National records tumble as Furness swimmers excel in Sheffield (From The Westmorland Gazette)

National records tumble as Furness swimmers excel in Sheffield

8:30pm Tuesday 3rd July 2012 in Sport

NATIONAL records tumbled as swimmers from Pennington C of E School put on a scintillating performance in the Primary Schools National Team Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

Rebecca Fell, Megan Roper, Tom Robinson, Reuben Atherton and Shona McMeekin (all Ulverston A.S.C. members) and Owen Minnican (Barrow A.S.C. member) and were entered in two races at the English Schools Swimming Association event – the Small School’s Mixed Stroke Team event and the Small School’s Freestyle Team event.

In the mixed stroke relay heats Robinson (backstroke) got off to a brilliant start which allowed Fell (breaststroke) to hold off her challengers.

Atherton (front crawl) then took over to keep up the momentum and team anchor Roper (front crawl) blew the field apart to finish in 1.03.33, almost two seconds quicker than the previous national record.

And in the final, they even broke their own national record after a scintillating performance, notching a time of 1.03.05.

More was to come from the Freestyle Relay heat, Owen Minnican replacing Atherton, and this time it was Fell who led out with an immaculate start. Roper kept the team in the mix before Minnican’s power and skill held the opposition.

Another top class takeover by Robinson took him to the front and he broke away to a magnificent finish and another National Record with a time of 58.36.

By now the squad was on fire and in the final they combined magnificently.

They burned off the opposition and Robinson again brought the team to home to victory.

Their time of 58.04 was another new National Record but it is believed that this is the first time any school has ever broken both records in the heats, then broken them again in the finals.

Owing to them winning both events, the school were awarded the National Top Small Schools Trophy.