National Arena Swimming League: Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club finish second in opening round at Enfield
Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club finished an excellent second in the National Arena Swimming League opening round.
The team were promoted to Division One last season and have set their sights on going up to the Premier Division this term.
Stortford were up against hosts Enfield, Haringey, Hillingdon, Potters Bar, Team Luton and Saxon Crown at Southbury Leisure Centre, with 34 individual events and 17 relays in four age categories.
They achieved top-three finishes – including 10 wins – in 18 of the 34 individual events and 13 of the 17 relays.
The female swimmers in the open-age category dominated the field, winning all of their individual events, whilst the open-age category relay teams won all four events and the open/male 9-11 years teams won both their relay events.
Noah Conroy got on the top step of the podium in the 9-11 50m butterfly and Molly Greatbatch did the same in the 13-under 100m breaststroke.
There were 15-under victories for Ella Greatbatch in the 100m breaststroke and Brandon Macdonald-Williams in the 100m backstroke.
The 16-over champions were Callum Davis (100m breast), Emma Fields (100m fly), Lucy Wheeler (100m freestyle), Lauren Gore (100m breast) and Niamh James (200m individual medley and 100m back).
The seven victorious relay teams were: Open/male 9/11 years 4x50m freestyle (Noah Conroy, Guy Spearman-Baines, Jenson Richards, Harrison Dodwell); Open/male 9/11 4x50m medley (Harrison Dodwell, Guy Spearman-Baines, Noah Conroy, Jenson Richards); Female 15/u 4x50m medley (Freya Hadnutt, Ella Greatbatch, Felice Chan, Erin Matthews); Female open 4x50m freestyle (Laura Burgess, Niamh James, Emma Fields, Lucy Wheeler); Female open 4x50m medley (Niamh James, Lauren Gore, Emma Fields, Laura Burgess); Open/male open 4x50m freestyle (Callum Davis, Jake Lloyd, Jacob Hayes, Daniel Chada) and open/male open 4x50m medley (Jacob Hayes, Callum Davis, Jake Lloyd, Daniel Chada).
The team received great support on the night from coach Joe Collins, team managers Danielle Reilly, Kat Gore and Sarah Cass and officials Helena Pretious-White, Claire Fields and Rosie Somers.
