TIGERS swimmers travelled to Winchester last weekend for round two of the Hampshire Counties meets, once again producing some outstanding results.
Competing across Saturday and Sunday, Calligo Tigers’ best young swimmers in the 15 years and over age groups continued to impress on the mainland.
In the 15 years age group, the sensational Elsa Dodds proved once again why she is a name to be feared throughout her age group.
She commenced her weekend with a fourth place finish in the 200m freestyle, smashing her own personal best (PB) in the process.
She then proceeded to claim a bronze in the 50m backstroke, a silver medal in the 400m individual medley with another huge PB, silver in the 100m and 200m backstroke races, capped off with a stunning gold in the 200m IM.
Moving up a year to the age 16 bracket, there were two big PBs for Jacob Watson in the 100m and 200m freestyle.
Watson secured a fourth-place finish in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke finals, a bronze in the 100m free and a silver in the 200m free.
Harry Militis impressed again, smashing his 100m free PB on his way to an eighth-place finish.
He also returned a sixth place in the 200m Free, fifth in the 50m Fly and an excellent silver in the 50m Free.
There were records galore for Jakub Strzezek, who smashed his PBs in 100m free, 100m back, 200m fly and 200m IM.
He would go on to record a ninth-place finish in the 200m IM, fourth in the 200m fly and his first ever Hampshire medal by winning bronze in the 100m fly final.
Georgie Corrigan also enjoyed her time away as she secured a solid PB in the 400m IM.
She recorded seventh-place finishes in the 4x100m medley relay, 100m fly final and the 100m free final, as well as fifth in both the 4x200m free relay and the 200m free, and a fourth place finish in the 400m free.
A positive weekend for Evie Worth saw a tenth place finish in the 200m free, sixth-place finishes in both 50m and 100m back finals, a fifth place in the 400m free and a magnificent bronze medal in the 200m back final.
One of the biggest PBs of the weekend came for Sophie Smith, who knocked a mammoth 15 seconds off her tenth-place finish in the 400m free.
She also recorded massive PBs in the 100 and 200m free and 100m breaststroke, with an eighth-place finish coming in the 200m breaststroke final.
Hannah Sterry was in fine record-breaking form as she produced an outstanding swim to break her PB in the 100m breaststroke to qualify for the final and break a club record, previously held by Natalie Bree way back in 1999.
Sterry would go on to win a sensational gold in the final.
Backing up that effort, she doubled down, also claiming gold in the 400m IM and smashing another PB in the process, and finished off her weekend with a silver in the 50m Breaststroke final.
In the 17 years and over category, seven Jersey swimmers competed brilliantly.
Matthew Deffains was in sensational form in winning four medals.
He assisted in a seventh-place finish in the open men’s 4x100m IM and a fifth in the 4x200m free.
A bronze medal followed in the 400m free, but he would save his best returns for the 50m, 100m and 200m free events, where he secured gold in all three finals, a phenomenal effort.
Luke Fleming broke PBs in both the 100m and 200m backstroke races.
Fleming raced well, landing a sixth-place finish in the 50m free, fifth place in the100m free, fourth in the 100m backstroke and an excellent silver medal in the 200m backstroke.
The impressive Daniel Papworth dropped PBs in the 100m back final, 400m IM and 200m IM.
He would go on to win silvers in both the 100m backstroke and 200m IM, finishing with a gold in both the 50m and 200m backstroke finals.
Erin Goodbody swam well to secure a spot in the finals in the 100m breaststroke, as well as a PB in the 100m fly long course and a first race in the 200m fly long course event.
Chloe Hansford was solid in the 100m fly and landed a finals place in the 50m backstroke.
She also assisted in a seventh-place finish in the 4x100m medley relay, and finished 11th in the 200m backstroke.
There were medals galore for Meg Hansford, as she landed a sixth-place finish in the 50m fly, with two silver medals coming in both 50m and 100m backstroke events, topped off with a scintillating gold in the 200m backstroke.
Margaux Bacquet secured a strong PB in the 50m fly, while also landing an eighth-place finish in the 50m backstroke final and sixth in the 200m backstroke.
In total, Tigers swimmers landed 27 medals across the weekend, taking their overall total so far to an excellent 63 medals.
The final round of the county championships is set for the weekend of 22 and 23 February for the younger swimmers, aged 14 years and under.
