Borough of Southend Swimming Club

Borough of Southend Swim Squad are celebrating success once again after an excellent showing at the recent Junior and Senior Essex County Championships.  Finishing with their highest placing since 2004, BOSS recorded an impressive points haul on their way to securing 6^th place in the overall County Top Club competition.  

With only four junior swimmers and one senior making up the BOSS squad, it was even more remarkable that BOSS returned home with 7 County Championship titles and 30 top six finishes across the Senior and Junior competition. 

In his first year in this age group and as the sole Senior representative, Jonathan Sayer led the way with some fine performances, most notably in the freestyle events.  Coming from behind on his way to victory in both the 200m and 800m Freestyle, Sayer set a sensible pace and used his strong finish to his advantage to win both races in personal best times. 

Continuing his form in the 400m Freestyle, Sayer set another PB to bring home the silver medal, while in the 100m he took over a second off his best to narrowly miss the grand final.  Showing his ability to compete across multiple events, Sayer recorded another PB to win silver in 400 IM.  Setting more personal bests, he went on to reach a further four finals in the 100m and 200m IM, and 50m and 100m BRS. 

George Morris continued his recent good form at East Regional Championships to secure top six finishes in every junior event he competed.  Building on his early season success, Morris recorded a magnificent clean sweep in Junior Breaststroke events.  Winning the 50m, 100m and 200m BRS with personal best swims, he went on to win bronze in the 200m Freestyle, 4^th in the 100m IM, 5^th in the 800m Freestyle and two 6^th places in the 100m and 400m FS.  Morris also recorded top six finishes in the corresponding senior age group, including silver in the 200m Breaststroke. 

Also competing in the Junior age group, Sean Tomlin recorded similar success across multiple events.  Building on his success at Norwich recently, Tomlin doubled up with a fantastic victory in both the Junior and Senior 200m Butterfly. Recording a new PB in the heats, Sean once again raised his game to lower this mark by a further 3 seconds in the final on his way to victory.  

Building on these results Tomlin continued to swim impressively over the remaining weekend. Swimming in a total of eight events, Tomlin qualified for six junior and four senior finals, picking up two silver and four bronze medals in the process. 

13 year old Harry Payne qualified for these championships for the first time.   Payne put in some good swims, remarkably finishing in 8^th position in the 800m FS. 

Tia Hazelton also put in some solid performances over the weekend, setting several new best times.  These included a PB in the 1500m FS and new seasonal bests in the 200m and 400m FS. 

BOSS were delighted to be able a couple of younger relay teams take part at these Championships.  Alex Edge, Sophia Valente, Katie Collins, Rachel Hughes and …… also set personal bests in their relay splits to ensure the team bettered its entry time, and gain valuable competition experience in the 11/12Years age group. 

In the age group below, Abigail Reynolds, Jessica Valente, Alexa Foster-Carter and Katarina Blanco combined to swim together for the first time and enjoyed excellent success. Finishing in 9^th place in the freestyle event, they later destroyed their medley entry time to qualify sixth fastest for the final.  With all four girls setting PBs for the second consecutive time, they then moved up a place to finish in 5^th place overall. A fantastic achievement for swimmers so inexperienced. 

Club coach, Will Brogan was delighted with BOSS performance at the championships.  “All the swimmers deserve a pat on the back for swimming so well this early into the season.  It was an excellent all round performance from a really small squad, so to finish in 6^th place in the Top Club Competition was a welcome bonus and a great achievement.  I expect the squad to build on their confident start as we move into 2008”

The coach may have changed, but the results remain the same.  That was the message after Borough of Southend swimmers returned with impressive success at the first major competition of the new season.  With only a small group of four swimmers travelling to take part in the East Regional Championships at the UEA, Norwich, BOSS were delighted to finish as top club in Essex on the medal table. 

Leading the way in Norwich was 15 year old Sean Tomlin.  Competing in multiple events throughout the weekend, Tomlin picked up no fewer than nine top eight placing in the Junior and Senior categories. 

Swimming in the 200m BF Tomlin had fine performances to leave himself within touching distance of national qualifying standard. Setting a new PB in the heats, he qualified for the Senior final after winning the gold in the Junior age group. In the final he destroyed his new set personal best by three further seconds to secure bronze in the Seniors category. 

Tomlin went on to complete a hat trick of final placings in the backstroke events.  With three excellent PBs once again, he won silver in the both the 200m and 50m BC, as well as 6^th in the 100m.  Demonstrating his ability to compete in multiple events and distances, Tomlin also won silver medal in the Junior 1500m FS, setting PBs in the 400m and 800m in the process.  All in all, a delighted Tomlin, picked up eight PBs from his ten regional swims. 

George Morris also returned from the regionals immensely satisfied with his weekend performances.  After a difficult season last year balancing training with GCSEs, George is now back into full swing and set the standard for the new season by qualifying early for next years National Youth Championships in Sheffield.  Requiring a qualifying time of 9.04 in the 800m FS, Morris led his heat from the front to record 8.57.87 and swim seven seconds under the 800m qualifying mark.   

Sixteen year old Morris, competing in the senior age group for the first time proved that hard work reaps just reward.  Continuing to swim well in the distance events, he picked up 4^th place after narrowly missed bronze in 1500m FS. Morris then recorded two of his fastest 100m BRS times in for eighteen months on his way to reaching 8^th place in the final. 

Jonathan Sayer also continued to build on his early season momentum with more excellent performances swims in Norwich.  With freestyle events proving to be a specialism these days, Sayer narrowly missed on the medals but secured 4^th, 5^th and 6^th places in the 800m, 200m and 400m FS.  Showing his event versatility he added 6^th place in the 400 IM. 

As the youngest member of the BOSS squad, Harry Payne was competing in his first championships at this level, two years under age.  Rising to the occasion with style, Payne won an excellent bronze medal in the Junior 400m FS.  Recording a four second PB he also qualified for his second event at next years National BAGCAT Championships.  Setting another PB and ensuring another National Qualifying mark, Payne went on to secure 4^th place in the Junior 800m FS.  He completed a fine weekends swimming with 4^th place and another PB in the 1500m FS, lowering his national qualifying time by twenty seconds. 

BOSS are now looking forward to competing in the forthcoming Junior and Senior County Championships next weekend. 

Borough of Southend swimmer, Harry Payne returned home from the ASA National BAGCAT Championships delighted with his weeklong performances.  Competing in Sheffield over six events, Harry’s training had been building towards these championships for the past twelve months and he put in some fantastic swims.  

Kicking off a long week Harry produced a tremendous performance to take the bronze medal in the 1500m FS on Monday morning.  Entered for 17mins 55 seconds, Harry destroyed his best time by 20 seconds to secure 3^rd place.  

Competing in the 200m BF later the same morning, Harry set another personal best (2.31.89) to reach the evening final where he finished in 9^th place.  

Day two of the championships was Harry’s busiest period of the competition.  Taking part in three events Harry continued to challenge for honours.  In the 800m Harry set another personal best to finish just outside bronze medal position, finishing in 4^th (9.17.55). After a short rest he was competing soon again in the 400m IM.  Recording another PB (5.24.30) Harry once again qualified for the evening final where he finished in a creditable 9^th place.  His final event of the morning session was the 200m freestyle.  With a very strong field in place Harry finished in 12^th place, equaling his previous best time and securing one of the two reserve final places. 

After a day off, Harry returned to competition on Thursday.  Swimming in the 400m freestyle he set another personal best in the heat to qualify for the final.  In the evening he put in a fantastic performance to set another four second PB clinching 6th place (4.32.06).   

Borough of Southend Swimming Club are delighted with Harry’s national results, which has been the culmination of a hard years work in the pool.  Coach Mike Higgs was very impressed with Harry’s performances, most notably the fact that Harry had set a personal best in every swim.  Harry is now looking forward to increasing his training in the autumn whilst targeting a return to national competition next summer. 

BOSS are looking forward to an exciting future with some impressive youngsters currently breaking into the main training squad, several who are targeting qualification for the 2008 nationals. If you are interested in joining a coaching programme with proven success at regional and national level, or simply would like to learn to swim you can contact the club by email bossinfo@hotmail.co.uk.

"Harry Heads the Field"

A small squad of three swimmers from Borough of Southend returned from the City of Sheffield Open after putting in some excellent performances. Travelling the long distance north, Harry Payne led from the front and completed a fantastic weekend with overall victory in the top boy category.

Swimming at the impressive international venue, Ponds Forge, Boss swimmers extended their recent run of good form at top level meets. Despite illness disrupting his recent training schedule, Harry produced eight top four results to wrap up a solid weekend performance.

Competing in the 200m Butterfly, Harry dominated the event from the start to win by fifteen seconds in a new PB. After narrowly being pipped to victory in the 400m Freestyle, Harry dug deep to swim to secure his second victory in 800m Freestyle, storming back after being five seconds down at the half way point.

Although competing against swimmers from the year above, Harry continued to show his good form with another PB on his way to silver in the 1500m Freestyle. This was followed with a further two second places in the 200m Freestyle and 400m IM. Securing third and fourth in the 100m Butterfly and 200 IM respectively, ensured Harry finished with a tremendous points tally to win top male in the boys 12 years age group.

Swimming in the 17 and over age group, Jonathan Sayer also put in some solid performances. He put in a great swim to secure fourth place in the 1500m Freestyle. Performing excellently in the shorter sprint events, Jonathan then produced three new PBs in the 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle.

In the 16 and over age group, George Morris put in come credible swims whilst continuing to train though his examination period. Swimming in the 200m Freestyle, IM, and Breaststroke, 400m IM and 1500m Freestyle, George demonstrated he lost none of his fitness to finish high up the rankings in all.

Borough of Southend swimmer, Harry Payne is looking forward to making the journey north this week to take part in the ASA National BAGCAT Championships. Competing in Sheffield over six events, Harry is going into the championships high up the national rankings.

Under the guidance of head coach, Mike Higgs, Harry has qualified for four Freestyle events in 12 Years age group, ranking in the top three in the 400m, 800m and 1500m. In the 200m event he is 5th fastest. Harry’s other events will be the 400m IM and the 200m BF, where he is ranked 10th and 5th respectively.

Borough of Southend Swimming Club would like to wish Harry all the best, and will be following his progress eagerly throughout out the week.

Unfortunately BOSS two other national qualifiers, Jonathan Sayer and Sean Tomlin have been forced to withdraw due to illness and injury.

Counties 2007 – Blocks B, C & D 10/04/07

Borough of Southend Swimming Club are celebrating after another successful conclusion to the recent Essex County Championships. Unable to take part in the first round of events because of commitment at another regional meet, BOSS once again secured a top ten finish in the club competition.

Club coaches Mike and Pam Higgs were delighted with the performances of their swimmers. A small squad of eleven competitors secured thirty top six finishes and over sixty personal bests. Leading the way were Harry Payne and Katarina Blanco who together set a total of six new all time best county records in their respective age groups.

Competing in the boys 12/under age group, Harry Payne was victorious in the 200m, 400m and 1500m Freestyle with new event best time in each. Harry smashed the 1500m previous best by over eight seconds, coming home in 17.43.61 and securing his first 2007 national qualifying time. He also won the 200m Butterfly and achieved second places in 100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, 200m and 400m IM.

In her debut year at the County Championships, Katarina demonstrated her potential for the future. Katarina emerged victorious with county records when she won the 200m Backstroke, 200m Breastroke and 200m IM. She also finished 6th in the final of 100m IM. Illness wrecked Katarina’s chances of competing in the remaining events in her age group, several of which she was ranked as the fastest competitor.

In the 15 years age group, George Morris recorded some fine performances. Knocking twenty seconds off of his entry time he finished strongly in silver medal position in the 800m Freestyle. George completed a further five top six finishes in the 100m, 200m and 400m IM, 200m and 400m Freestyle, all with personal best times.

In the same age group, Sean Tomlin picked up solid fifth places in the 100m and 200m Backstroke. He recorded a similar placing in the 200m Butterfly as well as a sixth place in the 400m Freestyle.

Lawrence Jackson completed the county competition with a hatful of impressive personal bests in the boys ten year old age group. Lawrence’s highlight was swimming strongly to finish 3rd in the 200m Butterfly and 5th in 400m IM. He also finished sixth in the 400m Freestyle.

Swimming in the 16/Over age group, Jonathan Sayer recorded five top six finishes. 5th place in 400m Freestyle and 200m Backstroke, 6th place in 100m IM, 200m Butterfly and 1500m Freestyle.

Other results were as follows:

Alex Blanco, All PBs: 100m BS (8th), 200m BS (8th), 200m IM (10th), 100m IM (15th)

Alexa Foster-Carter, All PBs: 200m BF (8th), 400m FS (12th), 200m FS (13th), 200m IM (22nd), 100m IM (29th)

Tia Hazleton: 200m BS (7th) PB, 200m IM (9th) PB, 200m FS (9th) PB, 100m BS (10th), 100m FS (11th) PB, 100m IM (15th)

Lorna Mclean: PBs, 200m BF (10th), 400m IM (15th), 200m BS (16th), 100m IM (23rd) 200m BRS (27th). Also 24th - 200m IM & 200m FS.

Craig Tomlin, All PBs: 200m BS (6th), 800m FS (7th), 1500m FS (7th), 400m FS (8th), 200m FS (13th), 100m FS (23rd)

Finals and personal best times were the order of the day when Borough of Southend Swimming Club continued with their busy competitive schedule recently. Travelling to the Leatherhead Open and emphasising the policy of the club to develop swimmers as all round athletes, swimmers competed across a variety of stokes and distances, bringing a collective total of 34 personal bests and 38 top eight finishes home with them.

In the youngest age group Alexa Foster-Carter and Katarina Blanco led the way with some tremendous performances. Buoyed by her run of recent successful meets, Blanco emerged victorious in both the 400m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly, picking up impressive silver medals in the 100m Butterfly, 200m Breaststroke, 400m IM, as well as bronze in the 200m IM, 200m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle.

Alexa chipped in with some excellent personal best swims which helped her to secure two bronze medals. The first saw her produce a massive thirty second PB in the 400m Freestyle, which was then accompanied with a podium finish in the 400m IM. Now beginning to reap the results of excellent hard work in training, she was unlucky not to add silver in the 200m Butterfly following an unfortunate disqualification.

Swimming in the 11/12 years age group, Harry Payne secured twelve top six placings from his thirteen events. Winning the 400m Freestyle in another personal best time, he picked up four bronze medals in the 200m IM, 200m Freestyle, 200m Butterfly and 400m IM.

In the year group above, Alex Blanco produced yet another set of good performances, knocking nine seconds off his 400m Freestyle best and twelve seconds of his 400m IM entry time. Alex recorded top eight finishes in the IM, 200m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke.

Lawrence Jackson continued his recent run of success with victory in the boys 9/10 years 200m Butterfly. With silver medals in the 400m Freestyle and 400m IM, and bronze medals in the 100m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke, Lawrence demonstrated that he could well have a bright future if continues training at a high level.

Swimming in the 15/16 years age group, the Tomlin brothers also put in some solid performances. Craig produced a personal best in the 200m Freestyle and fourth place in the 400m. Older brother Sean secured silver in the 400m IM and two fifth place finishes in the 200m Backstroke and Butterfly events, both in personal best times.

Two groups of swimmers continued to fly the flag at regional competitions for Borough of Southend Swimming Club. With competitors from its Masters section swimming at the Essex County Championships and as well as senior squad members competing at the Crawley Open, BOSS continues to demonstrate its depth and diversity

Returning to competition after a short break Elizabeth McKinnon had an impressive weekend at the Essex County Masters Championship. Making her debut in the 25-29 age group, McKinnon walked away with the top female award after top three finishes in six events.

Starting off the championships with one of her favourite events, Elizabeth won the 400m Freestyle four seconds clear of her nearest rival in 5.02.75. Continuing in the 100m Butterfly, McKinnon secured victory in 1.11.43, demonstrating that she had lost little since retiring from national competition. Elizabeth won silver in the 200m Freestyle, and also secured bronze medals in the 50m Butterfly, 100m Backstroke and 100m IM. She is now looking forward to competing in the National Masters Championships in the autumn.

Using BOSS as part of his training progamme and swimming for the Metropolitan Police, Stephen Mckay also put in some great performances in the same age group. With podium finishes in all of his events, Stephen picked up silver and bronze medals in the 100m and 50m Freestyle respectively. He followed this up with two further silver medals in the 100m Butterfly and 100m Backstroke.

Harry Payne was competing a year out of age at Crawley, but produced some impressive results. Despite being in the middle of a heavy training programme, Harry kicked off the competition with a strong personal best in the 800m Freestyle. This set theme for his weekend and Harry finished with four further top eight performances. Harry is now looking forward to the forthcoming national championships.

Swimming in the 14/15years and Open age groups, Sean Tomlin and George Morris also both set PBs at Crawley on the way to producing some encouraging results. Securing his silver medal, Sean performed magnificently to set a new personal best in the 200m Butterfly. George broke into the top eight with similarly impressive personal best, when he finished seventh in the 400m IM.

"Top Kat"

Borough of Southend Swimming Club sent a representative squad of five swimmers to Surrey last weekend to compete in the Cranleigh Open Meet. Combining middle distance and sprint events BOSS returned with a successful haul of medals and personal bests.

Katarina Blanco produced a fantastic set of results to finish as top girl in the 10 years age group. Katarina kicked off proceedings by swimming in the open age group recording a short course personal best in the 400m Freestyle, which impressively led to an 8th overall placing. Demonstrating her fast improving fitness and her ability to compete over multiple distances, Katarina went on to record eight top four finishes in her age group events. This included three victories in the 200m Butterfly, Freestyle and IM as well as three silvers in the 200m Backstroke, Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly.

Competing in the same age group, Alexa Foster-Carter showed she was just as able at coping with both middle distance and sprint events. Swimming in 400m, 200m and 50m disciplines she also picked up five top eight finishes in the 10 years girls category. In what is fast becoming one of her favourite events, Alexa produced another strong performance to secure bronze in the 200m Butterfly.

Laura Medhurst returned from Cranleigh after a string of personal best performances in the 200m and 400m events. In the 200m Butterfly Laura produced a thirteen second PB to win silver. She then went on to tear twenty five seconds off of her 400m Freestyle best finishing in the bronze medal position.

As the only male swimmer in the squad, Lawrence Jackson narrowly missed out on winning top boy in the 10 years age group. Winning both the 50m and 200m Butterfly events, Lawrence also recorded silver in 200m Freestyle, bronze in both the 200m Backstroke and IM, as well as fourth and fifth placings in the 50m Freestyle and 200m Breaststroke respectively.

Swimming in the girls 12 years age group, Alexandra Edge also put in some solid performances. Despite carrying a painful injury to her wrist, Alex produced massive personal bests in all her events, including taking fifteen seconds off her 200m Freestyle and twenty three seconds off her 200m Butterfly.

BOSS swimmers are now looking forward to taking part in a string of local competitions in the forthcoming weeks.

Borough of Southend Swimming Club continued their busy competitive schedule with more impressive results at the recent Bracknell Long Distance Meet. Racing at the Olympic sized pool at Crystal Palace, personal bests and podium finishes were once again the order of the day.

Swimming in the boys 13 years age group, Alex Blanco put in a strong performance to lead from the front in the 800m Freestyle. Showing the benefit of his recent hard work in training he swam to a great victory, recording a personal best time of 9.45.91.

In the 11 years and under age group, Alex’s little sister continued family success in the 800m. 9 year old Katarina destroyed her entry time by just under a minute to finish in fourth place. Incredibly, she secured her East Regional qualifying time two years under age.

Stepping up to the 1500m Freestyle event, Lawrence Jackson won bronze medal in the boys 11 years and under age group. 10 year old Lawrence added another personal best to his recent collection to finish on the podium in 22.29.34.

Borough of Southend are now confidently looking forward to forthcoming open competitions, aiming to increase the squad size that has already qualified for the fast approaching summer national age group championships.

"Lawrence leads the way"

A small squad of nine swimmers from Borough of Southend returned from the Bexley Open with an excellent haul of medals and a bagful of personal bests. Securing no fewer than 25 top eight finishes and 20 PBs BOSS were delighted with the continued improvement of the Borough squad at the Crystal Palace long course meet.

Leading the way was 10 year old Lawrence Jackson, with victory in the 400IM. Lawrence came back from behind in the last hundred to win comfortably. He followed this with second place in the 200Butterfly.

Harry Payne continued the success picking up two more national qualifying times in the 200m Butterfly (2nd place) and 200m Freestyle (3rd place) respectively. He also secured runner up spots in the 400 IM and 800m Freestyle, and 3rd in the 100m Freestyle.

Swimming a year out of age, 9 year old Katarina Blanco weighed in for girls with 5 personal bests. Katarina secured fine victories with impressive times in the 400IM and 200m Butterfly. Big brother Alex was not to be outdone with four excellent personal bests of his own.

Alexa Foster-Carter continued to build on recent improvement with some excellent swims. 10 year old Alexa took home a great 3rd place in the 400IM to combine with 3 personal bests. Jo Sayer also picked up a well deserved 3rd place, this time in the boys 16 years 400m Freestyle.

The whole squad performed admirably during the weekend. Other results were as follows. George Morris: 200 back 5th, 200 breast 7th, 200 free 15th, 100 breast 7th, 100 fly 11th, 100 free 19th. Sean Tomlin: 400 free 8th. Tia Hazelton: 800 free 8th, 100 free 24th, 400 free 11th, 200 back 10th.