Swimming:Tigers warned not to become complacent

Swimming:Tigers warned not to become complacent

At age group and county level a false sense of success can be generated by using medals as a benchmark,’ he said.’It is fair to say that there were easy medals out there at the weekend, and to gauge a more accurate result of how we performed, then we need to look at British swimming point scores, and district or national rankings.’What also needed to be taken into account was the tiring three days his 20-strong party of swimmers had endured.For Tigers had also competed in the Jersey Age Group Championships on the Friday night and Saturday morning before flying out on Saturday afternoon to prepare for the meet.And, although some of the swimmers had competed in a 50m pool before, for others it was their first Open meet in a 50m Olympic pool.So it was hard work for some of the swimmers who neverthless put in some quality performances, with many Hampshire and Southern county qualifying times being achieved.

James Payne (11), having set five new meet records and one club record over the previous two day,s scored over 600 BAGCAT points after completing his 1,500m freestyle.Joining Payne in excess of 600 points were ten-year-old Kerrie Smith in the girls’ 400m individual medley and 13-year-old Sarah Hassell in the girls’ 400m and 800m freestyle.One hundred per cent personal bests were meanwhile recorded by Katherine Lowe, Charlotte Manning, James Payne and Pippa Whitehead and three new club records were set by Justin Jégou in the boys’ 14 yrs 800m freestyle and Sam Fernandes in both the 12 yrs boys’ 800m and 1,500m freestyle.Four swimmers also came very close to achieving national qualifying times: Emily Cope in the girls’ 400m and 800m freestyle; Sam Fernandes and JJ Gallichan in the boys’ 1,500m freestyle and Sarah Hassell in the girls’ 400m freestyle.In terms of potential, therefore, the Tigers are, once again, close to raising the standards of some of their swimmers even higher.However, as Magee said: ‘All four athletes are within three percent of qualifying for the nationals and, with a number of minor technical changes to strokes, combined with a solid and committed volume of work over the tough winter period, they can look forward to reaping the rewards.’They could be travelling to Sheffield for competition at an even higher level next July.

However – it won’t be easy.’

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