Eastern delight for Deepings

The Deepings Swimming Club quartet Jessica OHerlihy, Molly Briers, Tiffany Wong and Alex Sadler with assistant coach Zoe Fisher (centre) - who competed at the East Midlands Age Group Championships.

Jessica O’Herlihy, Tiffany Wong, Molly Briers and Alex Sadler all qualified for butterfly events at the age group competition, for swimmers up to the age of 13, which was held at the 50 metre pool in Corby.

The quartet were joined by senior squad member Jessie Spooner, who competed in the youths 1500m freestyle.

Sadler, Lincolnshire’s top 11-year-old butterfly swimmer, qualified for all three distances at the championships.

His best performance came in the 200m butterfly where he reached the final, finishing a highly respectable seventh in a new personal best (PB) of 2.58.22.

Sadler also competed in the 50m and 100m butterfly, finishing 34th and 20th respectively. In both, he was the highest placed age group swimmer from Lincolnshire, and he set a new Deepings club record of 36.21 in the shorter event. He now holds age group club records in all three butterfly distances.

Twelve-year-old Briers qualified for two events - the 50m and 200m butterfly. She finished 15th in the 200m event in a new long course PB of 3.04.41, and was the fifth fastest swimmer from Lincolnshire. In the 50m butterfly, Briers was 30th overall, and seventh fastest from the county.

O’Herlihy (12) also raced in the 50m butterfly, coming 20th in a new PB of 35.90. She was the third fastest of the swimmers from Lincolnshire.

Wong competed in the 13-year-old age group and smashed her PB, swimming 33.91 to finish 20th in the East Midlands and seventh fastest from Lincolnshire.

Following a late withdrawal, Jessie Spooner was called up to compete in the all age groups 1500m freestyle. It was the first time she had competed at that distance and she swam strongly to finish an excellent sixth in the 16-year-old age group.