Talented young swimmers lead the way
20th March 2005Young University of Bath swimmers led the way in the last two days of the British Long Course Championships with both Stacey Tadd and Matt Tutty winning their first senior national titles.
Sixteen-year-old Stacey Tadd proved she has put a serious knee injury behind her by taking gold in the women's 200m individual medley - winning the race by almost two seconds. The Radstock swimmer was back in fourth place at the half-way mark, but moved through swiftly to lead the race in the breaststroke leg to win in 2:16.96, a new personal best.
It completed a full set of medals for the pupil at Norton Hill School, Midsomer Norton - she took silver in the 400m individual medley and bronze in the 200m breaststroke at the British Championships and World Championship Trials in Manchester.
She also achieved qualification times for the European Junior Championships, which take place in Hungary in July.
There was also a big surprise in the men's 50m freestyle on the final day of competition with TeamBath's Matt Tutty beating four-times Olympian and University of Bath Swimming Club team-mate Mark Foster to take gold.
Foster has dominated the event domestically but had to settle for bronze as Tutty won in 22.77 seconds, with Matt Clay finishing fifth in the final.
Tutty, still only 20, set a personal best in each round of the competition and has also achieved the qualification time for this year's World University Games. He also went below the 23 seconds barrier for the first time in Manchester.
Olympian Darren Mew put recent injuries behind him to beat rival James Gibson in the 100m breaststroke. Mew had finished second in the 50m breaststroke but struck gold over 100m in 1:01.28 to retain his title.
There was a double cause for celebration as his time in the final was spot on the qualification time for this summer's World Championships in Montreal.
Ross Davenport qualified for the World University Games when he took silver in the 200m freestyle. Matt Clay struck silver in the 50m backstroke on Saturday and there was a bronze for endurance swimmer Alan Bircher in the 1500m freestyle on Sunday.
The weekend's results mean the University of Bath Swimming Club netted a total of five golds, six silvers and three bronzes at the championships - eclipsing their haul of three golds, three silvers and five bronzes at last year's championships.
David Lyles, head coach of the University of Bath Swimming Club, said: "I'm particularly pleased by the performances of some of our younger swimmers, who have really come through at these championships.
"It shows how well we can take young swimmers and develop their talent to enable them to fulfil their potential," he added. "We did that with Darren Mew and now Stacey Tadd and Matt Tutty are showing their potential.
"It shows we have a complete spectrum of swimmers at the University of Bath," he said.
Another young swimmer to do well in Manchester was 13-year-old Royal High School pupil Alex Warren. She was sixth in the final of the 200m breaststroke, setting the qualification time for the European Youth Olympic Festival, but is likely to miss the squad for the event as her time was bettered by another swimmer of the same age.
University of Bath swimmers Janne Schaefer and Zoe Baker put in impressive performances in the semi-finals of the 50m breaststroke. Janne produced easily the quickest time in the semis, clocking 31.45 seconds, while Zoe was third quickest with 32.40 seconds, along neither could swim in the final - Janne is German and Zoe is now classified as a New Zealander.
The University of Bath Swimming Club just missed out on the men's team title, finishing second by just four points.
Medals won by University of Bath swimmers
Gold
Mark Foster - men's 50m butterfly
Robin Francis - men's 200m individual medley
Darren Mew - men's 100m breaststroke
Stacey Tadd - women's 200m individual medley
Matt Tutty - men's 50m freestyle
Silver
Matt Clay - men's 50m backstroke
Ross Davenport - men's 100m freestylev- men's 200m freestyle
Jenny Lyles - women's 50m freestyle
Darren Mew - men's 50m breaststroke
Stacey Tadd - women's 400m individual medley
Bronze
Alan Bircher - men's 1500m freestyle
Mark Foster - men's 50m freestyle
Stacey Tadd - women's 200m breaststroke