Week 4 Kent Championships Report

RTW Monson Attended the London Aquatics Centre on over the 11^th and 12^th February.

In session 13, the boys swam the 200m IM and 50m butterfly. Leading the way was Andre Strydom who won the 15 years age group, and Kody Bradbury came away with a bronze in the 14 years age group category. Putting in another great performance, Andre Strydom won a silver in the 50m butterfly, and Kody Bradbury came away with another bronze in his age group. In the girls 50m backstroke final, Izzie Mercer came away with a silver medal going 36.11 in the 12 year olds final.

In session 14, it was time to see the boys swim 50m breaststroke and the girls swim the 50m freestyle.Tom Leman and Andre Strydom put on a great show, coming first and fifth in the 15 year old final.Youngster Ryan Rabhi finished just off the podium with a fourth place finish in the 12 year old category. Next up was the women's 50m freestyle, with bronze medals for both Caitlin Fearon in the 16 years plus age group and Fern Sneddon, 11 years, in the multi-disability category.  Mia Burns had another strong day finishing seventh in the 15 year old category, Hannah Lambert finished fifth in the 14 year category, Jemimah Berkeley came in seventh in the 13 year old category, and Izzie Mercer came sixth in the 12 year old category.

On Sunday we started with the girls 200 IM where we had a strong showing. Maddie Burton had a great performance, winning a silver medal in the process, then Annabel Guye-Johnson continued her outing with a dominant gold medal performance to win the 16 years plus age group. The boys were up next in the 50m backstroke. Andre Strydom came away with a bronze medal, Reuben Edwards continued a strong Kents championships finishing eighth in the 14 year category. Up next was the girls 50m butterfly. Mia Burns and Maddie Burton both finaled in the 15 years age group final, finishing second and eighth. Hannah Lambert finished third in a thrilling final, and to round off a strong event for Monson, youngster Izzie Mercer won the 12 years age group.

The last two events of the meet were the men’s 50m freestyle, and the women’s 50m breaststroke. Andre Strydom finished his meet on a high, dropping two seconds and finishing third in his age group. Reuben Edwards dropped time again in his final, finishing in fifth place, and to finish off the event, youngster Toby Edwards finished seventh in his final.

The last event of the meet was the icing on the cake for RTW Monson. In the open final, Monson managed to go first, second, third and fourth. Annabel Guye-Johnson rounded off a great meet, not only winning the gold, but also performance of the meet. In second place was Jemimah Berkeley, who won gold in the 13 years age group, and silver in the open final, breaking the South East record! Anna Leman won the 14 years category, and won bronze in the final, and last but not least, Stephanie Andrews rounded out the open final with a fourth place finish in the open final, and a bronze in the 16 years plus age group.

Coach Simon Said afterwards, “It was a great way to finish off the fourth weekend. We had some real eye opening swims from our athletes, and looking to the future, It’s exciting to see what our athletes can do going into the Regionals and the qualifying window for British, and National Champs”.