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Penny Stratford took her young charges of the Junior Squad to Harlow Town Pool to compete in Bishops Stortford SC’s 12^th Sprints Open Meet on Saturday 9^th July. With just a few competitive races between the 21 youngsters medals were likely to be at a premium, but many of them improved on the previous fastest times. Out of a total of 91 swims 56 were in a new personal best time.

Molly Scott completed in all five disciplines in the girls 11 years section (50m’s back, breast, fly, freestyle and 100m medley). She stormed through to win her breaststroke heat which was enough to give her the bronze medal overall. A twelfth in the 100m medley was followed with 16^th, 17^th and 18^th in the back, fly and free. All swims bar the back were in new best times.

Another medallist was Josie Larkin (13 years) whose recent performances show the potential she has to compete at higher levels, a brace of 6^th places in the 50m fly and breaststroke was followed with two 9^ths in the back and free with 10^th in the medley, again all bar the backstroke were in new best times.

10 year old Toby Andrews swam a fine 50m backstroke which was good enough to earn him 5^th place, he followed this with a sixth place in the butterfly. Toby narrowly missed out on a second 6^th place when finishing 7^th in the freestyle and 8^th in the medley, 15^th in the breaststroke was his other performance. In all five races he set new best times.

Tom Webb was the final medal taker for Killerwhales. A 5^th in the boys 11 year 50m breaststroke was followed with 8^th places in the freestyle and medley, 9^th in the fly and 14^th in the breaststroke. Tom W managed to better his breast, free and medley times. Two other eleven year old boys, Tom Skingsley and Sam Sparks had the following respective results 21^st and 23^rd in the free, 17^th and 18^th in the backstroke, 16^th and 21^st in the breaststroke and 16^th and 19^th in the medley, Tom S best finish was 15^th in the butterfly but was unfortunately disqualified, in the other four events he managed new best times. Sam also managed to improve his times in the back and breaststroke.

12 year old Laurence Greenway was unfortunately disqualified in the breaststroke, he managed a creditable 12^th in the backstroke with 14^th, 15^th and 21^st in the fly, medley and freestyle, the latter being the only event in which he did not improve on his previous times. Joe Sissons set four new best times, he was 17^th in his medley and had two 19^th places in the backstroke and breaststroke, he also finished 25^th in the freestyle.

The oldest boy taking part was Sam Nagle who was up against some stiff competition in the 14 years section, 18^th in the back and breast, both in new best times were followed with a 20^th in the IM and a 22^nd in the freestyle.

Hollie Buchanan and Kirsty Shall swam in the 14 year old girls section, Hollie was amazingly consistent taking 13^th place in all four of her races (though not swimming the fly). Kirsty took a fine 12^th place in the breast, she was unlucky to be disqualified for a one handed turn in the breast to free section of her medley and took 15^th place in the freestyle in a new best time. Both girls set new best times in the medley.

Competing in the girls 12 year section were Jemma Shall, Lilly King, Grace Jolly, Megan Davis and Chelsea Buchanan. Chelsea’s best finish was 26^th in the backstroke, 27^th in the fly and 29^th in the breaststroke and 31^st in the medley and freestyle. Lilly swam to 23^rd in the butterfly, 28^th in the medley and 29^th in the freestyle. Jemma set 4 new best times in her four races swimming to 26^th fly, 27^th breast, 31^st medley and 32^nd freestyle. Megan also set 4 personal bests in her four races unfortunately she was disqualified in the medley but managed 28^th in both the back and breaststrokes and 34^th in the freestyle. Grace had a good meet improving her times in the breaststroke 16^th place, backstroke 18^th, medley 26^th, freestyle 28^th, she also finished 29^th in the butterfly.

Christina Stenson’s swim in the 50m butterfly was faster than she had swam the event before but unfortunately she was disqualified. A best place of 13^th was in the backstroke, with 19^th in the medley and 21^st in both the freestyle and breaststroke. Sarah Thomas set 3 new best times in the butterfly, medley and freestyle where she finished in 14^th, 17^th and 17^th places, she also finished 14^th in the backstroke and 19^th in the breaststroke. Kate Dempster improved her times in all three of her races, the breaststroke 12^th, backstroke 19^th, and freestyle 23^rd.

Georgia Beadel (10 yrs) had a good meet setting four new best times in her four races, unfortunately a disqualification in the breaststroke denied her of sixth place. 15^th in the backstroke was followed with 16^th in the freestyle and 18^th in the medley. Younger sister Cassie in the 9 years event was competing in her first ever open gala. Like her sister she to was disqualified in her breaststroke, she did finish 13^th in the backstroke and 17^th in the freestyle, both in new best times.