Twenty-four members of the Evening Post-sponsored Reading Swimming Club tackled near neighbour Newbury SC's popular open meet at the Northcroft Leisure Centre. Newbury were top visiting club at Reading's own Allan Eyles Invitation Meet in May and Reading aimed to make an equally good showing, in a full day's programme of swims over 50, 100 and 200 metres.
Two of Reading's brightest prospects got things off on the right foot in the 100m individual medley in the youngest age group. Olivia Paige swam a six-second PB to take the bronze. Alex Cawthorne, on the back of a great series of swims at the regional championships where he was fourth best all-rounder in his year, improved his entry time by five seconds for a silver medal.
next event, the 11/12 age group swam the 100 backstroke with Georgie Wilkins just missing out on a final place in a time of 1.21.69. Harry Nash and Sam Kemp swam PBs and David Mills claimed Reading's first gold medal in what was to prove a great day for him, winning the six-swimmer final in 1.20.84. Mills went on to make the final in every event he swam, as did Paige and Cawthorne.
First event for the 13/14 swimmers was the 100 free, with Rosemary Millbank, Sonja Buckley, Joanna Wakefield, Issy Keenan and Alice Hopkins all swimming PBs. Ellie Wood, another strong performer at Regionals, took a "speeding ticket", too fast to count in 1.04.89 despite being only days inside the age group.
Natalia Ciecierska-Holmes, another regional qualifier, was just one place outside the final in 1.07.34. James Tichband, seeded only ninth, made his final and claimed fifth place in 1.07.00.
PBs were again the order of the day as the 15-and-overs swam the 100 fly via Becki Turner, Ailith Morrey and Zoe Knott. Markus Orgill swam strongly for a bronze in 1.05.74.
Second event for the 10 and unders saw Olivia Paige make another final and take another bronze, this time the 50 breaststroke in 46.99.
Wilkins, just making the 11/12 100m freestyle final, attacked the race from the start and held on for fourth in a two-second PB. Beth Staley PB'd in her heat, as did Kemp in his, and Mills made his second final, swimming 1.12.45 for fifth place.
The 13/14 group closed the morning with the 200 IM and big PBs from Buckley, Wakefield and Zoe Clark. El Cawthorne collected a speeding ticket for her PB in 2.37.71 and Tichband took another fifth spot.
Session two
The afternoon began with the 15 and over 100 backstroke. The stream of PBs continued via Turner, Beth Sturgess and Knott who reached the final and placed fifth in 1.20.21. Orgill did even better, taking bronze in his final in 1.09.88.
Paige and Alex Cawthorne again showed up well in the 50 free events, fifth in 36.60 and third in 33.10, and the 13/14 100m fly brought further PBs for Hopkins and Buckley.
Ellie Wood left everyone trailing and was six seconds ahead at the finish – well into speeding ticket territory in 1.09.62 and close to the national qualifying time, which augurs well for a repeat at a licensed meet next season.
El Cawthorne, staying inside the meet limit, made the final and a superb swim there took silver in 1.14.20 – two seconds inside her previous best.
The 200 IM for the 11/12s was a first-time swim for Beth Staley, showing good technique on all four strokes and her turns and recording 3.24.09. Nash's 22-second PB highlighted his progress and the powerful Mills held his strokes well and collected silver in 2.54.11.
Busy Olivia Paige placed just outside the 10/U 50 back final in 44.49. A time of 1.27.49 earned Clark a 13/14 100m breaststroke final place, in which she finished sixth, and Jennifer Taylor fighting through injury worked hard and placed seventh.
The top age group rounded off a very successful session with the 100 free. Reading claimed both silvers via Knott (1.09.67) and Orgill (1.01.28) and Turner, Morrey and Sturgess swam PBs in the heats.
Third session
Orgill went one better as the evening began with the top age group's 200 IM – a gold in one of Reading's top male swims of the day in 2.30.51. Sturgess was strongest girl, sixth in a PB time, and Morrey slashed a huge 14 seconds off her pre-meet time and Turner six seconds off hers.
Kemp and Mills PB'd in their 100 breaststroke, Sam ninth and David into yet another final where he again improved his time to 1.33.86 in fourth place.
Last event for the 13/14 swimmers was the 100 back. Ellie Wood stayed inside the speeding ticket limit this time and won gold in 1.14.29. Buckley , Keenan and Ciecierska-Holmes all swam PBs, the latter taking six seconds off her time and placing seventh.
The 11/12 group closed the meet with their 100 fly and David Mills completing his fine day with fifth place, while Nash and Kemp swam good PBs.
Overall Reading placings: Gold 3; silver 5; bronze 5; fourth 2; fifth 5; sixth 3; speeding tickets 3; new PBs 45.
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As anticipated, the 4 x 100 medley relay swim from Chris Boyce, Adam Barrett, Callum Willcox and Conor Sandell which won gold for Reading at the Southeast regional championships at Crawley has secured the club a place at July's national championships in Sheffield. The top 30 clubs nationwide qualify, and the quartet go into the meet ranked an excellent 10th.
And it gets better – their freestyle effort which missed a medal by one place the previous week means they double up, making the top 30 in 28th place now results from all regions have been collated.