GOTO RESULTS

Seahawks Swim in Top Flight

Thanet Swim Club had 11 swimmers attend the Crawley Spring Open Long Course Level 1 Licensed Meet held at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley. Level 1 meets have the toughest entry standard required and the fact that Crawley had a 66% entries rejection rate only testified the ability of the Thanet swimmers to compete with the best.

Thanet wanted to use the 50m pool meet as preparation for the up and coming South East Regional Championships at the start of May and the start of June for the younger members. There weren't really any suggestions of medals being up for grabs but the Seahawks still performed well enough to earn 2 Silver Medals and a further 8 top eight finishes.

13 year old Chloe Thorpe took the Silver Medal in the 12/13 year girls 100m Breaststroke with a surging finish to an impressive display to record 1min 20.21secs in the 50m pool. That swim was only 1.14secs off the National qualifying time, strongly suggesting that the youngster may well gain qualification this year having come so close in 2007.

The youngest Thanet swimmer competing was 11 year old Billy-Ray Palmer who was also on the podium as he claimed the Silver Medal in the 400m Individual Medley in 5mins 54.32secs. He also claimed 5 th Place finishes in both the 200m Freestyle (2mins 26.97secs) where he was 2.41secs off a National time and in the 200m Backstroke (2mins 47.60secs) and took 6 th Place in the 200m Individual Medley in 2mins 48.24secs.

14 year old Charlotte Davies came so close to adding to her National qualifications and none more so than her 100m Butterfly race where her time of 1min 08.18secs was just 0.09secs away from the National time. Charlotte also produced a great race in the 200m Butterfly with her time there of 2min 30.44secs leaving her just over 2 seconds off her Nationals target. Charlotte also produced good swims in the 200m Freestyle (2mins 15.69secs) and in the 100m Freestyle (1min 04.79secs).

15 year old Lacey Palmer claimed a 5 th Place finish in the 100m Backstroke with her time of 1min 10.51secs being just 1.65secs off the National time being needed this year. Lacey also claimed 8 th Place in the 200m Backstroke in 2min 30.84secs and swam the 50m Freestyle in 29.70secs.

17 year old Sharnie Clements took 6 th Place in the 50m Breaststroke in 36.85secs and also claimed an 8 th place finish in the 100m Breaststroke where she recorded 1min 21.61secs. Sharnie also swam the 50m Freestyle in 30.55secs.

13 year old Libby Henson claimed an 8 th Place finish in the 200m Backstroke in 2min 36.27secs and claimed 17 th place in the 100m Backstroke in 1min 13.90secs. Libby finished off with a really good swim in the 800m Freestyle with a time of 9min 51.84secs.

Another 13 year old, Evie Bunte had two 9 th place finishes coming in the 200m Freestyle in 2min 17.28secs and in the 200m Backstroke in 2min 36.53secs. Evie claimed 13 th place in the 200m Individual Medley in 2mins 36.93secs and 14 th spot in the 100m Backstroke in 1min 13.76secs. Evie also had a good performance in the 100m Butterfly finishing in 1min 14.15secs.

15 year old Keiron Piper had a great swim in the 200m Freestyle where he attacked the race from the start and his time of 2mins 05.54secs was within 1.65secs of a National qualifier gaining him 10 th place. Keiron produced a 59.46sec time in the 100m Freestyle and finished off with a superb 800m Freestyle where he recorded 9min 14.57secs just 2.13secs away from the National spot.