Stockport Metro swimmers in medal success

While the Olympian swimmers are soaking in success at Rio, Stockport Metro are basking in their own UK medal haul.

‘Wolfpack’, from Life Leisure’s Stockport Metro Swimming programme, have had a summer of success bringing back a total of 38 medals from the recent British Summer Champs and English Home Nations.

British Summer Camps going for gold

It was all gold at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge, with the club securing 10 in total.

Katie Matts (17) won golds in the 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke and the 200m Individual Medley; Holly Hibbott (16) swam one of her best ever times to secure the 400m Free title, as well as winning golds in the 200m Fly and 800m Freestyle.

Another inspirational swim came from Emma Gage (27), who only returned to performance swimming last year, won silver in the 50m Fly and topped the podium alongside Katie, Holly, Lucy McKenzie and Anna Newlands, in the 4 x 100 Freestyle, 4x200m Freestyle and the 4x100m Medley relay teams.

Emma said: “It was an amazing competition for the club. The final event was the medley relay which we weren’t favourites to win, at least on paper. The pressure was really on – I certainly felt it as the anchor leg! When we won the gold it was fantastic and a great way to round off a very successful competition. It was also Anna’s last race with us – she’s heading off to university – so the whole thing was pretty emotional.”

Fellow British Summer National Medal winners were, Lizzie Harris (15) 200 Free silver and 400 Free bronze, Holly Hibbott (16) 200 Free silver and 100 Fly bronze, Katie Matts (17) 50 Breaststroke silver, and Lucy McKenzie (19) 400 Free silver and 400 IM bronze.

Making a splash at the English Home Nations

Life Leisure’s Stockport Metro was the top performing club at the English Home Nations where another impressive performance secured 20 medals.

Stockport Metro’s 17-year old Oliver Crosby was the star story.

Having broken his leg awkwardly in a freak accident in September 2015, Oliver made an amazing recovery to win golds in the 100m and 200m Breaststroke, and the 200m Individual Medley.

Simon Smith (31) & Hannah Jones (18), in their final competition for Stockport Metro, won golds in the 50m Breaststroke and 400 IM respectively.

Ciaran Beard-Jones (21) held his title for the second year running achieving a PB and a gold medal in the 100m Backstroke.

Megan Sheard (15) became double national champion with victories in the 200 IM and 400 Free. Alisha Hawkins (15) completed a very successful second week for the Wolfpack with gold in the 800m Free.

Fellow Home Nations Medal winners were, Kiera Henley (15) 200 Free silver, Jake Clappison (16) 100 Free silver, Megan Sheard (15) 200 Fly silver, Alisha Hawkins (15) 200 IM and 100 Free silvers and 200 Free bronze, Daniel New (15) 50 Breaststroke bronze, Kate Butler (13) 200 Backstroke bronze, Rebecca Pearson (13) 200 Breaststroke bronze and, Amy West (12) 200 Breaststroke bronze.

Stockport Metro Performance Director Sean Kelly, said: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster year for the club. We were really disappointed not to have had any qualifiers for Rio – a number of our swimmers narrowly missed out on places. But the secret of true success is the ability to bounce back and the performances at these recent competitions demonstrates the dedication, talent and potential in the team. I’m incredibly proud of them.”