Lincolnshire ASA County Championships

Meridian Pool, Louth. 6th & 7th February 2016

This was the 2nd weekend of County Championships and the team from Spalding set out making the trip to Louth with medals and midland qualifying times in their sights. It proved to be a very productive weekend that left Head Coach Callum Lawson 'feeling proud to be part of this team'.

Saturday kicked off with 4 Personal Bests in the Girls 200m IM for Hannah Willis, Mollie Briggs, Ellisha Cookson and Dusty Saines. Then moving on to the boys 100m Breaststroke with Luke Blanchard, Colin O'Reilly and Tim Wakefield recording new PBs with Blanchard and Calvin Wilson progressing to the finals.

The highlight of the 50m freestyle was Aurinija Mauliskaite recording a huge PB and securing her first Midland Qualifying Time. Willis, Cookson, Briggs, Saines, Mauliskaite and Cheryl Wilson all progressing to the finals. Calvin Wilson and Blanchard both recorded PBs in the 200m Backstroke and picked up the Silver medals in their age groups. It was also Silver in the 100m Breaststroke final and a MQT for Blanchard. Mauliskaite took bronze and Cheryl Wilson the Silver in their 50m Freestyle finals.

In the afternoon it was the reverse events with PBs for the boys in the 200m IM, Cookson, Samantha Millington, Lucy Houghton, Rebecca Mckenzie and Serena Leadbeater all progressing to the finals of the 100m Breaststroke. The boys 50m Freestyle saw PBs for O'Reilly, Ryan Horrocks, Calvi Wilson and William Swain with only Swain progressing to the final.

In the 200m Backstroke, Willis was the highlight swim breaking the club record and taking the gold medal in the 11 years age group. Swain finished the 50m freestyle final in 7th place, slightly slower than his heat time. The girls Breaststroke finals, saw Cookson progress her time from the heat and giving the quote of the day "doing what you told me really works" to head coach Lawson.

Sunday saw the next batch of events with Briggs breaking the club record and the Bronze medal for 200m Butterfly with Saines achieving her MQT in the same event. There were big PBs for O'Reilly and Calvin Wilson in the 100m Back with Wilson progressing to the final.

Saines, Cookson and Cheryl Wilson all progressed to the 50m Butterfly Finals. In the men’s 50m Breaststroke there were more PBs for Blanchard, Wakefield, O'Reilly, Horrocks, Wilson and Swain, with Blanchard progressing to the finals after securing their MQTs.

The 100m Freestyle saw the younger girls record yet more PBs and Willis, Mauliskaite, Cookson and Mckenzie all progressing through to the finals, with Willis taking Silver and Mauliskaite taking Bronze.

Calvin Wilson improved his backstroke time again in the final and secured the Silver Medal. His older sister Cheryl claimed victory in the 50m butterfly and the championship trophy. In the mens Breaststroke final, Blanchard swam to 5th place. In the final session of the weekend, Atticus Strickland secured his MQT in the 200m butterfly with the silver medal, Blanchard also took silver with Horrocks finishing 4th in their respective age groups.

In the womens 100m backstroke the girls recorded many more PBs with Emma Croker, Willis, Saines, Georgia Roberts, Leadbeater and Wilson all progressing to the finals. With Willis taking Silver and Wilson again in fine form taking the Championship title.

In the mens 50m Butterfly Matthew O'Reilly, Strickland, Blanchard, Colin O'Reilly and Calvin Wilson all recorded great times with both O'Reilly boys narrowly missing their MQTs by 0.2seconds, The younger Matthew however, had another chance as he and Blanchard progressed to the finals where Matthew did improve again and secure that elusive MQT. Blanchard swam to a creditable 5th place improving his heat time.

In the womens 50m breaststroke Mauliskaite, Houghton, Leadbeater and Mckenzie all progressed to the finals with Leadbeater securing her MQT and Houghton missing her mark by 0.2seconds. There was no medals collected in this event.

The mens 100m Freestyle saw Strickland just miss his PB, with Blanchard, Swain and Colin O'Reilly all recording PBs. O'Reilly got under the magical 1 minute barrier with an impressive 58.70 and Blanchard and Swain both progressing to the finals. Blanchard finishing 5th and Swain recording an impressive 53.90 to take 3rd place and secure a time that ranks 26th in Great Britain.

All told it was an excellent weekends racing with PBs, MQTs, Club Records and many medals all collected in the process.