Five swimmers from HHSC competed in the prestigious ASA East Region Age Group Championships in Norwich over the last two weekends, taking part in a total of twenty-two events. They saw great success with nine finals appearances and two medals.
Max Jelfs, despite moving up an age group shortly before the competition, qualified for the finals of every event in which he competed. His first event, the 10 years’ 100m backstroke, saw him finish in second place in the heats. He went on to better his time in the final to claim the silver medal. Jelfs also won bronze in the 400m freestyle after coming joint third.
Jelfs narrowly missed out on two further medals, finishing fourth in the 200m freestyle and backstroke finals. He also claimed seventh spot in the 200m IM.
His Regional debut claimed him an outstanding fourth position overall in the BAGCAT rankings.
Thushira Kumarage qualified for six 11-year boys’ events and made two finals. He came sixth in his favoured 200m breaststroke and seventh in the 100m event. Kumarage’s highest placing was in the 400m IM in which he claimed a very commendable fifth spot.
The 200m IM saw Kumarage finish ninth, with twelfth and thirteenth placings in the 200m and 100m freestyles respectively. Overall he made an impressive eighth in the BAGCAT standings.
Megan Pirrie made two finals appearances in the 11-year girls’ competition. In the 200m breaststroke she PB’d in the heats to be ranked seventh. Pirrie bettered her time once again in the final to move up to fifth spot. In the 100m breaststroke she finished eighth.
Pirrie also impressed in the 400m IM, in which she PB’d to touch home seventh, giving her a third top ten placing. In the 200m IM she came eleventh, with a sixteenth spot in the 200m freestyle. Her strong swimming across the board saw her finish tenth in the overall BAGCAT rankings.
Ben Garratt performed strongly in his first Regional appearances, narrowly missing out on two finals with a ninth spot in the 11-year boys’ 100m freestyle and eleventh in the 200m event. With these two showings Garratt succeeded in making the top twenty BAGCATs, finishing in seventeenth.
Aimee Abrey qualified for three events. She claimed sixteenth in the 12-year girls’ 200m freestyle and eighteenth in the 100m freestyle. Her 200m backstroke swim ranked her twentieth. Her final BAGCAT position was a very respectable twenty-second out of forty-one.
Well done to all five swimmers for qualifying for these tough championships and performing so well. We hope to see even more qualifiers competing next year.
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