With the swimming season underway, the St Bede’s squad have got their eyes on achieving qualification times for the County Championships in February and March and with that aim, the junior squad members have been taking part in the Sussex County Development gala at Brighton.

Looking particularly impressive was new St Bede’s swimmer Will Brown (12) and also old stagers Eliot Wood (14) and Amelia Mitchell (14): Will achieved 6 qualification times, Amelia 5 and Eliot 3. Another new St Bedian, Bethany Tagg (10), got herself in amongst the medals and it was also good to see Chloe Rowlinson back in the water after several months with injuries and hopefully it won’t be long before she is fully fit and challenging once more.

Medals were taken as follows:
Amelia Mitchell: Gold 200m Breast, 100m Breast, 200m IM, 200m Back; Silver 100m Back, 100m Fly
Emma Horsfall-Turner: Silver 200m Free
Chloe Rowlinson: Silver 200m Free
Rebekah Chapman: Silver 200m Breast
Bethany Tagg: Silver 100m Free, 200m Back; Bronze 200m IM
Will Brown: Gold 10m Back, 200m Back; Silver 100m Breast, 200m IM; Bronze 200m Fly, 100m Fly
Eliot Wood: Gold 200m Fly; Silver 100m Back, 100m Free, 200m Free, 200m IM; Bronze 200m Back
 
Out of the medals but making good Personal Best times were Jen Thorogood, Rose Stride, Talisker Cornford and Cole Cornford. Head Coach Kevin Ayers commented, “it’s good to see the some of the younger swimmers making their mark and we should see some good swims at the County Championships in the spring”.