DCASA Championships

28th & 29th February, 2004

The Devon County Championships returned to the Central Park pool in Plymouth for the second weekend of competition and the Kelly swim squad continued with further success, producing yet more Competition Best Times.

Jack Cockerton was again on form swimming in the 15 years age group where he made it to Championship finals and produced Competition Best Times in the 100m IM, 50m Breaststroke and the 200m Butterfly on the Saturday and the 100m fly and 200m Breaststroke on Sunday. His performance in the 200m Breaststroke gave him the gold in his age group, a National Qualifying Time and a new Championship record as he recorded the fastest time for the whole event and beat his entry time by almost three seconds.

Team mate Tom Howe (14) also showed his new found talent for the 200m Breaststroke winning the gold for his age group in an event which is not normally in his schedule for the Devons and achieving a National Qualifying Time in the process. Tom also won silver in the 100m IM and 100m Butterfly and bronze in the 200m Butterfly. His heat time for the 100m IM was good enough to earn him a place in the Championship final where he finished 5^th, and Competition Best Time which was not bettered by any swimmer in the final for the 14 age group.

The boys were out in force in the other 200m Breaststroke events with Michael Wallis, Adam John and Liam Yeo achieving 3^rd, 4^thand 5^th places in the final for the 12 years, Gregg Shrosbree, Josh Lake and Ben Clarke 3^rd, 4^thand 6^th places in the final for the 13 year olds and Daniel Kidwell taking the silver behind Tom Howe in the 14 year event. Gregg’s time was also 2 seconds inside the National Qualifying Time. Two boys also won silver in their respective 200m butterfly races – Adam John (12) and Matthew Henry (13) both with significant PBs.

Gold went to Jonathon Wills in the 16 years age group in the 100m IM and 50m backstroke and to Matthew Henry in the 13years 100m IM which was also a Competition Best Time.

For the girls, Amanda Sanderson, (15) also continued in the same vein as the first weekend by winning the 100m backstroke with a Competition Best Time as well as the 200m IM and 200m butterfly. Amanda also appeared in the Championship final of the 100m backstroke where she finished just outside the medals in fourth but with another NQT under her belt. On Sunday evening, Amanda produced a amazing 800m freestyle time of 8mins 55.52s which qualifies her to swim the event at the National Youth Championships and earned her an age group gold medal. Amanda was second in the overall Championship for the event, being beaten only by Cassie Patten of Plymouth Leander.

Sophie Stanford collected a gold and silver medal for the 50m breaststroke by wining the 16 years competition and finishing as runner up in the Championship Final whilst team mates Brikitta Batten and Jakie Wellman produced silver medal winning personal best times in the same event. Brikitta also swam her way into 5^th place in the Championship final of the 50m Butterfly after winning the gold for her age group (14).

Age Group Medals:

Gold: Jack Cockerton (4), Amanda Sanderson (4), Matthew Henry (2), Tom Howe, Brikitta Batten, Sophie Stanford (2) and Jonathon Wills(2).

Silver: Adam John (2), Tom Howe (2), Jack Williams, Matthew Henry, Daniel Kidwell, Sarah Reader, Michael Wallis, Jakie Wellman, Brikitta Batten, Jack Cockerton, Matthew Hill and Josh Lake 

Bronze: Sophie Stanford (2), Adam John, Josh Lake, Brikitta Batten, Victoria Dewar-Fowler, Michael Wallis, Gregg Shrosbree, Tom Howe, Whitney Bowrin and Holly Yeo.