Local swimmers recently competed in the Microgaming Sprint Meet, the final event of the season before the summer break.
Swimmers could race over 50m on all four strokes, apart from the 8 – 9 years who did 25m, with point scored from each event added to decide the best in each age group.
Southern’s Andrew Cowley, 23, was in fine form in the 14 and over section to take the top podium spot ahead of recently returned NatWest Island Games competitors, Jonathan Price and Philip Harrison, both swimming for Douglas.
Cowley won the freestyle and butterfly, the former just 1/100 of a second ahead of Harrison, with Price taking the breaststroke and backstroke.
At the other end of the age scale, in the 8 – 9 years, Ciara Cassidy of Douglas, was the only swimmer of the whole competition who remained unbeated in all her events.
Her time of 17.14 for the butterfly was particularly impressive and gave her an eight second victory.
In the corresponding boys' events, Ramsey's Joshua Corteen was unlucky not to score maximum points with wins in all but the breaststroke, where he was second to Timothy Payne of Douglas by just 1/100 of a second.
Sarah Wignall was also close to a clean sweep, but was beaten by her Southern team mate, Megan Howland in the backstroke in the 10 -11 years age group.
Visiting swimmer, Sarah Forshaw, was the highest point scorer in the 14 and over girls with wins in the freestyle and butterfly, but finished second behind Ramseian’s NatWest Island Games swimmers Olivia Rawlinson and Poppy Evans in the backstroke and breaststroke respectively.
In the 12-13 age group, Allana Kelly won three races out of four, but finished out of the points on the breaststroke and lost the overall top place to fellow Douglas swimmer Charlotte Atkinson, who finished 2nd to Kelly in all the races she won, and gained valuable extra points with a fourth spot in the breaststroke.
Two firsts and two seconds were enough to get 12 year old Sam Kebbell (Douglas) to the top of the rostrum, three point clear of team mate Mark Copparelli, who was victorious in the backstroke and second in the freestyle and butterfly.
Guy Davies, for Southern, was the other winner in this section, by taking the breaststroke by over four seconds.
Also for Southern, Jacob Callow started and ended the evening with wins in the freestyle and butterfly, and finished third in the two other races, which was enough to give him top spot in the 10-11 years.
Second place overall went to Ben Kebbell, who achieved three 2nds and one 3rd.
Duncan Wilson was third after a win in the backstroke and a second place in the freestyle.
Results: 8-9 years, GIRLS – 1, C. Cassidy (Douglas) 32 points: 2,= C. Bregazzi (D) 26, C. Danes (Southern) 26. BOYS – 1, J. Corteen (Ramseian) 31: 2, T. Payne (D) 22: 3, T. Weatherill (S) 20. 10-11 years, GIRLS – 1, S. Wignall (S) 31: 2, R. Cowin (R) 26: 3, M. Howland (S) 20. BOYS – 1, J. Callow (S) 28: 2, B. Kebbell (D) 27: 3, D. Wilson (D) 26. 12-13 years, GIRLS – 1, C. Atkinson (D) 25: 2, A. Kelly (D) 24: 2, K. Callow (R) 22. BOYS – 1, S. Kebbell (D) 30: 2, M. Copparelli (D) 27: 3, G. Davies (S) 24. 14 and over, GIRLS – 1, S. Forshaw (R) 30: 2, O. Rawlinson (R) 28: 3, P. Evans (R) 23. BOYS – 1, A. Cowley (S) 26: 2, J. Price (D) 25: 3, P. Harrison (D) 22.
Pictured: Winning girls with coach Sacha Djerfi
