Reading swimmers were in action on three fronts over the weekend – in the north, the west and London. Head coach Graeme Thomas took a group to Stockport Metro’s open meet, another squad took in the graded meet at Ealing’s Gurnell Pool and four promising youngsters completed the third stage of Bath University’s development series
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The Stockport long-course meet brought Reading’s first national qualifying times of the season as Louisa Downs reached the standard in both the 100 and 200 fly, finishing second in the 100 in the 14/15 age group.
All 10 Reading entrants achieved at least one personal best and at least one placing in the top eight – either in finals or in heat rankings for events with no final - and the meet was a major success in PB terms for Chris Boyce, the youngest team member at 11, and Alex Macarthur, 13. Macarthur made new PBs in all his six swims and Boyce in eight out of nine. Macarthur had a top placing of fourth in his 400 free and Boyce won his year’s 200m breaststroke bronze.
Sixteen-year-old Emma Zadrozny was another 200 breast bronze medallist and also finished fourth twice, while Holly Tanner’s best swim in her last meet before turning 15 brought her within a whisker of 400m free national time, to go with a 200m back bronze and PBs over 100 metres in both back and free. Amy Kunicki's best effort in the 13 years group put her under 1:06 for the first time in the 100 free,
Leanne Haas, 15, also recorded a 100 free PB and a top placing of sixth in her 100 breast final, while Leona Jones, who like Haas missed 2004 nationals by a whisker, was a double silver winner over both breaststroke distances.
One pointer to the quality of the meet was that Reading’s top boys, Garry Dixon and Russel Korting, were outside the medals with top placings of fourth in the 400 free for Korting and 400 IM for Dixon, but with Dixon slashing his 100 free PB by over 4 per cent in beating the minute barrier and Korting cutting his 200 free best by almost 3 per cent.
The squad will all be looking to build on the swims at their next long-course outing in a fortnight, as most tackle the Bath Grand Prix and Tanner competes against other top Welsh youth swimmers at the WASA winter meet in Swansea.
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Craig Frankum, progressing by leaps and bounds under Age Group Squad coach David Wittig, produced several of Reading’s top performances at Ealing, where the usually long-course (50-metre) pool was reconfigured for a short-course meet.
Frankum, in one of his last meets as a 14-year-old, broke the one-minute barrier in qualifying for his 100 free final in 58.96 and then finished fourth just three-hundredths slower.
"Skins" events have become increasingly popular since being introduced from Australia around two years ago, and Frankum also starred in this elimination format – again going under 59 seconds and making it into the last two. Another top freestyle performance saw him cut an entry time of 2:14.15 for 200 metres to 2.11.81.
Adam Barrett, 12, another making big strides this season, set two 100m butterfly PBs as he slashed his entry time by two seconds to reach the final in 1:15.76, and cut this further there to place third in 1:12.60. Barrett took almost six seconds off his previous 200 free best, and almost two off his 100 free in another final placing.
Ashley James, 13, set PBs in all her races, tying for fifth in her year’s 100m breaststroke, with a sixth in her 100m back and another in the 200 IM, which were decided on heat times. Sunday’s 200 free brought easily her best swim, a time of 2:27.87 almost a 12-second improvement. The 100 free, meanwhile, brought bests in both heat and final and another fifth place.
Numerous other excellent Reading PBs included York Kloeppel, 14, taking five seconds off his 200 IM time.
Frankie Wilkins and Callum Willcox both swam at Ealing on Saturday and Bath on Sunday, with Wilkins going under three minutes for the first time in both 200 IM and back and Willcox beating his 200 free best by almost six seconds.
Senior swimmer Daniel John was in good shape in Sunday’s 100 fly, his 1:03.43 slightly quicker than last time out in the previous weekend’s Speedo League meet, and Barrett carried on where he had left off with a string of PBs which included cutting over 14 seconds from his 200 back entry time.
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The Bath series concluded with several medals for Reading, with all four of the Evening Post-sponsored club’s representatives aged 11.
Callum Willcox and James Tichband got things off on just the right footing with a 200m IM one-two. Willcox’s 3:07.34 edged it by two seconds.
Frankie Wilkins won a silver in the girls’ event and took another in the 800 free, with Rachael Mills fifth, and Tichband had the edge over Willcox in their 1500 as the boys finished fifth and seventh but both received "speeding tickets" for beating the graded meet limit.
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