Best haul of medals for Leamington Swimming Club

The swimmers - Annabel Crees (16), Teia Hendley (16), Andre Onyekwe (15), Joshua Paton (17), Charlie Rounce (16) and Dan Wilks (16) swam 10 heats and made eight finals; achieving eight personal bests and four club records over the course of the meet, swimming against top English talent.

The week started with bang with Crees, who qualified for the 200m freestyle final in 10th position and swam from an outside lane to lead all the way and seal victory by 0.16 seconds in a big personal best time; grabbing the day’s headlines for a thrilling race. This gave Leamington its first-ever gold medal and English Champion.

Charlie Rounce added to the excitement on day one, winning an incredible silver medal in the 400m Individual Medley.

Over his heat and final swims he took an impressive 11 seconds off his previous personal best time, to give him a well deserved first national medal. The week continued with excellent swims from Teia Hendley and Andre Onyekwe both taking medals in 50m events.

Going into the 50m freestyle final in joint-third place, Hendley held her nerve, swimming a brilliant race to go quicker than her heat swim and get her fingers on the wall for a bronze medal.

"The final medal of the week went to Onyekwe. A personal best time, qualified him in third for the 50m backstroke final where he once again picked up his performance, winning a super silver medal and his first national medal.

Graham Nash, Head Coach said he was proud of everyone involved.

“I am so proud of all the swimmers who were such a credit themselves and the club,” he said. "On top of Annabel’s brilliant swim and national title, I am particularly thrilled for Charlie and Andre who won their first national medals.

"A special mention also needs to go to Joshua who swam a huge personal best time in the 200m backstroke to qualify in fourth for the final, but had to withdraw from the final due to illness.”