Records Tumble At Second Weekend Of Shropshire County Swimming Championships
Ellesmere College Titans swimmers plundered Gold and smashed records at the second weekend of this year’s Shropshire County Swimming Championships which took place on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th March at the Market Drayton Swimming Centre.
Following up on our success at the first weekend of competition we added a further 9 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze medals. This brought our total medal haul after the first two weekends of competition to an impressive 17 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze.
Once again swimming against the very best swimmers from all over the County, Titan swimmers captured two all time Shropshire County Championship records, recorded 47 personal best times and smashed 23 all time Ellesmere College Titan club records.
9 year old swimming sensation Jessica Thomas (above) followed up her success at the first weekend of competition by winning 3 more gold medals in the 400m Freestyle (6:09.88), the 200m Backstroke (3:17.41) and the 200m IM (3:27.44). This brings her medal tally after two weekends of competition to a magnificent 4 gold and 1 silver from just 5 events.
Weekend Double Whammy
Alfie Pardoe (right) made it a “weekend double whammy” by smashing two County records. In the 200m Backstroke he broke the previous County Championship record in a time of 2:40.15, a record which had been held since 2003 by George Lester of Market Drayton Swimming Club. He then went on to capture the 400m Individual Medley (IM) County record in a time of 5:48.67. In addition Alfie won the gold medal in the 400m Freestyle and silver medal in the 200m Freestyle. This brings his medal haul so far in the Championships to a dominant 7 golds and 2 silvers from 9 events.
Hannah Greene, aged 12, won further gold medals in the 100m and 400m Freestyle events, as well as bronze medals in the 200m Backstroke and 200m IM. In the same 12 year old age category Annie Mellings won the gold medal in the 400m IM and silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke.
15 year old Daniel Howell added to his medal collection by winning the silver in the 400m Freestyle and bronze in the 400m IM, whilst David Main, aged 16, won silver medals in the 100m Butterfly, and the 100m and 200m Freestyle events.
Elliot Hughes, aged 12, won silver medals in the 100m butterfly and the 100m and 200m Freestyle events.
Jamie Thomas (left), aged 11 took the silver in the 400m IM and bronze medals in the 400m and 200m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke events.
Helena Kocourkova won the Open Ladies 100m butterfly silver medal.
Other Titans in Action
Other Titan swimmers in action over the weekend included Annie Jones (aged 13), Natalie Greene (aged 10), Ottilie Fairhurst (aged 11), Courtney Pickstone (aged 16), Kate Parry (aged 13), and Lauren Bond (aged 11).
Titan head coach Jon Pardoe commented “I am very proud of both our individual and collective achievements. When I see swimmers like 9 year old Jessica Thomas dominating her age group I know that we really are developing something very special for ambitious and talented young swimmers in the region”.