Vulcans Too Strong For CASA in Lincs League Final

The final of the Lincs Swimming League took place on Saturday 28^th June at the Yarborough leisure centre in Lincoln. Six teams had reached the final; defending champions Lincoln Vulcans, CASA Red, CASA Green, South Lincs, Trenton Dolphins and Lincoln Pentaqua. Although CASA normally compete as a mixed Cleethorpes and Scunthorpe team it had been decided that for this league, whilst still using the CASA name, the teams would stay with their local swimmers. Hence CASA Red comprised entirely of Cleethorpes & District swimmers and CASA Green entirely of Scunthorpe Anchor swimmers.

CASA Red and Lincoln Vulcans had both recorded straight, big margin, wins in the previous two rounds and this was the first time that that the two teams had faced each other this year. Although Vulcans have dominated this league for the last decade, the word on the street was that they were starting to worry that the quickly improving CASA team were starting to bite at their heels. Equally, CASA saw this as a good opportunity to test its progress against one of the best clubs in the country.

The tension in the air was noticeable as the start of the gala drew near. The first event was the boys open 100m freestyle and this was won by CASA Green with Vulcans in third place. Any thoughts of Vulcans struggling, though, were quickly removed as they went on to win the next seven events. The run was stopped by Alex Donington of CASA Red who won the boys open 100m breaststroke in style with a time of 1 min 11.72 sec. Vulcans were soon back to winning ways however with another straight seven victorys and went on to dominate the final with 34 wins out of the 48 events and scoring 260 points.

In a strong second place were the Cleethorpes swimmers of CASA Red with 200 points, third CASA Green (178 points), fourth Lincoln Pentaqua (142 points), fifth Trenton Dolphins (113 points) and sixth South Lincs (108 points).

Other Cleethorpes wins on the night came from Leah Altoft (Girls 14/U 100m breaststroke), Glen Batten (Boys open 100m backstroke), Sophie Long (14/U 100m butterfly) and the boys open 4 x 50m individual relay team of Glen Batten, Alex Donington, Zach Amin and Phil Gawrylo.

CASA Red also recorded twenty five second places and there were a number of very exciting races where Lincoln Vulcans and CASA Red were neck and neck throughout the race. It is a testament to Vulcans race experience that in every one of these close races they came out the winner, often by fractions of a second.

Chief Coach Nathan Hilton was upbeat about the results. He said “Lincoln Vulcans have been one of the best clubs in the country for a long time and whilst we got closer than we did last year, they have proved that there is still a big gap. In some ways this has come at a useful time for us because it shows that however much we have improved we still have a lot more to do. We aim to come back stronger next year and close the gap further and it gives us confidence that most of our swimmers were swimming up this year and will still be in the same age group next year. Also the fact that both CASA teams came in the top three demonstrates the benefits of our cooperation. Overall it has been a good night for us with a large number of personal best times recorded and a good all round team effort.”

The next time the two teams meet head to head will be in the final of the Junior Lincs League in September and CASA are hoping its strong squad of younger swimmers will push the champions all the way.

CADS welcomes swimmers of all abilities and offer learn to swim lessons through to top level competition. For more information or a no obligation trial please contact Nathan Hilton at nathanhiltoncads@hotmail.com or on 07725 597734.