Rykneld Swimming Club thrive at Midland Regional Championship

The six member strong team consisting of Laura Mitchell, Kelsie Geary, Jordon Chawner Wright, Andy Hopkinson, Ryan Huddart and Adam Lievesley were all on form.

Every member of the team qualified for a final apart from Adam who was suffering from a rolled ankle.

Overall the team made 14 finals and converted these into five medals including three golds, one silver and one bronze.

Kelsie Geary collected the three golds and one silver plus multiple fourth place finishes as she claimed the ‘top girl’ honour.

She said: “After winning my first Gold medal I was overwhelmed as this means so much to all our family as they commit so much time to me. I’m really looking forward to what comes next.”

Ryan dropped his personal best time by a whopping 30 seconds in the 1500m freestyle to pick up the bronze medal.

He said: “It was really unexpected to win bronze all the long distance sets I’ve been doing have really paid off.”

Both swimmers have set times that are within contention for qualifying for the British Summer Championships and the ASA English Summer National Championships.

Laura qualified for her first ever regional final in the 200m breaststroke.

Andy, recovering from a shoulder injury, finished a cruel fourth in the 50m Freestyle final just missing bronze.

Jordon swam a PB in her 50m Butterfly race, lowering this time for the first time in over a year.

Adam was happy to be there for the experience but disappointed he couldn’t swim at his full potential.

Coach Matt Smithurst said: “The team exceeded all expectations. They were supposed to swim fast, but Wow I don’t think anybody was expecting our little team from Clay Cross to be mixing it up and beating the big clubs.

“They should all be really proud and I hope we can build on this and bring a bigger tem next year.

“We look forward to the Midland Age Group Championships at the end of May where it’s the younger swimmers turn to carry the Rykneld flag.”