THERE was a medal rush for Pershore Swimming Club’s youngsters at the final weekend of the Worcestershire County Swimming Championships.
The conclusion of the championships saw more medals, West Midlands Qualifying Times (Regional Qualifying Times) and personal bests achieved by the Pershore squad.
For the girls, Hannah Woodcock (12) continued to shine with a gold medal in the 100m freestyle (1.04.29) and silvers in the 50m breaststroke (37.88), 100m breaststroke (1.22.55), 200m breaststroke (3.01.41), 200m backstroke ( 2.38.23), and 50m butterfly (1.18.14).
Alexandra Barry (13) built on her excellent performance in previous weeks with two gold medals in the 100m freestyle (1.03.88) and 200m individual medley (2.39.14).
She also claimed two silvers in the 50m fly (1.14.14) and 200m backstroke (2.32.31) and bronze in the 100m breaststroke (1.25.75).
Amy Weston (15) took the gold in the 200m backstroke in 2.29.03.
The Pershore boys were not to be outdone and Simon Sweatman (14) took gold in the 200m fly (2.27.40), silvers in the 400m individual medley (4.59.78) and 100m freestyle (58.68) and bronzes in the 200m individual medley (2.23.06), 100m individual medley (1.07.36) and 50m freestyle (27.13).
Team-mate Patrick Heeks (13) dominated in the 200m fly as he took gold (2.36.74) in addition to two silvers in the 400m individual medley (5.32.15) and 100m individual medley (1.13.23) and bronzes in the 400m freestyle (4.52.05), 100m freestyle (1.03.50) and 200m individual medley (2.39.66).
Kieran Cooper (13) won bronze in the 400m individual medley (5.52.32) and Chris Vizard (14) took bronze in the 200m fly (2.31.15) and 50m breaststroke (35.23).
Meanwhile, Jaz Taite (16) is now ranked number one in the county for 100m freestyle and Patrick Heeks is number one for 12/u 200m fly.
Over the three weekends there were a total of 212 personal best times and 72 medals – 12 gold, 38 silver and 22 bronze – for Pershore.
In addition, numerous PSC swimmers made finals. The following PSC swimmers now have Regional Qualifying Times: Hamish Cross, Patrick Heeks, Chris Vizard, Simon Sweatman, Luke Perry, Jasmine Hoskins, Hannah Woodcock, Bella Woodcock, Alex Barry, Naomi Marsden, Jasmine Franks, Amy Weston and Caitlin Yates.
Head coach Tom Naughton said: “It was great to see such a strong team performance with some of the younger swimmers competing at their first counties and so many PSC members making finals and achieving RQTs.”