Long Eaton
travelled to Braunstone on Saturday to take part in the first round of the
Leicester League. Many of the swimmers had represented the club in Division 3
of the Arena League before Christmas ,but found that the competition in this
Division One to be a lot stronger, and consequently found it a lot tougher racing against such
strong opponents.
On the night
there were only two swimmers who won their individual races. Eden Michell
powered home to win the first race of the evening. This was her debut
appearance for the club and Eden showed what a valuable acquisition she is
going to be.
Hannah Cox also
enjoyed similar success in the Open 100m breaststroke. Having opened up an
early lead, Hannah did well to hold off the opposition in a close finish.
Megan Smart
swam strongly to gain second place in both the girls 14/15 breaststroke and
freestyle races. Second places went to two swimmers in the Open Mens age group:
Steve Barrett in the 100m freestyle and Ryan Cendrowski in the 100m fly.
Bradley Evans also gained an impressive second place in the Boys 11/Under 50m
breaststroke.
In the relays
Ryan and Steve were joined by Chris Stray and Daniel Sloan to gain second place
in the Open freestyle relay, whilst Eden and Hannah were joined by Hannah
Dowell and Beth Dennis to take second place in the Open Medley relay.
A special
mention must go to Hannah Dodic, who
came in as a late replacement and swam an impressive leg in both her relays on
what was her first gala for the club.
Although at the
end of the evening Long Eaton found
themselves in 6th place when the final results were announced there
were a number of positive points the swimmers can take from this gala. There was certainly a big improvement in the
first phase of most races, with swimmers reacting quickly off the blocks and
being competitive on the initial underwater phase and into their stroke. Particularly pleasing was the team spirit and determination
showed by all swimmers in the face of such strong opponents .
Finally Bob and
Kaye would like to thank the team managers and officials for all their hard work, and thank parents
for their support.
Gala Results.
Braunstone A: 260 Melton A:188
Hinckley A : 175 CoalvilleA:
161 Loughborough A:148 Long Eaton 131
Bob.
