FOLLOWING their success in the opening round in the Lincolnshire League the swimmers of Gainsborough Dolphins made the journey to the Humber Estuary for the second round of three at the Scartho Pool at Grimsby. They faced tough competition from host club Cleethorpes and Scunthorpe Aquatics (CASA), Louth and the City of Lincoln Pentaqua (CLP) in a gala full of very competitive races. With the competition between the Clubs not only in the pool there was plenty of vocal support from the supporters and swimmers as each victory was greeted with the chants of ‘oggy oggy oggy’. The first of the night came from the Gainsborough voices as it followed the victory in the opening event as James Smith won the Mens Open 100m freestyle as he gained maximum points for Dolphins with an excellent swim. This was quickly followed by a storming swim from Emily Wright as she shaved over two seconds off her life time best in the Ladies Open 100m breaststroke. The girls 10 year squad proved the most successful on the night as the quartet of Shannon Conway, Grace Tooke, Harriet Webster and Molly Creed won their Individual Medley (I/M) relay whilst Shannon swam superbly to win both her 50m butterfly and backstroke events. Molly was just beaten into second place in her 50m freestyle as she lost her goggles following the turn whilst Grace also came second in the 50m breaststroke. Freya Janney replaced Grace in the freestyle relay to record another second place, again just being beat in the closing metres. In the same age group the boys also achieved success as James Beresford and Ben Ambrose won their 50m backstroke and breaststroke races respectively with James securing second with a fine effort in the 50m butterfly. Along with Ben Crookes, who finished third in the 50m freestyle, and Harry Overton this quartet achieved third in the I/M relay. Double victory came from 11 year old Loveday Beresford in the girls 12/U 50m butterfly and freestyle with Dolphins recording two more victories via the Cawte brothers with Henry in the boys 14/U 100m breaststroke and William in the Mens Open 100m backstroke. The former was joined by Jack Boulton, Aarron Smith and Bradley Janney to place second in the boys 14/U I/M relay and third in the freestyle equivalent. In their individual events Aarron came second in the 100m butterfly as did Jack in the 100m freestyle. In the boys 12/U age group Ewan McKay had to settle for second spot in both his 50m butterfly and breaststroke races as did William Walmsley in the 50m backstroke, with William third in the 50m freestyle. Along with Cammron Bower and Matthew Overton they achieved second in the I/M relay whilst a close finish saw them finish third in the freestyle relay as Aidan Clover replaced Cammron. The remaining individual second place came from David Trickett in the Mens Open 100m breaststroke, who also finished third in the Mens Open 100m butterfly, with the girls 14/U team of Georgia McKay, Chloe Gilmour, Amy Evans and Heather Cooke gaining second and third in their I/M and freestyle events. Heather and Amy both swam fine races to finish third in their respective 100m breaststroke and freestyle races as did Megan Stevenson and Robyn Dand in the Ladies Open 100m freestyle and backstroke. Alongside Tonicha Watson and Emily in both their Ladies Open relay events they finished third as did the Mens with William, James, David and Peter Trickett in the freestyle relay with veteran Chris Webster replacing David in the medley relay. Despite two third place finishes in her individual events Charlotte Smith swam fantastically well in the 50m backstroke and breaststroke. Charlotte was teamed up with Loveday, Lydia Waring and Hollie Watkins in the girls 12/U freestyle relay with Aysha Simpson replacing Hollie as they had to settle for the same result in the medley relay. A huge thank you from the Club to all the swimmers for their magnificent efforts and to all the volunteers in their various capacities on the night. Final result: 1st CASA 150 points; 2nd Louth 130; 3rd Gainsborough Dolphins 125; 4th CLP ‘A’ 74.
