Vulcan swimmers shine at Winter Midlands Championships
Battling against several performance clubs, the open men's 1,500m freestyle title was won by Will Jolly in 15.32.80 and the junior girls' 1,500m freestyle title was won by Grace Conlon, 14, on day one of the competition.
Grace also took the open silver position with her swim of 17.31.40
The highlight of day two was the 800m freestyle race where Vulcans' male swimmers totally dominated the field in the 800m event, taking the top three spots.
Jack Burnell, 16, broke the East Midlands regional record previously held by Daniel Mills, of Nova Centurion, by seven seconds with a time of 8.03.70.
He was followed by team-mates Will Jolly, 18, in 8.18.29 for silver and 14-year-old Oliver Bitowt in 8.23.11for bronze.
In doing so, Oliver added the junior gold title to his open bronze.
Oliver swam an impressive series of races.
Not satisfied with breaking two of his own county records, he raced the 400m free and 200m IM free where he took the 100m individual medley record and also set a new 400m individual medley record of 4.41.90, beating by four seconds the current record set by Lincolnshire's Olympic swimmer Paul Palmer 20 years ago when he was aged 14.
Oliver's medal tally stood at five golds, two silvers and a bronze, having reached three open finals.
Hayley Williams was on good sprinting form, claiming five medals, reaching two open finals and winning junior gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
She added the open 50m breaststroke silver and junior silvers in the 50m free and 100m individual medley.
Mollie Temple produced two excellent swims in the 200m and 400m individual medleys, bringing home a junior silver medal in each of the open finals.
Olly Richmond took silver in the junior 100m IM and 200m backstroke with a new personal best time and also posted a new personal best in his 200m freestyle and 100m IM.
Alex Manley continued to demonstrate his breaststroke skills in earning a place in both the 50m and 100m open finals with strong swims.
Other swimmers who posted personal best times included James Fountain (200m freestyle) Charles Bitowt (100m IM), Oliver Roberts (50m freestyle), Jack Wright (200m freestyle and 200m backstroke), Alison Haworth (200m IM, 200m freestyle, 100m freestyle) and Sophie Lynn (100m fly).
Meanwhile, team-mates Sarah Fountain, brothers Lewis and Fraser Farren, Lauren Freeman and Sean Westerman all produced solid performances for so early in the racing season.
To round the weekend off, Vulcans lads Jack Burnell and Oliver Bitowt were presented with awards for the best overall individual male swims of the meet for their 800m freestyle swims in the open and junior categories, having gained more FINA points for their performances in the 800m freestyle than any other open or junior male swimmer in the entire meet in any other event.
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