Worksop Dolphons Open Meet
On Saturday 4th of September a number of swimmers from Metro competed in the Worksop Dolphins Swimming Club - 26th Dukeries Open Meet which was held at Ponds Forge. This was the first time that Rotherham had participated in this meet and what a spectacular debut they made by winning the top club by a massive margin and followed this up with six top age group performance’s plus the two skins champions.
The competition was held over a morning and afternoon session and also comprised of age group relay teams in the freestyle and IM with everyone who finished in the top six receiving a medal. The very first medals won in the morning session were a bronze by Connor Neal and sixth place by Robert Kirk in the 10/11 year-old 100M Breaststroke. In the 14 year-old and over 18 year-old Dale Waterhouse who was competing in his last gala before going to Cambridge University completely dominated the event taking gold with 17 year-old Daniel McLean taking 4th place followed by 14 year-old Matthew Sotheran taking six position. In the next event the girls 100M Breaststroke 11 year-old Alice Aucott won a Silver medal in the 10/11 age group with Nicole Clarke gaining a bronze in the 12/13 year-old category and also in her last gala before university Francis McGrother 18 taking the Bronze medal with 14 year-old Emily Shone taking 4th place in the 14 and over age group. In the boys 50M Fly 9 year age group Jack Whitehurst secured his first medal of the meet with a 5th place and this was followed in the 11/12 age group with Robert Kirk taking a bronze medal and Connor Neal gaining 6th position. In the 13/14 age group 14 year-old Matthew Sotheran powered to the gold with 13 year-old George Russell claiming 6th place and in the 15 and over category Dale Waterhouse gained a Bronze just ahead of his brother Aaron who gained 4th position with Daniel McLean coming home in 6th place in an extremely fast race. In the girls 50m Fly 9 year-old Kayley Britten gained 6th position with 11 year-old Holly Sotheran swimming to 4th place in the 11/12 year age group. In the 13/14-age category 14 year-old Kelsey Longden was victorious in a very close race taking the Gold medal with 13 year-old Jessica Bushby taking 5th and 14 year-old Emily Shone coming home in 6th position. In the 15 year and over age group 16 year-old Charlotte Pearson completely dominated proceedings from start to finish to take Gold by over 3 seconds.
In the boys 100M Freestyle 11 year-old Robert Kirk took the Bronze medal in the 10/11 age group with George Russell taking 5th position in the 12/13 year age group. In the hotly contested 14 year and over age group there were 3 Metro swimmers in the top six with Dale Waterhouse leading the way taking the Gold followed by Daniel McLean taking the Bronze and Aaron Waterhouse taking 4th place. Not to be outdone in the girls 100M freestyle 11 year-olds age group Holly Sotheran produced an outstanding performance to take Gold with Alice Aucott taking the Silver and Rebecca Finnie coming home in 4th position. This was also followed with 3 more top six finishes in the 12/13 age group with Nicole Clarke taking Gold, Bethany Woodcock 4th and Jessica Bushby finishing in 6th position. In the 14 and above age group Kelsey Longden took 6th position however it was déjà vu as Charlotte Pearson completely out swam everyone to take the Gold by another considerable margin.
Onto the penultimate race’s of the morning session the 50M Backstroke, the first medal winner was once again 9 year-old Jack Whitehirst taking 4th position followed by Josh Hillman taking 5th in the 11/12 age group with Matthew Sotheran taking another Gold in the 13/14 age category and yet again 3 medal winners in the 15 and above age group with Daniel McLean taking Silver, Adam Parkes taking Bronze and Aaron Waterhouse finishing in 5th position. Onto the girls event and 10 year-old Rebecca Durn came home in 6th position, in the 13/14 age group Emily Shone came home to take Gold followed by Kelsey Longden who took Silver.
Now to the exiting bit of the morning session the relays, in the girls 10 year-old 200M Freestyle Metro claimed Gold, followed by Silver’s for the boys and girls 12 years and under Medley teams and the 14 year and under boys 200M freestyle team. In the Girls 14 and under 200M freestyle event Rotherham entered two team’s, with pride at stake the A team secured Gold in a gripping race with the B team just being pushed out into the Bronze position.
A total of 51 medals were won in the morning and the task was to continue the good form to try and achieve a mind blowing 100 for the meet, could this be done, lets find out.
In event one of the afternoon session it was the 100M Fly it was the same two 11 year-olds battling out their personal duel with Connor Neal taking Silver and Robert Kirk taking the Bronze medal. In the 12/13 age group George Russell went even better than in the morning session by taking the Silver medal, in the 14 and over age group 16 year-old Aaron Waterhouse won the Silver medal with 17 year-old Daniel McLean taking the Bronze medal and 14 year–old Matthew Sotheran gaining 6th position. In the girls 100M Fly 10/11 event once again there were 3 medal winners with Holly Sotheran yet again claiming the Gold and Alice Aucott taking Silver with Rebecca Finnie gaining 5th position. In the 12/13 age group section Jessica Bushby took the Bronze medal with Bethany Woodcock coming home in 4th place and in the 14 year and above age group Charlotte Pearson once again took the Gold medal with Kelsey Longden winning Silver and Emily Shone finishing in 4th position. The 50M freestyle was the next event and in the 9 year-old boys event Jack Whitehurst claimed a well earned Bronze medal, in the 13/14 year age group Matthew Sotheran stormed home to take the Gold and Dale Waterhouse repeated the feat in the 15 and above age group with Daniel McLean also coming home in 4th position. To the girls’ 11/12 age group event and Holly Sotheran claimed 4th place with Alice Aucott taking 6th position, in the 13/14 age group Kelsey Longden claimed a Bronze Medal with Kimberley Bush finishing 4th and Bethany Woodcock taking 6th position. Charlotte Pearson then went on to keep up her 100% record with Gold in the 15 and over age group. In the 100M Backstroke boys event it was once again a Connor Neal taking a bronze medal and Robert Kirk coming home 5th in the 10/11-age category. In the 14 and over age group the first five places all went to Rotherham Metro with Dale Waterhouse winning Gold, Daniel McLean winning Silver, Adam Parkes winning Bronze and Matthew Sotheran taking 4th with Josh Whitehurst coming home 5th. Hannah Dannatt swam a very controlled race to take Gold in the girls 10/11 age group with Holly Sotheran coming 4th. Shannon Eades claimed 5th position in the 12/13 age group and Emily Shone took the silver medal in the 14 and over age group. To the final individual event of the of the day the 50M Breaststroke and yet again in the boys 9 year age group Jack Whitehirst claimed a Bronze medal, in the 13/14 age group Matthew Sotheran won a Bronze medal and in the 15 and over age group Dale Waterhouse once again produced a master class in swimming to take the gold with Daniel McLean hot on his heels claiming silver and Aaron Waterhouse finishing in 6th position. A new name winning a medal for Metro in the girls’ 9-year category was Ellisia Dawson who came home in 6th position and in the 11/12 age group Alice Aucott claimed 4th position. Emily Shone claimed Silver in the 13/14 age group with Bethany Woodcock taking 6th and in the 15 year and above race Francis McGrother won the Silver medal.
Once again it was relay time and in the 10 and under girls 200M Medley Metro won the silver and this was followed with silver in the 12 and under boys 200M Freestyle, however the girls 12 and under 200M Freestyle team went one better and secured the Gold medal position. In the boys 14 and under 200M Medley it went down to the wire with Metro snatching the Gold medal in the last 5 metres of an extremely exciting race and much the same happened in the girls 14 and under 200M Medley with the A team taking the Gold and the B team coming home a credible 5th.
Now to the final event of the day the Freestyle Skins, this is where the fastest 10 boys and girls in the 50M Freestyle have to race a 50M Freestyle race with the slowest competitor being eliminated each round which is within a minute of the last until there is only two left. Representing Metro in the boys event were Dale and Aaron Waterhouse along with Daniel McLean and in the girls event it was Charlotte Pearson. In the boys event Aaron went out in round two with Daniel going out in round four however once again Dale won every round going on to take his sixth Gold medal. In the girls event Charlotte matched Dale by winning every round to take her fifth Gold of the meet. Also claiming age group top performance medals were Holly Sotheran, Nicole Clarke, Matthew Sotheran, Emily Shone, Charlotte Pearson and Dale Waterhouse.
Rotherham managed to equal their fantastic feat of the morning session and by sheer coincidence also won another 51 medals in the afternoon session taking their total for the meet to an impressive 102 medals of all colours.
Other Swimmers also competing were: Ben Cliff, Scott Mason, Benjamin Bainbridge, James Shiel, James Newton, Rebecca Bamber, Rebecca Durn, Rebecca Britten, Fiona Connell, Sam Pearson, Hannah Burgess, Megan Lowe and Caitlin Wallis.
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