A marathon gala sees Satellites rise
THE Satellites’ swimming team has just competed in the Cheshire County Swimming Championships held at Macclesfield over the last three weekends.
It was a marathon meet and a huge test for all the swimmers that swam, with some days going onto to 12 hours on deck.
Head coach Ric Howard was full of pride and admiration for his charges, saying: “This year Satellites took a relatively inexperienced team to the Counties and every swimmer who went exceeded my expectations for at least one swim.
“I was really pleased with the way the team swam and how tough they were when the long days set in.”
There was an outstanding Counties debut from Ruby Burns, showing that she is one to watch out for, while Charlotte Taylor, Ellie Bloor, Jake Stewart, Adam Frost, Christian Howitt, Katie Hughes Aimee Mather and Paulo Quiroz all put up very solid performances for youth swimmers at this time of the season.
A host of top-drawer Satellites performances led to appearances in finals and the smashing of some long-standing personal best times.
Lizzie Caunt got back to swimming PBs, as did Greg Stewart, while Hannah Dawson continued her great form with some outstanding swims through the two weekends.
Eve Gibbons, Georgia Bell, Rachel Smith, Mary Nelson and Ellie Percy also showed impressive form and saw their PBs improve dramatically.
Joe Lindsay, Fionn Carmen, Ethan Nevitt and Jason Kenning all showed that they are improving beyond expectations and are coming back into form nicely for the busy competition season ahead.
Younger swimmers such as Will Martindale, Lara Crawford, Natasha Fahey, Lily Holmes, Kara Mather and Jess Birchenough all showed that the work that is being done at the younger end of the squad is working and that they have some brilliant emerging talents with Lara winning a bronze medal in the 800FC one of the toughest events there is for any swimmer.
A special mention must go to the relay teams, who performed out of their skin despite late line-up changes.
The 10-11 year old boys’ team – Theo Pointer, Nick Jackson, Lucas Anderson and Will Martindale – finish fourth in both the medley team and the front crawl teams.
Four swimmers finished in the top eight rankings in their age group. They were Will Martindale (eighth), Joe Lindsay (fifth), Lara Crawford (eighth) and Adam Frost (eighth).
“It would be impossible to try and mention every single swim, but we were enormously pleased and proud to see what the team did this year,” added Ric. “A huge congratulations to all those who swam, gained personal bests, and gained a topeight finish.
“As a team we have outperformed expectations and the bar is always rising, which is a sign of a club with a very bright future.”
RICHMOND ROVERS
U9 Skys 0 Great Moor Panthers 0. U9 Maroons 5 Great Moor Pumas 1. Goals: Caine (2), G Moult, L Moult, Oakes. U9 Clarets 2 Spurley Hey 2. Goals: Ethan Lavin (2). U9 Blues 1 Spurley Hey 1. Goal: Northgate. U10 Blues 5 Barca Star 0. Goals: Evie Creaven (2), Dan Barlow, Matty Leach, Sam Woosnam. U10 Clarets 2 Macc RUFC Juniors 0. GOals: JAke Pennington, Matt Mullaney. U10 Maroons 3 Hillgate Utd Blues 0. Goals: Tyler Fredricson (3). U10 Skys 2 Hillgate Utd Whites 0. Goals: Ethan Jarman, Sasha Aisal. U11 Clarets 1 Rose Hill Rovers 3. Goal: Jamie Cronshaw. U12 Rhinos 4 Macclesfield RUFC 1. Goals: Bowden, Rimmer, Quiligotti, Jefferies. U14 girls 0 Ashton Pumas 5. U15s 4 Inter Macc 2. Goals: Gould, Porter, Rimmer, Bennett. U16s 0 Stockport Junior Blues.
MACCLESFIELD TIGERS
U15s 7 Winsford 0. Goals: Sam Ashton (3), Harry Whittam, Ross Keeler, Callum Atkinson, 1 OG.
MACCLESFIELD PANTHERS
U14s 8 Reddish North End 1. Goals: Rhyce Mallard (5), Joe Cobey (2), Luke Pemberton.
BOLLINGTON UNITED
U16s 0 Bramhall North Falcons 4.