News - Abingdon 2009-01

Lauren wins Best Girl Award at the Abingdon Vale Open Meet

The first competition of the New Year (Jan 2009) for Aylesbury-based Maxwell Swim Club saw more than 20 of its swimmers travelling to Abingdon Vale for an action packed event that included a delay due to a power cut caused by overheating lights. Coach Ally Brewer commented that in her view “the star of the meet was Finley O'Brien (10), because it was in his 50m Backstroke race that we had the power cut and after waiting 20 minutes to get the lights back, he went back into the water to gain a personal best time of 46.62, winning him a gold medal.”

Lauren Jones (14) came home with four Gold medals, winning the 100m Backstroke in 1:16.68; the 100m Breaststroke in 1:30.45; the 100m Butterfly in 1:16.47; and the 100m Freestyle in 1:08.27. Her overall performance earned her the Best Girl Award for the Meet.

The first places achieved by Lauren and Finley were complemented by Gold Medals for Caitlin Wheatley (11) in the 100m Backstroke in a time of 1:22.14 and in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 1:13.50; Olivia Woodrow (11) who finished in 1:27.35 to win the 100m Individual Medley; and Alexander Brown (12) who won the 100m Butterfly event in a time of 1:32.04.

Whilst the above swimmers also won a number of other Medals between them, the overall haul for Maxwell was also aided by Laura Jones (12) who earned a Silver in the 100m Freestyle and a Bronze in the 200m Individual Medley.

Two other noteworthy performances came from Leah Picillo (11) who gained Speeding Tickets for each of the events she took part in and Michael Witham who was taking part in his first competition having just turned 9 and who achieved personal best times in all of his races.

Well done to all of the Maxwell swimmers who attended the meet with the others competing being Jerome Parkins, Abbey Winterburn, Emily Smith, Roselee Jones, Ellie Picillo, Erin Alder, Megan Jones, Trudi Wheatley, Ben Aston, Thomas Gaskell, Chloe Brewer, Emily Jones, Amy Thomas and Caitlin Miles.