PIONEER 79 Swimming Club were well represented at the ASA National Championships, held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

Ewan McKavett competed in the 15 years age group 100m Butterfly. He qualified fourth fastest for the final in a time of 1min 01.14secs, then posted 1.00min .10secs, in the final but dropped a position into fifth place.

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Elodie Smallwood competed in the 14-year-age group in four events, reaching the final in each. In the 50m Butterfly, she clocked a PB of 30.37secs to finish seventh.

The 100m Freestyle, she was seventh again and once more, lowered her best time to 1min 01.56secs.

But there was better to come. In the 100m Butterfly, Elodie qualified sixth fastest for the final with another PB then went 1.5secs quicker in the final to clock 1min 06.07secs to win silver - her first ever national medal.

A second followed soon after when she won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle with a huge PB of 4mins 35.72secs.

Tom Gilroy was also a medal winner, finishing in third place in 100m backstroke in the 19+ years category.

He touched in 58.54secs - which was a personal best time - to win in his first medal at a National Championships, a bronze, finishing third.

Ben Turland competed in the 14 year boys 100m Freestyle, this was Ben’s second National Championships having competed in 2014 at the age of 13. With a time of 59.01secs, he finished 12th overall. Eleanor Collin was invited to compete in the 15 year girls 100m Breaststroke.

After a phenomenal swim in her heat in almost a two second personal best time of 1min 16.24secs, she qualified fastest for the final. But unfortunately in the final, she dropped down to sixth place finishing in a marginally slower time of 1min 16.77secs.

Ben Martin competed in the 15 year boys 50m Butterfly. After a strong performance in his heat, he qualified second fastest for the final in a time of 27.44secs, where he produced a time of 27.08secs, finishing third and taking a well earned bronze medal.

Elodie then joined by Niamh Robinson, Meghann Leaver and Alice Harding for the girls 14-16 year girls 4x100m Freestyle Relay. Having qualified to compete with a time of 4.08.08 from their swim at the Regional Championships in Liverpool, they each swam on or under their pb’s to finish seventh fastest for the final in a time of 4mins 04.19secs. In the final, the girls yet again stepped up a gear and produced a time of 4mins 03.35secs, maintaining their position.

The final event of the ASA National Championships saw Eleanor and Elodie joined by Niamh and Meghann to form the 14-16 year girls 4x100m Medley Relay team - and Pioneer certainly saved the best until last.

At the first take over, Pioneer were in eighth position by some six seconds on the leading team. A strong breaststroke leg by Niamh brought Pioneer up into the lead. Elodie, who had not long swam the final of the 400m Freestyle, managed to keep the lead on the Butterfly leg.

But at the Freestyle take over, the lead was slightly reduced, with Meghann needing to find the swim of her life if Pioneer were to take gold.

At 50m to go, the lead had been snatched by Wycombe District, the atmosphere within Ponds Forge climbed decibels - with Pioneer 79 parents making the most noise cheering their swimmers on.

But at the 20m mark, Meghann found something from somewhere and kicked back into gear. With a blanket finish between three teams, it showed up on the scoreboard; Pioneer 79 had won the gold medal in a time of 4mins 27.73secs, Plymouth Leander took the silver and Wycombe District Bronze.

Coach Mike Wilson, Head Coach of Pioneer 79 Swimming Club was delighted with his swimmers’ efforts. “The performances by our swimmers over the two weeks was phenomenal,” he said. “The standard of commitment, dedication and maturity has produced the perfect end to an intense competition. “Every swimmer produced swims on or around their personal best times and have listened to advice from myself after their heats to go on and produce better swims in their finals. “I would like to congratulate each swimmer for their efforts during the ASA National Championships, and hope that next year, they will go on to produce invitations from British Swimming to compete at the British Summer Championships 2016.”