Youngsters Sam and Leah shine for Halton at meet in North Wales
HALTON Swimming Club members Sam Shurie and Leah Galligan both competed at the Conwy Whitsun Meet held at Llandudno last weekend.
Sam, who was competing in the 11-year-old age bracket, swam in the 200m individual medley, 100m and 200m backstroke and the 50m freestyle.
The youngster, who has been training really hard over the past few months, put in a great performance in the Welsh town to end the meet with one second place, one third and two fourth finishes.
His silver medal came in the 50m freestyle in a new personal best time of 34.84, more than two seconds quicker than his previous mark.
The bronze medal was won in the 200m backstroke in a new personal best time 3:07.07, knocking more than three seconds off his previous best time.
Fourth place finishes were recorded in the 200 individual medley and 100m backstroke. He smashed an astonishing 16 seconds off his individual medley time and more than a second off his backstroke time.
Leah had a busy weekend competing in seven events – the 100m butterfly, 50m and 200m backstroke, 200m breaststroke,100m and 400m freestyle and the 100m individual medley.
Racing in the very competitive 13-year-old girls’ age group, this classy swimmer put in a great performance to finish the meet with six top 10 finishes and five new personal best times.
Her new personal best times came in the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:16.20, 200m backstroke (2:49.02), 200m breaststroke (3:29.19), 400m freestyle (5.20.79) and the 100m individual medley (1:20.21). Leah’s most impressive times came in the 400m freestyle where she chopped more than 17 seconds off her previous best mark and the 200m backstroke where her mark was improved by seven seconds. Her best finishes were in the 100m butterfly where she finished fifth and the 100m individual medley where she touched home in sixth place. ●