Huntingdon Piranhas sent to Coventry but come back with medal haul

HUNTINGDON Piranhas swimmers headed west to Coventry for the 2012 Sprint gala on Saturday and came home with veritable haul of medals.

Each competitor swam fifty metres, one length of the Olympic length pool, at each stroke - then the swimmers with the eight fastest aggregate times competed in 200 metre individual medley races.

Eleven-year-old Jess Mansfield won all of her races, Mia Leech,10, won two silvers and a bronze, while William Steel, 11, and Emma Leslie, also 11, won a silver each. Nine-year-old Henry Pearce won a well earned bronze.

Piranhas swimmers competed hard all day and with eight qualifiers for each age-group final there were a few spots up for grabs. In total, 11 swimmers swam the finals with Mansfield and Katie Rogers, 17, getting gold, and Leech silver.

“Katie’s gold was a surprise,” said John Richards, the club’s head coach. “She hadn’t medalled all day on the sprints but her strength and stamina paid off in the much tougher finals.

“All our swimmers did themselves proud today. It has been a great day.”

In total, 22 Huntingdon swimmers made the trip up the A14 and, of the 11 finalists, many swam the race of their lives to finish higher than they qualified.

Richards continued: “We’ve been working on all the technical aspects of swimming for months now.

“Our youngsters are really improving and we have a very healthy position with a large number of swimmers from six upwards coming through.

“We’re feeling the Olympic legacy for real.”