Big medal haul for Deepings Swimming Club in Lincolnshire

The Deepings Swim Squad were in great form.

Nine-year-old Evie Davies, competing in her first ever swimming open meet, won five gold medals and two silver, as 17 individuals came away with medals with five also achieving Lincolnshire County Qualifying Times for 2023.

Evie showed excellent versatility across all four strokes for a young swimmer, touching home first in the 100m butterfly, 50m and 200m freestyle, 100IM and 100m breaststroke. She added silver in the 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke.

Oliver Clarke achieved county qualifying times (CQTs) in six of his eight events, finishing top three in all of them. He won gold in the 100m breaststroke with a 16-second personal best and the 200m breaststroke, his first time racing that event.

The 10-year-old added six silvers in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke (with a 15-second PB).

Oliver Shepherd maintained his recent strong form with another medal haul, including a pair of butterfly golds in the 13yrs 50m and 200m, dipping under three minutes for the first time in the longer event to achieve the CQT in 2:59.26. He also won three silvers, in the 200IM and the 100m and 200m freestyle, the latter with a three-second PB and CQT.

Oliver’s younger sister Annabel returned home with her own collection of medals. The 10-year-old won the 100m butterfly, took silver in the 200IM and added bronze in the 200m freestyle with a 14-second PB.

Further victories were achieved in stunning fashion by Florence Carlson and Charlotte Jenkinson.

Ten-year-old Florence won a hat-trick of gold medals, in the 100m freestyle (with a 15-second PB) and the 50m and 200m backstroke, racing the latter event for the first time. She also took silver in the 200m freestyle with a 19-second PB.

Meanwhile, Charlotte fended off her rivals in the 50m butterfly to claim gold in the 12yrs age group. Her time of 39.12, a two-second PB, was also the county time. Charlotte also won silver in the 50m freestyle.

In addition to the 14 golds, Deepings won 26 silver and 21 bronze medals.

Jack Bell contributed five of them with some massive personal bests. Warming up with silver and a two-second PB in the 100m backstroke, the 13-year-old then blasted through the 200m backstroke to touch home second with a superb 11-second PB.

His third silver came in the 200m breaststroke, an event he was swimming for the first time, while bronze followed in the 50m butterfly, with a two-second PB, and 50m backstroke.

James Cash gained silver and the county time in the 200m backstroke. He also finished second in the 12yrs 50m butterfly and had two third place finishes in the 100m freestyle and 200IM.

Jack and Hannah Cradock were Deepings’ second brother and sister double act to get in on the medals.

Thirteen-year-old Jack smashed his 200m butterfly best time by 43 seconds to take silver and dropped his 50m breaststroke time by two seconds to win bronze, just one-tenth of a second outside the CQT. Hannah secured an excellent bronze in the 200IM.

Having the meet of her young swimming career was Orla Bailey. The 11-year-old swam a 10-second PB in the 100m freestyle and took eight seconds off her 100m backstroke best to win a pair of silvers. Two third-place finishes followed in the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle.

One of the biggest PBs of the day was swum by 10-year-old Olivia Laud, who won bronze in the 200IM beating her previous best by a massive 25 seconds.

Doubling up as a butterfly medallist, Eleanor Twinley took silver in the 12yrs 100m event with a 20-second PB and bronze in the 200m.

Juan-Cayile Vercellotti achieved his first ever county time with a PB and silver in the 14yrs 50m breaststroke.

Also tasting success in the breaststroke was 10-year-old Kai Watson, who swam a 12-second PB to win silver in the 100m race, adding bronze in the 200IM.

Noah Skinner medalled in all three breaststroke events, with silver in the 100m and bronze in the 50m and 200m. The 11-year-old also took bronze in the 200m freestyle, with a 22-second PB, 50m backstroke and 100IM.

Completing the team’s medal tally with a hat-trick of bronze medal swims was William Burdock in the 13yrs 100m and 200m backstroke (both with new PBs) and the 200m breaststroke.

Sam Peeroo, Deepings Swimming Club head coach, said: “This was another fantastic weekend for our swimmers with some superb performances. As well as 12 county times, the squad swam 84 personal bests – simply amazing.”