HAC Record Their Best Ever County Championships!
Last weekend saw 30 Hackney Aquatics swimmers descend on the iconic London Aquatics Centre for the Youth instalment of the Middlesex County Championships 2017. The team were in magnificent form and came away with a total of 16 medals to add to the 8 that they won at the Age Group championships.
Impressively the team managed 132 personal best times out of 161 races – an 81% PB rate. 17 swimmers also swam 100% Long Course PB rates across the weekend including Kevin Agudelo Lopez, Ilyas Ahmed, Thomas Archer, Margot Celestine, Lottie Dahlen, Ley Ito, Paige McCoy, Mika Ogden, Ruan O Toole Douglas, Joe Parker, Ronnie Phillimore, Juan Pablo Piedra Ojeda, Isla Silva, Matyas Sinko, Joe Tarnoky, Stella Thomas Epstein and Zach Zeldin Steinmann. Many more were in the 90% bracket as well.
Leading the medal charge was Ryan McCoy (14) who came away with a haul of 6 medals. These included a double GOLD in the 100 and 200 Fly with times that now rank him in the top 10 for his age group in the country. Ryan also won BRONZE in the 50 fly and the 50, 100 and 1500 Freestyle.
In the same age group Jude Costley (14) won a double bronze in the 50 and 100 backstroke again with times that rank him top 10 in the country.
Winning their first county medals were Lily Girardet (15) and Margot Celestine (14). Lily won two BRONZE medals in the 50 and 200 back and Margot swam to BRONZE in the 400 IM.
Also winning his first medal was Marlow Depeza Purvis (15) who won a SILVER in the 200 Breaststroke. In the age above Zach Zeldin Steinmann (16) also won a SILVER in the 50 back and BRONZE in the 50 free.
Rounding up the medals was Ella Sharman (15) who won a BRONZE in the 100 Breast.
The PB’s and medal tallies were certainly impressive, however it was the way that the team conducted themselves that impressed Head Coach Rick Hall, “the team were professional and managed themselves well in all areas throughout the weekend. We had prepared very hard for this meet and the swimmers took what they had learnt throughout the season into their races. Most impressively though, on two separate occasions we had an official approach us commending our behaviour and attitude with one saying we were a great example of how a team should act.”
Across the County Championships Hackney won at total of:
Gold: 5 (3 Age 2 Youth) Silver: 4 (2 Age Relays 2 Youth) Bronze: 15 (3 Age 12 Youth) Total: 24 (8 Age 16 Youth). That eclipses last years total of just 13!
The team now move forwards to meets at Basildon and then later the Regional Championships. Many swimmers achieved their first Regional times this weekend and will be looking forward to the next stage in their swimming pathway.
