RTSC Gala Reports

Saturday 8th November - National Swimming League (Round 2) - Watford Leisure Centre

Romford Town Swimming Club's second place finish in Saturday's second round of the National Swimming League competition guaranteed their place in next month's final at Norwich's University of East Anglia Pool for a third consecutive year. Whilst Town were some distance behind the evening's winners from Team Ipswich, they were more than 65 points clear of third placed Hoddesdon.

There were PB times for Nicole Raymond and Daniel Stepton in the opening Senior IM events, both finishing in 3rd place. This was followed by four consecutive runner up spots in the early relay exchanges. In the Girls 9-11 years Freestyle event, Victoria Christmas, Megan McAuliffe, Sophie Ward and Bethany Moore were unlucky not to chalk up Romford‘s first victory, losing out in a close contest to the Hoddesdon quartet. The Romford youngsters later turned the tables by winning the Medley Relay event. In the Boys 9-11 years Freestyle swim, Sam Bishop, Luke Sheridan, Sam Hollington and Sam Allsop combined well for their 2nd place. The other runner up finishes came in the 13/U Medley events where the girls team comprising Harriette Davis, Bethany Hall, Elena Sheridan and Claire Jackson and the boys team of George Ellis, Sean Houlihan, Harry Coker and Joshua Rogers, continued to pile on some early team points. The Senior Boys Medley Team of Daniel Stepton, Jake Harrison, Grant Chandler and Billy Tubbs chipped in with six more points from their 3rd place finish.

Bethany Hall added another seven points to the Romford tally with a strong 2nd place in the girls 13/U 100 metres Breaststroke while in the boys Breaststroke event Sean Houlihan stormed to Town’s first win of the evening, finishing more than eleven seconds clear of his nearest rival.

In the 15/U Backstroke swims 13 years old Harriette Davis set a PB time of 1min 09.54 to take 3rd place and was back in the pool shortly after to take 2nd spot in the 13/U event. In the boys 15/U backstroke event James Davis was runner up with a PB time of 1min 05.40secs though later had to settle for 3rd in the 100 metres Freestyle.

13 years old Elena Sheridan, who like team mate Harriette had to step up an age group to contest the 15/U 100 metres Butterfly, put in a battling performance for her 3rd place. She was in action again with 20 minutes in the 13/U 100 metres Butterfly, where she took maximum points from a hard fought victory.

On a tough night of competition, further individual wins eluded Town swimmers though the points continued to rack up with a number of 2nd place finishes. Victoria Christmas just missed out on a win in the 10-11 years 50 metres Freestyle, as did 13 years old Harry Coker in the 100 metres Butterfly. Daniel Stepton, still feeling the effects of his earlier IM swim, was a little off the pace in the Senior 100 metres Backstroke while, in the same Open age group, team mate Billy Tubbs did well to hold off the opposition for his second place in a tight finish over 100 metres Freestyle.

Between these Senior events, both Harriette Davis and Sean Houlihan were racing again. In the 13/U freestyle events, Davis was close to her best securing seven team points and this was matched by Houlihan who was next in the pool. Just two events later he was back in the water again, this time securing 3rd place and six more points in the 15/U 100 metres Breaststroke.

11 years olds Victoria Christmas, Sam Bishop and Luke Sheridan all picked up 3rd places in their respective 50 metres Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly events. In the 15/U 100 metres freestyle, Nicole Raymond was near to her best with a time 1min02.01secs for another 3rd, as was Jessica Coles who took 3rd spot in both her Senior 100 metres Butterfly and Breaststroke swims.

Despite the strength in depth of their opponents, Town still managed a handful of 3rd places from the closing relays clashes. These came from the Freestyle teams of (boys 9-11 years) Hollington, Bishop, Sheridan and Allsop and (girls 15/U) Rachel Welsh, Sian Aston, Sheridan and Raymond and the girls and boys 13/U Medley quartets of Davis, Hall Jackson and Moore and Houlihan, Coker Ellis and Rogers, all adding to a thrilling finale and a great evening of swimming.

Final Points:

Well done to all