Reading Swimming Club is rightly proud of being one of the few to field two teams in the National Speedo League, and even more so after Saturday’s Round 3 meet saw Reading "B" record a convincing win in their promotion-deciding gala.
The meet, on neutral territory at Bracknell, brought together the top six teams in the 19-team western section of Division 2 South, with two places in Division 1 in 2005 up for grabs.
The team included swimmers at all levels of the club, from the hugely experienced Carole Eyles, Matt Sandell and Alex Perrin through regular top league performers in their mid-teens including Charlotte Thompson and Craig Frankum and newcomers this season like Felipe Ramos and Hannah Field.
With great support in the gallery, Reading set out their stall from the first two 100-metre individual medleys, with a win for Eyles in 1:12.85 and a second spot for Perrin. Across the 50 heats - 16 relays and 34 individual events – Reading recorded 15 wins and 10 second places and including relay "splits", upwards of 50 personal best times.
The 15/16 freestyle quartet of Andrew Chandler, Daniel Jackson, Lewis Ross and Frankum were the first relay winners, immediately followed by club captain David Thomas, Perrin, Sandell and Ahmet Ulusan in the open medley.
Top performers in the opening ladies’ relays were the medley teams in the 12/13 group (Vanessa Wood, Hannah Field, Maria Ramos and Naomi Herring) and the open category (Amy Thomas, Eyles, Thompson and Beth Ayerst), both finishing second.
Reading took a grip on the meet early in the individual programme, starting with a 50m backstroke win for Felipe Ramos in the 10/11 age group in 40.43 and second places for Field (12/13 100m breaststroke) and Chandler (14/15 100m back), before Thompson and Ulusan won their open 100m fly events in 1:12.16 and 1:05.58. This made it two wins and a second place for Thompson in the event this season.
Ramos and Chandler were soon back in the water for fly swims – second and first – and Matt Sandell (open back in 1:02.95) and Jason Passmore (10/11 breaststroke in 44.20) made it three Reading male wins on the trot.
Reading’s dominance was pretty well sealed by a series of six swims which saw 12/13 100m fly third spots for Maria Ramos and Markus Orgill followed by a 14/15 100m free win for Louisa Herring and a second for Frankum, and open breaststroke wins for both Eyles and Perrin.
Frankum and Sandell closed the male individual programme with a 100m breaststroke second place and an open freestyle win, and six of the eight relays which closed the meet saw Reading finish in third place or above.
These included a 10/11 years 4 x 25m medley win for David Mills, Passmore, Felipe Ramos and James Bradley and a six-leg ladies’ freestyle "squadron" second place for Thompson, Herring, Amy Thomas, Eyles, Ayerst and Louise Gillatt, before Lewis Ross brought the house down as he followed Frankum, Sandell, Ulusan, David Thomas and Perrin home as the men’s sextet won in 2:39.56.
Final scores: 1. Reading B, 219; 2. Hamble Aquatics, 203; 3. Rushmoor B, 161; 4. West Wight, 156; 5. Cranleigh, 153; 6. Bognor Regis, 150.
Final league points: Reading 47, Hamble 45, Rushmoor 42, West Wight 40.5, Cranleigh 37, Bognor 37.
Reading team: Beth Ayerst; Eleanor Cawthorne; Carole Eyles; Hannah Field; Louise Gillatt; Louisa Herring; Naomi Herring; Alice Hopkins; Annette Hopson; Lisa O’Brien; Maria Ramos; Rheannon Sandell; Amy Thomas; Charlotte Thompson; Eleanor Wood; Vanessa Wood.
James Bradley; Andrew Chandler; Charles Davey; Craig Frankum; Daniel Jackson; Peter Kirwan; Harry Marsh; David Mills; Josh Morsman; Markus Orgill; Jason Passmore; Alex Perrin; Felipe Ramos; Lewis Ross; Conor Sandell; Matt Sandell; David Thomas; Ahmet Ulusan.
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