Posted on 19 March 2009
Sprinter James Harrison is the highlight of the day after a record-breaking display earns him a ticket to Prague.
After missing out on qualification in the 50m freestyle earlier in the week, a determined James Harrison set a British Age Group Record of 51.59 in the heats of the 100m freestyle, to qualify in style to swim the 100m freestyle and the 4 x 100m freestyle relay at the European Juniors.
Joining James in Prague will be Hannah Wardle, who clocked a personal best of 2:37.54 in her favourite event, the 200m breaststroke, to qualify in 11th for the semi-finals.
In the semi-final, Hannah then improved her earlier mark by over a second to set a new lifetime best of 2:36.10 qualifying her in 3rd place on the European Junior Squad.
Completing her quest to qualify for European Juniors in all the freestyle events was Emma Graham, as she swam a time of 58.37. Emma was also in action in the finals session, competing in the final of the 800m freestyle where she finished 8th in a time of 8:53.23.
After an up-and-down 2008, Stephen Waterhouse came in to the 1500m freestyle today not knowing what to expect. However, any doubts proved unwarranted as he managed a 10 second improvement on his personal best to clock 16:01.81.
Dipping under a minute for the first time in the 100m freestyle was Lucy Emerson, who finished strongly to clock 59.77.
Posted on 18 March 2009
Strong second and third days all round as Emma Graham achieves European Junior Qualification in two more events to take her total to four.
Day 2 of the British Gas Swimming Championships and Emma Graham carried her good form into the 200m freestyle where she swam a personal best time of 2:04.26. This earned her a third individual qualification for the European Junior Championships.
Not content with this, day 3 saw Emma make it 4 out of 4 as she qualified for the European Juniors again, this time in the 800m freestyle. Her time of 8:47.82, a lifetime best by nearly 7 seconds, puts her in lane 1 for tomorrow’s final.
Danielle Hall-Jackson also competed in the 800m freestyle, dipping under 9 minutes for the first time to touch home in 8:58.35, making her the fastest 1994-born swimmer.
back to day 2 and in her first of two swims this week, Hannah Wardle was unlucky to miss out on qualification for the European Junior Championships in the 100m breaststroke. However, Hannah kept up the trend of personal bests, clocking 1:13.15. Look out for Hannah in the 200m on Thursday.
Also competing in the 100m breaststroke was Rebecca Davis. Rebecca, coached by Richard Denigan, touched home in 1:16.46 to take over a second off her previous best time.
Another swimmer coached by Richard is 13 year old Lucy Emerson, who had a busy couple of days, narrowly missing her best times in the 200m and 800m freestyle to finish in 2:08.68 and 9:16.86 respectively.
Posted on 16 March 2009
Emma Graham qualifies to swim two events at the European Junior Championships as the club get off to a flyer on day one of the British Gas Swimming Championships in Sheffield.
Emma Graham, coached by Dave Calleja, clocked a 6 second personal best in the heats of the 400m freestyle, to finish in 4:16.82. Good enough not only for a place in the final, but also a seat on the plane to Prague as the fastest qualifier for the European Junior Championships later this year.
In the final, Emma was just touched out into 8th place but managed to set another personal best clocking 4:15.46 in a world-record breaking race!
Emma also competed in the 50m freestyle, swimming a 26.88 to qualify in 16th for the semi-finals and for another swim at the European Juniors.
Also swimming the 400m freestyle were youngsters Danielle Hall-Jackson and Lucy Emerson, posting times of 4:23.07 and 4:28.49 respectively.
Sprinter James Harrison competed in the 50m freestyle and set a best time of 24.13 but was unlucky not to make the semi-final in a tough field.
Great Job Guys! Keep it up!!