Bishop’s Stortford swimming club powered their way to a very creditable third place in the Hertfordshire major league final held at the Hitchin pools on Saturday 27th February The Stortford team secured 32 top three places to earn them enough points to finish a strong third behind the two top county teams of Hatfield and Watford, comfortably ahead of Harpenden, Hoddesdon and Hemel Hempstead in the Division one final gala.

With the Stortford team showing good teamwork and fighting for every point in a closely fought contest, there were six individual wins for Georgina Pryor (under 12 50m freestyle 32.19 seconds and 50m butterfly 32.41 seconds), Geoff Short (men’s 100m butterfly 57.88 seconds), Richard Molloy (men’s 100m backstroke 58.71 seconds), Alex Snowden (under 16 100m breaststroke 1 minute 14.16 seconds) and Grace Lee (women’s 100m freestyle 60.93 seconds).

Showing strength in depth across the age groups and in all events, there were 13 second place swims. Grace Lee followed her women’s victory up with second in the under 16 100m freestyle in 61.52 seconds and the 100m backstroke in 67.74 seconds. She also joined her team mates Charlotte Barton, Anna Peterson and Lauren Geddes to second place in the under16 freestyle (1 minute 59.55 seconds) and medley (2 minutes 14.32 seconds) relays. Alex Snowden followed up his earlier victory with second in the 100m freestyle in 56.43 seconds and joined Oliver Barker, Jake Lloyd and Luke Hanson to second in the under 16 medley relay in 2 minutes 0.11 seconds. Jake Lloyd earned an individual second place in the under 16 100m butterfly in 64.64 seconds. Max McCusker had a busy night with five swims with his best coming in the under 12 50m butterfly in 34.92 seconds. He also came second with his team of Martin Brett, David Harriss and Joshua Ramsay in 2 minute 38.30 seconds. The Stortford women’s team were on good form with Katy Hanson second in the women’s 100m backstroke in 70.58 seconds and Bernice Edgeworth showed great strength in her second place finish in the women’s 100m breaststroke in 1 minute 18.20 seconds. Katie McGarry really enjoyed her return to racing following illness and injury with an excellent second place in the under 14 100m backstroke in 1 minute 16.52 seconds.

All of the Stortford relay teams worked well together throughout the night showing good takeovers and commitment, in particular the men’s team of Geoff Short, Stuart Clarke, Richard Molloy and Tobias Hodges showed great power to finish second in their freestyle battle in an astonishing 1 minute 41.91 seconds.

There were 13 third place swims from Stuart Clarke (men’s 100m freestyle 55.40 seconds), Lauren Geddes (women’s 100m butterfly 69.86 seconds and 71.98 seconds), Matthew Aldous Horne(under 14 100m breaststroke 1 minute 21.03 seconds), Jessica Wacey (under 14 100m butterfly 1 minute 14.95 seconds), Richard Molloy (men’s 100m breaststroke 69.45 seconds), Oliver Barker (under 16 100m backstroke 66.24 seconds), Sam Longden (under 14 100m freestyle 63.79 seconds), Max McCusker (under 12 50m freestyle 32.60 seconds), and the relay teams in the men’s medley (Geoff Short, Stuart Clarke ,Richard Molloy and Tobias Hodges 1 minute 53.46 seconds), women’s freestyle (Bernice Edgeworth, Katy Hanson, Lauren Copping and Esther Hodges 2 minute 0.96 seconds), boys under 16 (Oliver Barker, Jake Lloyd, Luke Hanson and Alex Snowden 1 minute 47.82 seconds) and the final squadron relay of the night (Georgina Pryor, Max McCusker, Rachel Gunn, Sam Longden, Grace Lee, Jake Lloyd, Bernice Edgeworth and Geoff Short).

Overall, head coach Kristof Mchaliszyn was very pleased with all of the performances and gave great praise to everybody involved for their commitment and encouragement of fellow swimmers and the building of a new team spirit.

1st Hatfield 76 points, 2nd Watford 144 points, 3rd Stortford 160 points, 4th Hoddesdon 204 poins 5th Harpenden 219 points, 6th Hemel Hempsted 230 points