Melton swimmers rises to the occasion at East Midlands Champs

Melton's boys squad, from left - Will Graham, Igor Jones, Connor Boylan, Tom Rochelle, Josh Tapsell, Michael Hill, Adam Drew, George Peberdy, Benedict Pater, Sam Gillespie, Christiaan Williams EMN-190515-112101002

A 14-strong contingent from the club headed to Ponds Forge, in Sheffield, and qualified for 10 finals, earning four medals, and clocking up 19 personal best times.

The morning session saw Beth Walker claim her place in the 16yrs 50m butterfly final, finishing 10th fastest in a time extremely close to her PB.

Michael Hill and Will Graham followed and both qualified for the 17/O 50m freestyle final where Hill would go on to secure silver in a time of 24.34secs, a fraction ahead of Graham who took bronze in 24.50.

Melton's girls trio at the East Midlands Championships, from left, Fleur Ellingworth, Beth Walker Clarice Ellingworth EMN-190515-112111002

The afternoon session also provided even greater success with seven further Melton finalists.

There were two more finals for Walker in the 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle, claiming an excellent bronze medal in the breaststroke event in a PB of 35.14secs, and then seventh place in the freestyle in another personal best of 28.72secs.

Clarice Ellingworth qualified for the 17/O 50m breaststroke and placed sixth in 35.08secs.

In the 50m butterfly finals, Graham took his second medal of the championships when he won silver in the 17/0 age group, clocking a PB of 25.69.

Medallists Will Graham and Beth Walker EMN-190515-112051002

Tom Rochelle placed ninth in the 16yrs age group, also in a PB of 27.81secs, while Adam Drew dipped below the 30-second mark for the first time, finishing eighth in the 14yrs age group, in 29.81.

George Peberdy followed suit with a superb swim in the heats to qualify for the 50m backstroke final in a personal best and club record of 29.77secs, placing sixth.

Rochelle had an exciting swim-off in the 50m freestyle as a reserve finalist, knocking a huge 0.7secs off his time in the heats to record 25.51secs.

And Fleur Ellingworth, making her regional debut, recorded a personal best in the 19-24yrs 50m breaststroke with a time of 36.61secs.

Melton had two swimmers on the 50m freestyle podium as Michael Hill pipped Graham to the silver EMN-190515-112041002

Additionally new long-course bests were set in the 50m breaststroke for Christian Williams (35.60secs), George Peberdy (34.70secs), and Benedict Pater (36.53secs), in the 50m butterfly for Sam Gillespie (28.66secs) and Igor Jones (28.69secs), and in the 50m freestyle for Connor Boylan (26.48s).

Josh Tapsell also had two solid swims with a 50m freestyle PB of 25.96secs, while registering 28.24secs in the butterfly.