Ahead were Guernsey Barracudas and Maidenhead Marlins.Despite finishing third by the narrowest of margins the club realised, after round two, that they had a slim chance of promotion.
So, with a young team to look after, with a great deal of promise for the future, coach Bill Davies was understandably delighted.’Yes,’ he said, ‘absolutely delighted that we have gained promotion.
Our objective now, though, must be to build on this and ensure that we maintain our position in Division I next season.
‘I am sure that with so many young and talented swimmers, and with the right kind of commitment, this will be possible.’In the finals the team swam consistently well to record ten personal bests in the individual events.Antoin Le Fèvre swam inside his personal best in the men’s open 100m individual medley while in the 50m 11-and-under backstroke, Hannah Voisin improved on her previous best time.Caroline Dyer swam to a good second place in the 100m girls 13-and-under breaststroke while William Glen also improved on his time in the boys’ event.
The determined Elliott Sweet swam an excellent 50m fly in the U11 section to take second while Edward Voisin took two and a half seconds off his previous best in the 100m U13 backstroke.
It was not until event 25 that JSC gained their first win, when Abigail Faudemer swam well in the ladies’ open 100m backstroke.Her performance seemed to spur the team on, with Peter Baudains finishing second in the same event for the boys.ImprovedFrancesca Davies and Philip Le Brun both improved their times in the girls’ and boys’ 50m breast-stroke U11 category, and Alex Harrison swam well in the 100m fly in the U13 age group.Another first place was recorded by Natalie Le Cuirot when she swam an excellent 50m freestyle in the 11-and-under age group in a time of 32.91.Sean Cornic then went on to finish in first place in the 100m 15-and-under breaststroke.
JSC performed well as a team in all of the relays although they were disqualified on no fewer than three occasions, which could have cost them dear.Even so, they finished in the top three in all but three of the 16 relay events which clearly demonstrated the depth of their squad at this level.
