SWIMMING
Pembrokeshire County Swimming notched up one of its best ever medal hauls at this year’s Welsh Championships, with three golds, ten silvers and three bronze.
The Swim Wales Long Course Championships, held in Swansea over Easter weekend, attracted the best age group swimmers from across Wales, and beyond.
One of the stars of this year’s event was Louisa Twigg, who grabbed two gold medals for PCS. The Haverfordwest swimmer stormed to first place in the 400m freestyle for 15-16 year old girls in a time of 4:35.30. She also topped the podium in the 400 individual medley (IM) in a time of 5:14.14, and rounded off with silver in the 800m freestyle.
Tomas Webb also secured top spot in the boys’ 17 and over 100m breaststroke, touching in a swift 1:08.45. Webb followed this with silver in the 200m breaststroke.
Sam Jones, assistant development coach at PCS, said: “Well done everyone who flew the flag for Pembrokeshire at this year’s Welsh Championships, including some younger swimmers who were competing at this level for the first time.”
PCS is a partnership between Pembrokeshire County Council and the county’s six competitive swimming clubs – Haverfordwest Seals; Fishguard Flyers; Pembroke & District; Tenby Dolphins; Milford Tigers; and Preseli Panthers. It provides talented young swimmers with a recognised coaching pathway through to national and international level competitions.
Carys Thomas of Fishguard Flyers did herself proud with four silver medals in the 17 and over category, including the 200 IM, 200 breaststroke, 800 freestyle and a season’s best time of 4:31.51 in the 400 freestyle.
Charlotte Whalley claimed a silver in the girls’ 13-14 year 200 backstroke in a time of 2:30.79. The Haverfordwest youngster also swam a strong race to grab bronze in the 100 backstroke.
Arabella Haley took silver in the 15-16 years 50 backstroke with a new personal best time of 31.77 and the Tenby swimmer also secured bronze in the 100 backstroke.
Bethan Jones of Pembroke and District notched silver in 13-14 years 400 IM with a blistering swim that earned her a new lifetime best time of 5:28.27.
The county’s relay teams rounded off a hugely successful championships with a silver and two bronze performances.
The boys’ 11-13 years 4 x 100 freestyle (Toby Sturley, Rory Andrews, Robbie Ralph and Arron Fitzsimmons) stormed to silver in 4:39.01.
Bronze was added by the boys’ 11-13 years 4 x 100 medley team (Arron Fitzsimmons, Rory Andrews, Henry White and Toby Sturley).
Finally, the girls’ 14-16 years 4 x 100 medley team (Arabella Haley, Rosie Llewellyn, Bethan Jones and Lucy Harding) touched in a time of 4:41.26 to grab bronze.
