Dunstable SC's awesome foursome help Beds to 14th place in Sheffield

Four Dunstable SC swimmers competed for Bedfordshire in the Inter County Team Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield recently.
Dunstable SCs Ellie King, Maia Morgan, Ollie Ellison and Walter HackettDunstable SCs Ellie King, Maia Morgan, Ollie Ellison and Walter Hackett
Dunstable SCs Ellie King, Maia Morgan, Ollie Ellison and Walter Hackett

With 36 county teams involved, which equated to over 900 swimmers, Bedfordshire were in Division Two, alongside 15 other teams and were looking for a better finish than the bottom place they recorded last year.

Bedfordshire took a team of 28 swimmers as four were selected from Dunstable SC, who were Ellie King, Maia Morgan, Ollie Ellison and Walter Hackett.

King was the first of the DSC contingent to perform, as she placed ninth overall in the 16/17yrs 100m backstroke with a solid swim of 1.07.27mins, beating the time she set earlier this year at the ASA Individual National Championships.

Next up was Ellison representing the county for the second time this year in the 12/13yrs 100m freestyle.

He managed a superb swim, knocking over half a second off his PB in a time of 1.02.38mins for 13th place.

On her debut for the county, Morgan competed in the breaststroke leg of the 12/13yrs 200m medley relay, with a split time of 37.34secs seeing her team to 10th place overall.

The last of the DSC quartet to make a splash was Hackett in the 12/13yrs 100m backstroke.

He had an fantastic swim smashing three and a half seconds off his entry time and over a second off his most recent PB, clocking 1.06.01mins, while swimming in the next lane to Mark Ford from Scotland West, the fastest 13yrs backstroker in the UK, for sixth place overall.

After a very short rest, the youngster was straight into the 100m butterfly, coming 13th overall and setting another PB of 1.11.84mins.

King was also in action once more in the 16/17yrs 200m medley relay, and turned out another great swim in the freestyle leg of 28.56secs.

Ellison and Hackett then both went in the 12/13yrs medley relay as Hackett led the team off in the backstroke with another unofficial PB of 31.03secs, and Ellison bringing his side home with a fantastic split time of 27.68secs.

The final event, the 6x50m freestyle relay, three boys, three girls, any age, saw King (28.70secs) and Hackett (27.85secs) represent DSC and the county as both swimmers rounded off their day in style.

The quartet’s efforts saw Bedfordshire beat Cornwall and Shropshire to finish in 14th place, with Scotland West winning the Division.

The Dunstable SC members were looked after on the day by the poolside management team of Chris Haden (Beds Competition Secretary), Beds President Rosemary Currell, and Beds ASA official Mathew Haden, along with head coach Doug Kerr, assistant coach Carina Quayle and team managers Anita Goodyer and Anna O’Dell.

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