.

The boys were also among the awards. William Burdock finished fifth in the 9yrs age group, while Ryan Weise took fifth in the 12yrs. Top performer was Alex Sadler, who came second, just four points off first place.

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