HARLOW Penguins took a squad of 8 girls: Celeste Andrew, Georgina Pryor, Megan Cook, Lauren Nelson, Meg Wickham, Caitlin Mascall, Kirsty Vears, Olivia Holleyman and 4 Men: Lee Baker, Bradley Veitch, Hayden Thomas, Mason Arnold to the East Region Swimming Championships in Norwich over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Top performer Penguins performer was Georgie Pryor, who after her recent Olympic Trials, dominated the 17&Over Butterfly events, winning the 100m event by almost 3 seconds in a time of in a 1:02.53 and then producing a fast 27.60 to claim the 50m Butterfly title. In addition to her fly, Georgie also claimed a bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley in a time of 2:26.02 and finished 5th in the 100m Freestyle in a time of 59.94 secs.

Perhaps the most pleasing result of the weekend was Celeste Andrew’s 50m Butterfly, after qualifying 6th for the final, Celly’s stormed down the pool to finish 3rd and claim her first regional medal in a new personal best time of 30.47 secs.

Penguins other medallist on the weekend was Hayden Thomas, swimming in the 50m Breaststroke, Hayden got in amongst the 4 Putteridge swimmers in the final, to claim the bronze medal in a new best time of 30.88 secs. Hayden had an outstanding weekend, setting best times in the 200m Breast of 2:36.09 and 1:09.13 when finishing 6th in the 100m Breaststroke final.

Breaststroke was a source of finalists for Penguins over the weekend , in the Girls 16 year age group Meg Wickham and Caitlin Mascall both achieved finals in the 50m, 100m and 200m events. In the 200m Breast Caitlin was placed 4th in a time of 2:58.56 and Meg’s time of 3:00.07 was placed 6th, in the 50m event Caitlin was 7th (37.61) and Meg 8th (38.34). In their last event of the weekend, the 100m Breast, Meg was placed 6th in a time of 1:22.58 and Caitlin 7th (1:22.65).

Over the weekend the Club had numerous other finalists, Lee Baker produced his fastest 50m Freestyle time of 24.99 in claiming 4th place in the final and set a new personal best time of 55.15 secs in the 100m Free. Bradley Veitch finished 6th in the 17 & over 200m Freestyle final in a time of 2:01.94 and set a new best time of 2:18.73 in the Mens 200m Butterfly to finish 6th in the final along with Mason Arnold who finished 8th in a time of 2:20.52. Also in the 200m Butterfly events, swimming in the girls 16 year age group Megan Cook finished 7th in a time of 2:41.46.

The Club has strength in depth in the Senior Mens events, chasing a National qualifying time, the 17 & over Mens 4×100 Freestyle relay team of Hayden Thomas (56.04), Bradley Veitch (55.70), Mason Arnold (56.16) and Lee Baker (54.10) produced a great finish and just missed out on a bronze medal, finishing 4th.