The club had 10 swimmers qualify for the National Championships in the 10 lane 50 metre pool in Sheffield which took place at the end of July and the beginning of August. The first week started with the Age Groups.
13 year old Jack Scott got the Southport Swimming Club off to a good start by winning a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly, later in the week he was placed 5th in the 100m butterfly. He also made the finals on the 200m individual medley and swam well doing personal best times in his other events, 200 front crawl, 400m front crawl and 400m individual medley.
Stephen Taylor, fourteen years, qualified on three events 100, 200 front crawl and 100m butterfly. In the 100 front crawl he did a personal best and narrowly missed the final.
Sam Delmonte eleven years, experiencing his first nationals came across some outstanding competition but made the final in his two events the 100 and 200m backstroke gaining 8th place in both.
Moving to the girl age groupers
Lauren Cheston eleven years, had an outstanding championships winning a silver medal in the 200m front crawl and bronze in the 400m front crawl. She came in the top six in all the other below events 100m and 200m breaststroke, 100m front crawl and 200m Individual Medley. All these fantastic results placed her in 2nd position for the top overall 11yr girl swimmer in Britain.
Charlotte Disley eleven swam out of her skin making all but one of her finals in the 100m backstroke, 100 and 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley, again only narrowly missing the 200m backstroke final.
All these fantastic results firmly placed Southport Swimming Club on the national swimming map with the girl’s results placing them in the top ten overall clubs and the town having two swimmers in one final was fantastic.
The success continued into the second week with the Youth Championships with Liz Simpkin, thirteen, winning her first national title and smashing the European record on the way, in the women’s multi disability 100m butterfly. Taking the title and European record off one of her nearest rivals in one of the most exciting races of the 10 day competition. Liz also made finals in the 100m backstroke and front crawl and 200m individual medley again doing personal best times in most.
Laura Halsall, fourteen, swam magnificently in both the front crawl sprint events, the 50m and 100m. In the 100m she came sixth but in the 50m her favourite event, she improved her time from the heats into the semis and then in the final, winning a silver medal in a fantastic time of 27.33. She also swam well in her other events of 100m butterfly and breaststroke 200m front crawl and medley and 400m front crawl.
Laura Hyland fourteen, competed in the 100 and 200m breaststroke and swam well considering the misfortune of having an ear infection just prior to the championships. She narrowly missed out on a semi final spot in the 100m breaststroke just short of her personal best.
Zoe Patrickson (14yrs) competing in her first Nationals in the distance 800 and 1500m front crawl events. She knocked 8secs of her 1500m personal best time placing her in the top 15 for her age in the country and in doing so did the 15yr qualifying time along the way.
As Liz now prepares for Beijing her medal prospects in the Paralympics have increased with these performances ranking her 3rd in the world in the 100m butterfly. She fly’s out on the 23rd August to a holding camp for one week before the Paralympics Games commence in September. Liz not being the only swimmer selected for her country, Laura Halsall takes part in the GB games for England later this month and due to their results in the National Championships it is expected both Jack Scott and Lauren Cheston will be placed on the British youth talent programmes for the next twelve months. Some outstanding results by the young dedicated swimmers who train in the water up to eight times a week with each session lasting between one and half and two hours covering between three and four miles in the water each session, before and after school, along with three land sessions per week.