Swimming: Ryedale dozen make the grade (From Gazette & Herald)

Swimming: Ryedale dozen make the grade

3:28pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport

THERE was an impressive medal haul for Ryedale Swimming Club when a dozen of their youngsters competed in the Kingfishers B&C Grade Open at Scarborough.

All 12, including some open meet debutants, returned home with at least one medal and several gained speeding tickets for swimming faster than their expected time.

In total, they picked up 27 medals, 31 personal best times and six speeding tickets.

Emily Grayson, 11, gained a silver medal and PB in her individual medley which qualified her for ‘The Skins’ competition, in which she gained a fantastic third place.

She maintained her strokes in the afternoon session to gain a fifth, sixth and seventh place in her other events.

Jonathan Cook, 10, swam his five races with real determination, gaining gold in his 50m backstroke and two bronze medals with PBs in the 50m butterfly and 100m IM. He was also seventh in a PB in the 50m freestyle and ninth in his 50m breaststroke.

Joe Hall, nine, swam consistently well in five events to gain silvers, a bronze, a speeding ticket and four PBs.

Nathan Smith, 12, swam five races gaining four PBs, a speeding ticket, a silver, two bronze medals and a fifth place.

Tyler Gaines, 13, was purposeful in his three races, securing three PBs, a speeding ticket in his 50m breaststroke, a gold in his 50m freestyle and a sixth place.

Abigail Smith, 10, also swam her three races strongly gaining PBs in each, a gold medal in her 50m breaststroke and two fourth places.

Jacob Head, 11, stormed the last leg of his IM to pinch victory, a speeding ticket and a PB. He also won silver medals for his 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly, both in PB times.

Atlanta Dowkes, 10, in her first open meet, gained PBs in all her four events, as well as a speeding ticket in her 50m freestyle and a silver medal in her 50m backstroke.

Joseph Grayson, 10, also in his first open meet, swam three races with great enthusiasm to gain three PBs, a speeding ticket and a bronze.

Olivia Darrell, 10, had goggle trouble in two of her three races but swam well to complete them, winning a silver medal in her 100m IM and gaining two PBs.

Ben Copley, 12, pulled out a competitive PB in his 50m breaststroke to get bronze, and came fifth and seventh twice.

Anna Bailey, 11, won bronze in her 50m freestyle and was sixth in her 50m breaststroke, clocking a PB to boot.