Royal Tunbridge Wells Monson Swimming Club (Monson) took a small team for their first Long Course (LC) outing, since the summer Nationals, to the Hillingdon Swimming Club Level One Winter Open Meet.

Held at the new Hillingdon Sports Complex 50m facility in Uxbridge, the meet attracted Olympians and many Junior Internationals and was always going to produce good quality oposition and the challanges the Monson swimmers were looking for as they went in search of early National Qualification.

Continuing where they left off at the Winter Regional Championships two weeks ago they were not dissapointed amasing 8 Gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals and achieving 7 National Qualifying Times (NQT’s) for next summers Age Group and Youth Championships and establishing 4 Event Best Performances (EBP’s) and a host of new club records.

Ten year old Emily Das swimming in her first Level One meet stormed to victory in the girls 9-10 years 50m Breaststroke, establishing a new Club Age Group Record and bettering the mark set by team mate and national swimmer Annabel Guye-Johnson at Ponds Forge, Sheffield back in 2010. Emily also finished 4th in the 200m event narrowly missing bronze and underlying her potential as one to watch in the future. Team mate Mia Burns (10 years) also achieved very creditable 6th and 9th places respctively in the 9-10 year old 50m and 200m Freestyle events.

Caitlin Fearon (12 years) swam a very heavy programme and was rewarded with 3 gold medals in the 200m and 400m Freestyle events and 400m Individual Medley, where she turned round a 6 second deficit entering the last leg to overhaul Guildford’s Laura Chong and win by 0.06 of a second with the final stroke. Caitlin also won 3 silvers (100 Freestyle, 100m and 200m Backstroke) and 1 bronze (50m Freestyle). Competing in the 11-12 year old age group, Caitlin’s 3 gold medal performances along with her heat swim in the 100m Freestyle were all new EBP’s and NQT’s. Of the 59 girls winning medals at the swim meet Caitlin finished 6th in the female top swimmer scores

Savanna Jemmet (13 years) also gained an NQT in comfortably winning the 13-14 year old 100m Backstroke with a classy performance and added a second victory in the 50m event. Freestyle specialist Beth Hathaway (16 years) continued her return to form. Improving with every race Beth won the 15-16 years 50m Freestyle but, agonisingly, narrowly missed her NQT in that event by just 0.04 of a second. A determined Beth then took bronze, in a very close 100m event, and this time booked her place for Sheffield for the fourth consecutive year, comfortably achieving the NQT for the Youth Championships.

Annabel Guye-Johnson (12 years) Set new Monson marks in winning 11-12 year old 50m Breaststroke and taking silver in the 200m event just outside the NQT. Annabel qualified third for the final of the 100m Breaststroke and lining up against a very strong field was determined not to be left at home next summer. Storming down the first length the ‘Pocket Rocket’ turned at 50m over a second quicker than the new 50m club mark she had established the day before. Understandibly tightening in the last few meeters Annabel acheived a massive long course PB, new club record and more importantly finshed 1.4 seconds inside the NQT.

Charlotte Chapman (14 years) also had a fine weekend with LC PB’s in the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle events and 100m Butterfly and is closing in on the 100m and 200m NQT’s. Mens Team Callum Ryan also competed but did not return for the second day suffering from a throat infection.

“We’ve had a fantastic couple of weeks. We finishing 9th in the team points at Hillingdon with a very small team against clubs three or four times our size and that’s very pleasing” said a delighted Monson Director of Swimming, Kim Longland “We keep raising the bar and responding. To have so many NQT’s this early is very satisfying. All four girls are now going back to Nationals again in the summer and Charlotte and Callum are in with a shout. To see younger swimmers like Emily attacking and breaking the records of some of our established swimmers is brilliant and testimony to the work being done in the Monson Academy and our philosophy of developing home grown talent and the quality of swimmers coming through at Monson.”

Anyone interested in the clubs activities or in joining RTWM should consult the New Member Enquiry Page on the Club website: www.rtwmonson.org.