The City of Sunderland ASC hosted their first ever Non National Swim Meet at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre, attracting 25 clubs from across the north of England, Scotland and Dubai. However, it was the home club swimmers who dominated the event by finishing top with a massive 1512 points, followed by the City of Newcastle with 934 points and a much improved Durham City with 493 points.
image courtesy of Event Photography North East
Sunderland trio, Lauren Patterson, Laura Taylor and Rachel Sinclair set the tone for the competition with outstanding gold medal performances in the 200m freestyle. Lauren Patterson won the club’s first gold medal of the day in the eleven year old category with a time of 2.30.58 – an impressive 9.32 seconds ahead of second spot, while for the twelve year olds Laura Taylor took gold in 221.19 - more than seven seconds ahead of second place - with Rachel Sinclair taking the sixteen and over title in 2.17.18 by a massive margin of 10.51 seconds. The trio went on to enjoy further success with Lauren taking three more gold’s in the 400m freestyle, 200m breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley, with silver medals in the 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly and bronze in the 200m backstroke. Laura took gold in the 400m freestyle, with silver in the 50m and 100m freestyle, while Rachel won the 400m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 200m individual medley gold medals with silver in the 50m freestyle and 100m breast stroke, 50m butterfly and 200m breaststroke events.
Top performer in the competition was ten year old Jodi Bunker who won gold medals in ten of her events, with outstanding performances in the 400m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200m and 400m individual medley events. Nine year old Amelia Bateman also performed well to win gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 50m and 100m butterfly, with silver medals in the 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke, 50m and 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m individual medley, while fellow nine year olds Jazmine Moss and Natalya Sharp won the 50m freestyle silver and 50m breaststroke bronze medals respectively.
Twenty year old Daniel Heeley took four gold medals in the 50 & 100m freestyle, and the 50 & 100m butterfly events, while twelve year old Andrew Markham took two gold medals in the freestyle at 100 & 200m, along with silvers in the 50m butterfly and backstroke at 100 & 200m, with a bronze for the 400m freestyle. Eighteen year old Conor Crozier also chipped in with gold medals in the 50 and 100m backstroke, while sixteen year old Mathew Bell took the 400m individual medley gold to add to his silver in the 200m race and bronze medals in the 50m butterfly and 400m freestyle events.
Fourteen year olds Emma Sinclair, Andie Hinitt and Shannon Costello won further points for the team with Emma taking top spot in the 100 & 200m backstroke, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley adding to her silver in the 200m medley and a 400m freestyle bronze; while Andie took the 200m breaststroke gold, 400m individual medley silver and bronze in the 50 & 100m freestyle, the 100m breaststroke and 200m backstroke, with Shannon taking a further bronze in the 100m backstroke. Fifteen year old Amy Brown, having just returned from competing in the Catholic School Games in France, also took gold in the 100m breaststroke, together with silver medals in the 50,100 & 200m backstroke events.
Sunderland took one, two’s in the eleven year old 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley events with Jay Whitehead taking the gold and Jennifer Sharp taking the silver medals, while Jay took also took bronze in the 50m backstroke. Fellow eleven year old Freya Rayner also took the 50m backstroke gold to add to her silver in the 100m backstroke event, while Gabrielle Burdess took the 200 & 400m freestyle silver and 100 backstroke and 200m individual medley bronze medals.
Further gold medal winners for the boys were Alexander Gunn (15), who topped the podium in the 200m individual medley, with bronze in the 50 & 100m butterfly events; Thomas Burns (11) who took gold in the 200m backstroke, with silver in the 400m freestyle and bronze in the 200m freestyle; James Burns (13) gold in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m freestyle; Joseph Pomfret (10) gold in the 200m butterfly with silver in the 50m butterfly and bronze in the 100m freestyle and Mathew Walker Smith (9) who took the 100m breaststroke gold, four silvers for the 100m freestyle, 100 & 200m backstroke and 50m butterfly, along with bronze for the 200 freestyle, 200m backstroke and 100m butterfly events.
Other medallists for the Sunderland team were; Rachel Robinson (12) - 200m butterfly silver, Annabelle Joyce (13) - 200m butterfly bronze, Ben Hutchinson (9) - 50 & 100m breast stroke silver, 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly bronze, Liam Bosomworth (18) - 50m breaststroke and 400m individual medley silver, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly bronze, James Brewerton (11) - 50 & 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly silver, Peter Davison (14) - 50m freestyle, 200m breast stroke and 100m butterfly bronze, Gerald McCullough (12) - 50m freestyle silver, 50m breaststroke bronze, Shane Hassall (22) - 50m freestyle silver, 50m breast stroke bronze, William Robinson (11) – 100m butterfly and 400m individual medley bronze, Kristian Donaldson (12) – 200m butterfly bronze and Ryan Henry (13) – 200m butterfly silver.
Individual age group winners from the City of Sunderland ASC were:
Amelia Bateman (9 years) 68 points
Jodi Bunker (10 years) 89 points
Lauren Patterson (11 years) 77 points
Rachel Sinclair (16 years & over) 65 points
Head Coach Alastair Johnson said, “We have enjoyed a very good meet with many excellent results from all the squads. Thanks must go to their coaches for all their hard work, and also to the many club officials who have worked long and hard to make our very first July meet a great success”.
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