THE Riddings pool at Scunthorpe was the venue as the youngsters of Gainsborough Dolphins gave very impressive performances as they represented their new Club for the first time. The first round of the Lincolnshire Junior League presented them with a tough draw against Cleethorpes and Scunthorpe Aquatics ‘A’, City of Lincoln Pentaqua ‘A’, Thorne Tigers and Lincoln Vulcans ‘B’ although the latter withdrew leaving only four clubs competing. Predictably CASA ‘A’ dominated the early stages with consecutive wins in the first twelve races before 9 year old Ben Ambrose claimed Dolphins first win of the evening in the boys 10/U breaststroke. In the same age group James Beresford also won his backstroke with these two being joined by Ben Crookes and Ben Gravill for a second in their medley relay whilst Max Marshall-Malone replaced the latter for the same result in the freestyle relay. James also claimed a second place in his freestyle while Ben Crookes was third in his butterfly event. The 9 years age group put in some fantastic swims with the girls claiming two wins and four second places in their six events. Chloe Huddart (breaststroke) and Harriet Webster (butterfly) won their individual races with Harriet (freestyle) second and they were joined by Freya Janney and Lucie Blades to claim second places in their relays with Freya (backstroke) also finishing second. Eliot Vasalo (backstroke) and Max (breaststroke) were both impressive to claim third places in their individuals and they were joined by Ben Gravill and Harry Overton for a third place in their freestyle relay. In the 12/U age group the girls edged out the boys with Loveday Beresord (butterfly and freestyle) and Charlotte Smith (breaststroke) claiming superb victories with Charlotte also second in her backstroke event. Hannah King and Zara Thomas joined this pairing to secure second in the freestyle relay and third in the medley event. Two personal best times saw Aidan Clover finish second (freestyle) and third (backstroke) in the boys 12/U age group and he was joined by Zaki Thomas, George Tooke and Thomas Humphreys for a third place finish in their freestyle relay. It was reversed in the 11/U age group as the boys dominated the girls with Ewan McKay impressive. Ewan claimed two first places in the butterfly and freestyle with William Walmsley (backstroke) and Cammron Bower (breaststroke) both third. This trio teamed up with Laurence Hepton for a second place in the freestyle relay with Matthew Overton replacing Laurence as they stormed to victory in the medley relay. In the girls 10/U Grace Tooke (breaststroke), Shannon Conway (backstroke and butterfly) and Molly Creed (freestyle) all finished second as they did in the medley relay as Katie Bindon made up the quartet but an unfortunate disqualification denied them a full house of second places. Lydia Waring swam a fantastic breaststroke race for second in the 11/U age group whilst team mates Aysha Simpson (butterfly) and Lily Blades (freestyle) both finished third as did Lydia in her backstroke race. Alongside Hollie Watkins these three also claimed third places in both their medley and freestyle events. The final event of the evening saw Dolphins have to swim very fast as with one boy and girl from each age group the line up of Chloe, Ben Gravill, Molly, James, Lily, Ewan, Loveday and Aidan secured second place. The Club would like to express their thanks to all the parents and supporters for their resounding support as well as ‘kiddy catchers’ Andy Crookes, Leanne Clover and Wendy Walmsley, time keeper Tony Bindon and coaches Chris Webster, Colin Pitchforth and Nic Clover. Final Result: 1st CASA ‘A’ 207 points; 2nd equal Gainsborough Dolphins and CLP ‘A’ 166; 4th Thorne Tigers 76.
