Exeter Swimmers at United Bristol Meet

Cousins Amelia and Megan Kennedy-Bruyneels represented the club at the United Bristol meet on 22-23 November. They returned to Devon with 17 personal bests, 11 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze between them.  Amelia (9) won 7 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze;  Megan (10) won 4 golds and 4 silvers. Both made Devon QTs, and Megan also achieved two Welsh Consideration Times. Congratulations to both of them on some superb swims!

Full results can be found here.

Club Championships 2014

The club championships, held at the Pyramids on 22 November, brought together swimmers aged 7 to 49. The event was superbly organised by Helen Townsend and her team of volunteers.

Friendly rivalries helped to ensure that copious personal bests were recorded, as well as county qualifying times. For younger swimmers, this was a valuable opportunity to gain racing experience in a supportive environment.

Of the 107 athletes who submitted entries, almost half --- 53 --- took away gold medals. The club's new vice-captain, Liam White, led the way with 13 golds in the 15+ age group, while Lauren Ramsay (10) also made it into double figures with 11 golds of her own. Not far behind on 8 golds came Rebecca Gibbins (13), Charlie Kendall (14) and Aliyah-Mai Webb (14), while Charlotte Emery (11), Tomas Piskac (10) and Luca Riezzo (11) took 7 each. Millie Brunskill (8), Sam Criddle (13) and Kieran Baker (12) ended on 6 apiece.

Five golds went to Jolie Sellek (9), Guy Wilson (11), Rhiannon Loveman (15+) and Olivia Burrow (12). Just behind them on 4 golds came Keely Ware (9), Joseph Day (13), Amy Linnington (15+) and Milly Kendall (11).

Three golds were won by Emily Eveling (12), Olivia Passmore (12), Liam Jordan (10), Jack Sidgwick (14), Katie Townsend (14), Alec White (13), Lucy Ward (12), Tea Jones (13), and Jay Corcoran (12). There were two for Olivia Annunziata (13), Amelia Ashelford (11), Archie Tyers (10), Jessica Courtney (10), Coco Jordan (11), Theo Herbert (8), Grace James (12), Matthew Mycock (8), James McCarthy (11) and Tim Western (13).

Also winning gold were Sam Boothy (10), Troy Dale (11), Jessica James (15+), Georgina Broadhurst (10), Patrick Eveling (7), Logan Burns (11), Matt Ramsay (13), Sarah Downs (14), Finley Norman (10), Aaron MacDonald (11), Emily Raybould (14), Sam Jelley (11), Jo Sanders (15+), Rosie Kendall (9) and Erin Throgmorton (10).

Full results can be found here.

Many congratulations to all our swimmers on some close races and fast times!

Arena League Round 2 at Horfield

Exeter went head-to-head with some of the region's best teams in the second round of Arena League in Bristol on 8 November. Although we were unable to catch Millfield and Cardiff A, swimmers competed strongly throughout, coming in third ahead of Yeovil, Nofio Sir Gar and Cardiff B.

The stand-out performance went to Georgia Cotterill, who won 100m backstroke by a comfortable margin of 2 seconds. There were also fine 2nd place finishes for Charlotte Emery, Luca Riezzo, Tom Downs, James Wamsley, Milly Kendall, Alec White and Emily Eveling. Full results can be found here.

Points totals from the first two rounds place Exeter ninth in the region, just missing the A final. We will be top seeds for the B final, where we will face Weston-super-Mare, Yeovil, Keynsham and Poole on 13 December in Dorchester.

Tiverton Sparkler 2014: Exeter Wins Best Visiting Club!

Alisha, Sarah, Lily and Rebecca with the trophy for Best Visiting Club

In a close-fought contest, Exeter beat Taunton by 2 points to win the trophy for Best Visiting Club at the Tiverton Sparkler on Sunday 2 November. Our swimmers brought home 56 medals, achieving countless personal bests and Devon qualifying times in the process.

The mood was established in 200m fly, the first event of the day, as the girls took two gold medals (Jolie Sellek and Rebecca Gibbins), two silver (Rosie Kendall and Sarah Downs), and a bronze (Honey Drury). There were silvers for Luca Riezzo and Matt Ramsay. Butterfly sprints were just as rewarding: Jolie took silver over 50m, ahead of Amelia Kennedy-Bruyneels with bronze, while Lauren Ramsay won bronze in the next age group. Her brother Matt took gold over 100m, and there were also silvers for Rebecca and Sarah and a bronze for Alisha Singleton.

Fresh from gold medal success in the Exeter Sprints, Rebecca once again dominated her age group, winning in 100m and 200m free and coming 2nd in 200m IM. Matt was another star performer, with further golds in 200m IM and 100m free as well as a silver in 200m free. In addition to her two butterfly medals, Sarah won 200m free, took three silvers (100m free, 100m breast, 200m IM), and claimed bronze in 50m free and 100m back, giving her a grand total of 8 medals. Lily Collins-Board took gold in 200m back and 200m breast, with bronzes for 100m breast and 200m free. Eleanor Brandon just missed double gold in freestyle when she came 1st over 100m and 2nd over 200m.

It was fantastic to see the club's younger swimmers competing so well. Jolie added to her two butterfly medals with bronze in 200m freestyle, a fraction behind Rosie who took silver. Keely Ware secured bronzes in 50m breast and 200m IM, as did Amelia in 50m and 200m back and 200m breast. Lauren took bronze in 200m back and Liam Jordan in 200m breast. In the 11-year-old age groups, Luca claimed silvers in 200m breast and 200m IM, Justine Rannou came second in 100m back, and Annabel Courtney took home bronzes in 100m and 200m breast.

Having been training hard at Crystal Palace during the week, many of the club's older swimmers missed this gala, but there were still medals to be won in the upper age groups. Niamh Gillen struck gold in 100m breast, while Maddie Ross took silvers in 50m free and 100m back, and there were bronzes for Alisha Singleton in 100m and 200m back. Owen Hopwood won silver in 200m back and bronze in 200m free; Adam Edwards and Jessica Curtis took bronze in 200m back; and Abby Gray secured silver in 200m free.

Medals went to Exeter swimmers through all the age categories, and were almost evenly distributed across the strokes. The full set of results can be consulted here.