Although light on true senior representation, the early-season gala at St Sampson’s High did showcase several swimmers who have recently begun their Island and Commonwealth Games careers and are still on a promising trajectory.
Henry Bolton and Zach Maiden came away with two records apiece in the 14-15 age group at St Sampson’s High, while Cooper Robinson added his own, and such was the strength in depth that on multiple occasions one would beat or match the old mark but settle for second.
The record breaking started with a bang as in the opening 100m backstroke discipline, Bolton raced to a personal best of 1min. 0.38sec. for the fastest time of any age group.
But although Maiden’s 1-01.26 was only good for second, both were well under Samuel Lowe’s previous age-group mark of 1-01.70.
A significant reversal followed in the individual medley.
Maiden led the way in 1-02.58, getting the touch by 0.06sec. from senior Guernsey Swimming Club star Samuel Cann, while Bolton swam 1-04.14 for third overall and happened to match Lowe’s old mark.
In the butterfly, specialist Robinson had his chance to shine after two third places and took the win and another of Lowe’s records with 1-00.53. Bolton was a close runner-up with 1-01.47.
As Cann won the breaststroke in a PB of 1-07.98, the younger Maiden followed with a 1-09.93.
Bolton lit up the blue-riband freestyle finale with a 53.89, which sliced 1.27sec. off the previous record, set in 2010 by none other than Miles Munro.
Maiden closed down Cann in the second half and ended up sharing the exact same time of 56.40. With it Cann completed a clean sweep of men’s 16-plus honours.
Barracudas head coach Sara Parfit had great praise for all three of her record-breaking boys and highlighted Robinson’s improvement outside of his favoured butterfly events.
‘Henry, Zach and Cooper are quite a strength to be reckoned with,’ she said.
‘I was delighted, because we are really early in the season, and as a club we have spent a lot of time on doing technique and perfecting our strokes and not really focused on racing at all. This is one of those very early meets.
‘It bodes well for the future.’
Also in the 14-15s, Barracudas’ Megan Carter was the fastest girl overall in the backstroke, touching in 1-10.29.
A battle of the Charlottes – Bolton in the 12-13s and Holland in the older age group – had the former touching narrowly second overall in 1-13.04.
Commonwealth Games competitor Molly Staples is back in the island on placement and took her chance to dominate the IM in 1-08.54, backed by fellow Barracudas 16-plus swimmer Eve Hartley producing a 1-11.47 for second fastest overall.
Barracudas senior Emily Hyland won the butterfly in a PB of 1-09.66, though the much younger Holland had taken out the first half and finished just 0.31sec. behind.
The winning honours continued to change hands, with Hartley coming out a relatively clear-cut breaststroke victor in a PB of 1-19.28.
But GSC’s Lily Smith – from the lower end of the 12-13 age group – posted her own impressive PB of 1-24.83 for second-fastest overall.
Staples claimed her second individual honour with a 1-00.15 freestyle, while Bolton was runner-up another 0.96sec. back in a new PB.
Other successes included Barracudas’ Albie Sarre going five out of five in the 10-11 boys’ age group.
Barracudas’ Charlotte Bolton and Nigella-Rae Trescothic, and GSC’s Adam Beak, each won four from five and placed highly in their remaining event. Barracudas’ Henry Sebire won four events in the nine-year-olds’ age group.
GSC head coach Matt Butt highlighted the range of performances and called it a ‘fantastic day’ for his club.
‘From our youngest competitors entering their first season of competitive swimming to our senior swimmers all delivering impressive performances throughout the day, it is a true testament to all the hard work the swimmers, teachers, and coaches put in,’ he said
