Sprints

Katie Townsend and Jo Sanders both produced some superb swims to lift the top prize for their age group by winning the best overall swimmer award at the annual Devon sprints. Exeter City swimmer Katie, 9, completed a clean sweep of all four events in her age group with wins on the 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle. Her time in the butterfly set a new county record of 38.02. Jo, 12, picked up gold in the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke, silver in the 50m freestyle and bronze in the 50m backstroke earning enough points to finish well clear at the top of the overall rankings.

 The 11yr trio of Liam White, James Wamsley and James Lee were 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th overall respectively in their age group. Liam won silver on both the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke and was 4^th on the 50m freestyle, James W. was the 50m breaststroke silver medallist, plus won bronze on the freestyle and placed 6^th on the backstroke, and James L. raced to silver on the freestyle, bronze on the butterfly and finished 4^th on the backstroke. In the same age group Liam Colbourne placed 4^th and Lewis Cosway 6^th on the 50m butterfly as the Exeter swimmers captured four of the top six places in the event, and Cameron Bedford placed 5^th on the 50m backstroke as the Exeter boys once again filled four of the top six spots.

 George Doggett, 12, put together an excellent set of races winning two individual events to take gold on the butterfly and backstroke events and added two silvers with his swims on the breaststroke and freestyle, but was just edged out in the race for the overall points top award.

 10yr old Lydia Fairman enjoyed her first real taste of competitive swimming coming 4^th overall in her age group on the back of a bronze medal finish in the butterfly and a 4^th place finish on the freestyle. Finishing just outside the top 6 overall awards in 7^th for the 10yr olds was Mia Corcoran who raced to 4^th in the butterfly and 6^th on the backstroke.

 Aliyah Webb, 9, continued to shine at her first Devon championships picking up 4^th place overall and being just 6 points behind third place with 800pts to 806pts. A strong swim in the 50m butterfly was good enough for the bronze and she followed up with a 4^th place on the 50m freestyle.

Relays

Exeter City played second fiddle to a strong Plymouth Leander team effort at the 2010 Devon relay championships. Although pushed closely in a few events the national champion Plymouth team proved too strong for the city team.

 There was a bright start for Exeter as the 9/10yr team of Robyn Chard-Maple, Lydia Fairman, Katie Townsend and Amy Linnington stormed to victory in the 200m medley relay, and then Robyn, Katie & Amy were joined by Mia Corcoran to seal a gold double for the age group with a tight win over Newton Abbott in the freestyle relay.

 The 11/12yr girls team of Tina Song-Ashdown, Jo Sanders, Adele Shire and Vikki Bishop were chasing down the Plymouth team at the end of the 200m medley team, but fell short to take the silver, and Georgia Cotterill replaced Adele to swim the freestyle team and once again they finished 2^nd. The 11/12yr boys matched the girls on both scores with Freddie Fearnley, James Wamsley, Joe Crispin and Ed Jackson pushing Plymouth more closely on the 200m medley relay, and then even closer on the freestyle relay with George Doggett replacing James.

 The trend continued into the 13/14 age group with the quartet of Jess Twose, Amy Cole, Sammy Gray and Jess Jenkins collecting silver in both the medley and freestyle relays, and the boys team of Tom Wadeley-Jones, Elliott Randall, Brad Pearce and George Roberts faired the same as they were well clear of third place but behind the winning Plymouth team in both events.

 Four more silver medals were won in the 15/16 age group with the girls team of Connie Fearnley, Becca Hitt, Harriet Stevens and Maria Griss and the boys team of Sam Collett, Liam Spruce, Oli Lee and Sam Jackson all finishing second to pick up the silver in each of their medley and freestyle races.

The open women’s 400m medley team of Jess Twose, Amy Cole, Ailish Williams and Connie Fearnley made it a two horse race staying close to Plymouth all the way, but were to still only win the silver, and then the same four swimmers also swam to second place in the 400m freestyle relay. The open men of Tom Wadeley-Jones, Liam Spruce, Oli Lee and Sam Jackson were a clear second in the 400m medley relay, but were pushed into the bronze medal position in the 400m freestyle relay.

 Exeter coach Jon Randall was pleased with the teams efforts, but highlighted a number of areas to improve on ‘it was good to see our 9/10 girls get the bit between their teeth and take both titles today. Plymouth are the national champions so provide us with as good a race as we could hope for and they had the majority of their top swimmers there. Racing against quality relay teams that they can put together is always going to be tough, but we did make things more difficult for ourselves. We were dominated on the underwater phase off the dive and off the turns by many Plymouth swimmers, and we gave them an edge on us by simply not being as disciplined. Breathing first stroke off a turn is like handing a race to the competition.

Round 4

Exeter City Swimming Club closed out the 2010 Devon championships with their best performance yet in capturing 3 senior and 3 junior championships, a total of 12 championship medals, 7 age group titles, 29 age group medals and a total of 59 top 6 age group places.

Jess Twose, 14, broke the junior record for the 50m freestyle with a time of 27.84 in winning the senior and junior championship titles, and added silver in the 50m butterfly with a time of 29.97.

Warren Barrett, 22, stormed to gold in the men’s championship 50m butterfly event with a time of 26.41, but narrowly missed taking the 50m freestyle title by 0.08 sec with a time of 25.31 and had to settle for the bronze.

Liam Spruce, 16, added the 200m individual medley championship to the 400m he won earlier with a time of 2.15.54, and went on to pick up an age group silver in the 50m freestyle and a 5^th place finish in the 200m freestyle.

17yr old Ailish Williams broke the record for the 200m butterfly with a super time of 2.24.30, but had to settle for 2^nd place in the championship. She also set a pb in winning the 16+ 200m freestyle.

George Fearnley, 14, swam a light schedule with his international schools appearance only two weeks away and in his one event posted an excellent pb of 2.17.64 to capture the junior title and finish as 3^rd overall in the championship.

Connie Fearnley, 16, added three more championship finals taking her 2010 tally to nine with a silver place finish in the 50m freestyle with a time of 28.07 and 4^th place finishes in both the 50m butterfly (30.45) and 200m freestyle (2.10.21) All her times were pb’s.

After winning her first Devon championship medal in the 100m breaststroke Amy Cole, 14, added another bronze with a time of 36.41 in the 50m, and followed that up with podium finishes in both the 50m butterfly and 200m IM taking bronze each time.

Oli Lee, 16, produced a superb swim in the championship final of the 50m butterfly to finish 4^th with a time of 27.94, and he also swam to 3^rd in the 100m backstroke age group event and to 6^th in the 200m freestyle.

Sally Whybra, 16, posted a time of 2.29.56 in the championship final of the 200m butterfly to finish 5^th, and then narrowly lost the age group 200m IM to take the silver. Becca Hitt, 16, swam to 6^th in the championship final of the 50m breaststroke with a time of 37.57, and also placed 5^th in the 16+ 200m IM and 6^th in the 200m freestyle.

15yr old Ryan Rogers has established himself as a quality competitor at this years championships and added the 100m backstroke junior title to the 50m and 200m he won earlier in the year. Ryan also won three age group titles during the weekend – the 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m backstroke.

Sam Jackson, 15, stayed on course to record a pb in every event at the 2010 Devon’s with a fine victory in the 200m IM. Sam had a great tussle throughout the 200m freestyle final just losing out on the touch to take the silver, and he also placed 5^th in the 100m backstroke.

14yr old Tom Wadeley-Jones continued to post pb’s in almost every swim. He swam to victory and gold in the 100m backstroke, took bronze in both the 200m IM and 200m freestyle and 6^th place in the 50m freestyle

 Sammy Gray, 13, controlled the pace throughout the final of the 200m butterfly to take down her first ever Devon age group title, and also added a 4^th place finish in the 200m freestyle.

Katy Townsend, 9, has shown her super competitive streak in all of her events in her first set of Devon championships and did so again this weekend with second place finishes in the 200m freestyle and 200m IM, both in big pb times.

 Maria Graney, 18, collected a brace of silver in the 16+ 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle events. 10yr old Robyn Chard-Maple had a productive weekend with a medal performance swim in every event that she swam - silver in the 200m butterfly was followed by a bronze in both the 200m freestyle and 200m IM. 11yr old Tina Song-Ashdown added to her tally for the year with silver in the 200m butterfly, bronze in the 200m IM and 5^th place in the 200m freestyle. Right with Tina in each of the finals was Georgia Cotterill, 11, who put in a strong swim to take the silver in the 200m freestyle, and then followed it up with 4^th in the 200m IM and 5^th in the 200m butterfly.

Elliott Randall, 12, posted a pb in every event on his way to 2^nd place in the 200m IM, and 4^th place finishes in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle. Sam Collett, 15, took 3^rd in both the 100m backstroke and 200m IM finals, and also swam to 4^th in the 50m freestyle and 5^th in the 200m freestyle. Aliyah Webb, 9, continues to impress with her racing tenacity and swam a superb 200m butterfly to pick up the bronze and narrowly missed out on another medal with a very strong 4^th place finish in the 200m IM.

Swimmers making finals were Amy Linnington, 10, 6^th in the 200m IM, Joe Board, 10, 6^th in the 200m IM, Freddie Fearnley, 11, 6^th in both the 200m Freestyle and 200m IM, Vikki Bishop, 12, 4^th in the 200m freestyle, Adele Shire, 12, 5^th in the 200m IM, Jade Webb, 12, 6^th in the 200m freestyle, Dan Goodchild, 13, 5^th in the 100m backstroke and 200m IM and 6^th in the 200m freestyle, George Roberts, 14, 4^th in both the 100m backstroke and 200m IM, and Brad Pearce, 14, 4^th in the 200m freestyle and 5^th in the 100m backstroke.

Round 3

Jess Twose and Liam Spruce both clinched a Devon championship title as the 2010 swimming championships continued at Plymouth. Jess broke the Devon 14yr old record for the 50m backstroke with a pb time of 29.64 to take the senior and junior titles. Liam, 16, led all the way in the 400m individual medley to take down his first Devon senior title with a time of 4:48.51. Jess added a championship bronze in the 100m freestyle in a time 60.32, and Liam posted a time of 60.57 to finish 5^th in the 100m butterfly.

Ryan Rogers, 15, added the 50m backstroke junior championship title to the 200m he has already won this year with a time of 29.75, and that also took down the age group gold. Ryan picked up another age group gold with a dominating swim in the 100m freestyle.

Over the course of the two days in this block of competition the swimmers of Exeter City Swimming Club amassed a total of 4 Devon championships, 8 championship medals, 15 championship final places, 7 age group titles, 20 age group medals and 47 top 6 age group places. The vast majority of swims have been in personal best times, and at a time in the season when the swimmers are tired from training.

Connie Fearnley, 16, once again performed with distinction throughout a tough weekend schedule. A bronze in the championship 50m backstroke with a time of 31.34 was followed up with championship places of 4^th in the 400m freestyle (4:35.77), 4^th in the 400m IM (5:17.81) and 5^th in the 100m freestyle (60.62).

14yr old Amy Cole clinched her first senior championship medal with a bronze in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:18.65, and also swam to 4^th in both the age group 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle and to 6^th in the 400m IM.

Exeter University student Warren Barrett was swimming in his first event of the 2010 Devon’s and almost captured the senior tile missing out by a mere 0.08 of a second in taking the bronze.

George Fearnley, 14, continues to make waves in the senior championships at such a young age recording a 4^th place finish in the 100m freestyle with a time of 55.41, having set an age group record in the heats with a time of 55.11. A pb of 60.95 in the 100m butterfly was good enough for a 6^th place spot in the championship final, and further pb’s in the 50m backstroke and 400m freestyle were good enough age group gold and silver.

Sally Whybra, 16, made championship finals in the 400m IM and 400m freestyle finishing 5^th and 6^th respectively with times of 5:18.94 and 4:41.04. She was also the silver medal winner in the 16+ 100m freestyle.

Sam Jackson, 15, set a pb of 5:02.70 in the 400m IM to take 6^th in the senior championship, and also collected a brace of gold in winning the age group 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle, plus a bronze in the 100m freestyle. Maria Graney made her first championship final of the year in the 50m backstroke and finished 6^th with a time of 32.13.

17yr old Ailish Williams continued her recent run of good form with wins in the 16+ age group 100m & 400m freestyle events. She was closely followed in on the 400m freestyle by Vicky Sincock, 18, who won the silver. Tom Wadeley-Jones raced to 2^nd in the 14yr 50m backstroke, 4^th in the 100m freestyle and 6^th in the 400m freestyle. 12yr old Adele Shire picked up her first medal of the year in the form of a silver in the 400m IM, and also finished 5^th in the 400m freestyle and 6^th in the 100m breaststroke.

Georgia Cotterill put in a superb race in the 11yr 100m freestyle to finish 2^nd, and also placed 4^th in the 400m freestyle.

Robyn Chard-Maple, 10, recorded a pb in the heats of the 400m freestyle and then took a further 10 secs off her time to win the silver, and Vikki Bishop, 12, also recorded a pb in the 100m freestyle to win the silver in her age group. 12yr old Elliott Randall, 12, collected a race of bronze with 3^rd place finishes in the 100m & 400m freestyle races. Becca Hitt, 16, raced to 3^rd in the 16+ 100m breaststroke and to 4^th in the 50m backstroke, and Rebecca Jenkinson secured bronze in the 16+ 50m backstroke and finished 5^th in the 100m breaststroke.

 Exeter showed that the depth of the club is expanding with a whole host of swimmers making finals. Jade Webb, 12, was 4^th in the 400m freestyle, Ed Jackson, 12, 4^th in the 100m freestyle, Joe Crispin, 12, 4^th in the 100m butterfly, Dan Goodchild, 13, 4^th in both the 100m & 400m freestyle, Sammy Gray, 13, 4^th in the 400m freestyle and 5^th in the 100m freestyle, Chloe Hartland, 13, 5^th in the 400m freestyle, Sammy Basham, 13, 5^th in the 100m breaststroke, Brad Pearce, 14, 5^th in both the 400m IM and 400m freestyle, Sam Collett, 15, 4^th in both the 50m backstroke and 100m butterfly and 5^th in the 100m freestyle, and Oli Lee, 16, was 4^th in the 100m butterfly and 5^th in the 100m freestyle.

Round 2

The Devon County 2010 Swimming Championships continued with a weekend of racing at Tiverton and the swimmers from Exeter City figured in events across the board. Exeter’s tally from the two days of competition totalled two senior championships, two junior championships, a total of 12 championship medals and a further 6 championship places, 6 age group winners, 14 other age group medal winners and 13 other finalists. The majority of swims over the weekend were personal best times from the City team members. 

Leading the way with her first ever Devon Championship title was Ailish Williams, 18, who dominated the 800m freestyle from the start winning in a time of 9:25.95, and she followed that up with a pb of 1:07.25 in the 100m butterfly being narrowly beaten into 2^nd place.

 14yr old Jess Twose and Connie Fearnley, 16, had a ding dong battle throughout the 200m backstroke championship final with Jess touching first to claim the senior & junior title with a time of 2:20.90 and Connie picked up the silver with a time of 2:23.47. Both girls also made the championship final of the 100m IM and this time it was Connie who finished the higher with a 3^rd place finish in a time of 1:09.11 to Jess’s 4^th placed time of 1:09.62. Connie added the 16+ age group 100m butterfly title to her achievements during the weekend.

 An even closer battle took place for the junior title in the final of the men’s 200m backstroke championship with Ryan Rogers, 15, and Tom Wadeley-Jones, 14, swimming in lanes next to each other. Ryan showed the early speed to take the lead, but Tom’s consistency drew him level as the two entered the last 50m, although ultimately it was Ryan’s power in the last few metres that got him to the wall first to win the junior title in a time of 2:18.03 to Tom’s 2:18.62. These swims were good enough for 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively in the senior championship.

14yr old Brad Pearce was an outside seed in the last heat of the 1500m freestyle, but set off with a quick controlled pace and quickly established himself as the second placed swimmer. Holding consistent stroking and splits Brad posted a huge 40 sec pb to record a time of 18:03.01 and collect the senior championship silver medal. Brad completed an excellent weekend with more pb’s in finishing 5^th in the age group 200m backstroke and 6^th in the 200m breaststroke. 

Sally Whybra, 16, collected her first championship medal this year with a 3^rd place finish in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:08.16, and added a 4^th place finish in the 200m backstroke to that in a time of 2:26.92.

Liam Spruce, 16, was the only Exeter swimmer to make three championship finals from three swims. He collected a bronze in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:09.72, and 5^th place finishes in both the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke events with times of 2:28.78 and 2:20.61. Amy Cole, 14, posted a time of 1:11.19 in the final of the championship 100m IM to finish 6^th, and Vickie Sincock, 18, recorded 9:56.87 to finish 6^th in the championship 800m freestyle.

The age group finals also produced many excellent swims from the Exeter swimmers. Continuing his all around improvement was George Fearnley, 14, who struck gold twice in the 200m breaststroke and 200m backstroke and added a silver in a closely fought final of the 100m breaststroke.

12yr old Elliott Randall repeated on his success of 2009 with wins in both the 100m & 200m breaststroke events, and also added a 4^th place in the 200m backstroke. Harriet Stevens showed her competitive streak is alive and well with a super win in the 16+ 100m IM. 

13yr old Sammy Gray had a productive weekend with a silver medal winning swim in the 100m butterfly and a bronze in the 800m freestyle. Becca Hitt also collected a brace of medals in the 16+ age group with a silver in the 200m backstroke and a bronze in the 100m IM.

Katy Townsend, 9, swam a superb race in the final of the 100m IM narrowly missing the gold, and she was followed in by just turned 9yrs Aliyah Webb whose bronze medal was her first at Devon’s. Aliyah also placed 6^th in the 200m backstroke. 

Sam Jackson, 15, was quickest seed for the final of the 200m backstroke and had a closely fought battle all the way to just be pipped for the gold. 11yr old Tina Song-Ashdown had a busy weekend and came away with bronze in the 100m IM and 200m backstroke, and 5^th place in both the 800m freestyle and 100m butterfly. 

Adele Shire, 12, swam a very good 100m butterfly final to finish 3^rd and also finished 6^th in the 100m IM and 200m backstroke. Vikki Bishop, 12, collected bronze in the 100m IM,  and 15yr old Sam Collett also picked up a bronze in his 200m backstroke.

Robyn Chard-Maple, 10, Rhiannon Loveman, 11, Jade Webb, 12, Dan Goodchild, 13, and George Roberts, 14, all made age group finals.

Round 1

The first day of the 2010 Devon Championships was filled with success for the swimmers of Exeter City Swimming Club. Together they amassed one senior and two junior championships, five age group titles and 11 age group medals.

Jess Twose, 14, improved on her pb twice in one day as she dominated the women’s 100m backstroke being the quickest from the heats and then leading the final from the start to finish first in a time of 1:04.24 and taking down the senior and junior county titles. Her time was a new junior and 14yr age group county record.

George Fearnley, 14, stunned some of the senior men in the county with a 3^rd place finish in the 100m IM with a time of 1:03.81, and in the process captured his first Devon junior title. George added a silver to his tally in the 14yr 200m butterfly and a bronze in the 14yr 50m breaststroke.

16yr old Liam Spruce was the only other swimmer to make a championship final finishing 4^th in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:15.99.

Rapidly improving Amy Cole, 14, produced a dominant display in the 200m breaststroke to take her first ever Devon title with a pb time of 2:48.35, and also picked up a bronze in the 100m backstroke with a 3sec pb.

Ryan Rogers, 15, just missed out on making the championship final for the 100m IM, but recorded a pb of 1:04.31 in the age group final to win a closely fought race. Ryan also added a 2^nd place silver to his days achievements in the 50m breaststroke.

Connie Fearnley, 16, continues to go from strength to strength in everything she races and produced a superb swim in the 100m backstroke to take the age group title in a super fast 1:05.90. 

Oli Lee took the lead at the start of the 16yr 200m butterfly final and increased it throughout to win his first Devon title with a pb time of 2:20.82.

Becca Hitt, 16, qualified for the age group final of the 200m breaststroke in first place and went on to win the event and take the title in a time of 2:55.83. Becca also finished 5^th in the 100m backstroke.

 Tina Song-Ashdown, 11, recorded pb times in finishing 2^nd in the 200m breaststroke and 3^rd in the 100m backstroke age group events. Sally Whybra, 16, also collected two medals with a silver in the 100m backstroke and a bronze in the 200m breaststroke. 12yr old Joe Crispin dropped a huge 11 sec from his pb to win the silver medal in the 200m butterfly, and also made the final of the 100m Im finishing 5^th. Elliott Randall, 12, contested a closely fought final in the 100m IM, but settled for the silver despite recording a 4 sec pb.

Several other swimmers made finals – Georgia Cotterill, 11, 4^th in the 100m backstroke, Brad Pearce, 14, 4^th in the 200m butterfly, Sam Jackson, 15, 4^th in the 100m IM, Vikky Bishop, 12, 5^th in the 100m backstroke, Sammy Basham, 13, 5^th in the 200m breaststroke, Tom Wadeley-Jones, 14, 5^th in the 100m IM, Sam Collett, 15, 5^th in the 100m IM, Amy Linnington, 10, 6^th in the 200m breaststroke, Lauren Murphy, 11, 6^th in the 200m breaststroke, and George Roberts, 14, 6^th in the 50m breaststroke.

Links

Devon County ASA

ASA SouthWest

British Swimming