CASA Dominate Opening Round of Lincs Swimming League

 

 

CASA started the season in style with a stunning 1-2 in the opening round of the Lincolnshire Swimming League. The gala, held at the Riddings Pool, Scunthorpe, on 31st January saw the two CASA teams record an amazing 37 first places out of 48 events to leave the competition trailing in their wake.

 

The teams competing were Grantham, Grimsby Santa Marina, City of Lincoln Pentaqua, CASA Red and CASA Green.

 

The successful CASA partnership (between Cleethorpes & District (CADS) and Scunthorpe Anchor Swimming Clubs) normally sees the swimmers from both clubs joining forces to put out the strongest team. For this league, however, with no National Final to aim for, the two clubs compete separately with CADS swimming as CASA Red and Scunthorpe as CASA Green.

 

And it was the CADS swimmers that came out on top by swimming to victory in an incredible 28 events compared to Scunthorpe’s 9, Pentaqua’s 7, Grimsby’s 4 and Grantham’s 0. This dominant showing saw CASA Red top the table with 249 points with CASA Green coming second with 212 points.

 

CADS Chief Coach, Dan Higgon was delighted with the result and said ” What a great result for both us and Scunthorpe. This really does show that the work we have done together has benefited both clubs tremendously. The friendly rivalry with Scunthorpe made this an exciting gala with swimmers from both teams digging that little bit deeper against their friends.”  He went on “I am really proud of all our swimmers tonight and several have smashed their previous personal best times. To be doing this so early bodes well for the rest of the season.”

 

Final results of the gala were:

 

1st         CASA Red                              245 points

2nd        CASA Green                           212 points

3rd         City of Lincoln Pentaqua ‘A’            167 points

4th            Grantham                                 149 points

5th            Grimsby Santa Marina              145 points

 

The night started with Aisley Leeman of  Scunthorpe recording a victory in the mens open 100m freestyle followed by CADS wins by Katie over in the Womens Open 100m freestyle and the 10 years and under boys freestyle relay team.

 

Grimsby Santa Marina won the next event, the girls 10 yrs and under freestyle relay, but a further five wins in the opening ten events saw CADS open up a clear lead with 55 points to Scunthorpe’s 41. It was a lead that was never threatened and although the CADS swimmers went on to record an incredible 28 first places on the night the statistics don’t show how close some of the races were.

 

One of the highlights was an great race involving Leah Altoft of CADS and Lauren York of Scunthorpe in the Womens Open 100m breaststroke. The two girls were matching each other stroke for stroke throughout the race with both swimmers determined to win. In the end Leah touched first in a time of 1 min 16.33 sec ahead of Lauren in 1 min 16.87 sec. Their speed was empahsised by the third place swimmer coming in a full eleven seconds later.

 

There were a number of other extremely close finishes between the two clubs but more times than not it was the CADS swimmers who came out on top. On top of their 28 first places they recorded 8 second places and 9 third places which meant CADS were only out of the top three in 2 events.

 

Scunthorpe meanwhile scored 19 second places on top of their 9 firsts and this consistency saw them chasing CADS all the way to the end of the gala.

 

CADS individual winners on the night were:

 

Katie Over                   Womens Open 100m freestyle

James Burke                Boys 12 yrs 50m backstroke, Boys 12 yrs 50m freestyle

Savannah Cheung            Girls 12 yrs 50m backstroke, Girls 12 yrs 50m butterfly

Zach Amin                   Mens Open 100m breaststroke, Mens Open 100m backstroke

Leah Altoft                   Womens Open 100m breastroke, Girls 14 yrs 100m backstroke, Girls 14 yrs 100m breaststroke

Sophie Long                Girls 14 yrs 100m freestyle, Girls 14 yrs 100m butterfly

Jonti Bartlett                Boys 10 yrs 50m freestyle

Charlotte Steels              Womens open 100m backstroke

Niamh Legge               Girls 10 yrs 50m breaststroke

Molly Over                   Girls 12 yrs 50m freestyle

Sam Legge                  Boys 10 yrs 50m backstroke

 

In addition CADS recorded victory in eleven of the nights sixteen relay events.

 

The next round of the League will be held on Saturday 9th May when CASA Red will be competing at Spalding.