League Could Go Either Way for Wey

Teams: Alton, Winchester, Wey Valley, Woking B, Isle of Wight, Fareham and Havant & Waterlooville.

Going in to the final round of this year's Premier League Wey Valley swimming club knew that they were just 5 points off the top of the league whilst just 10 points from the bottom 2 at the same time. It was not going to be a night for relaxing at any stage of the gala. Last year Wey Valley cemented their new place in Division Three with a solid mid-table finish and the target from the coaching team was a similar finish. But in a table as tight as this all sorts of scenarios were possible.

The start was very exciting for Wey Valley with wins straight away from Ed Chapman in the Boys 9 years 50 metres freestyle and Mark Tuddenham in the U12 boys 50 metres backstroke and second and third places from Oliver Goodlud and Lara Davison in the boys and girls 50m butterfly. Suddenly Wey Valley were putting unexpected pressure on the pre-gala favourites Alton and Winchester. Another first place from Elliott Taylor in the U11 50m breaststroke left Wey Valley tight at the top going into the relays.

The relays are normally a strong discipline for Wey Valley but tonight the best results were a few third places with too many 5^th and 6^th places to keep the momentum going. So tight is this league that no sooner had the swimmers been challenging for the top that they then had to regather their thoughts and worry about the teams below them that were sucking them back down the table.

Up stepped Ed Chapman for his second swim of the night and another very good first place in the 9 year old boys 50 metres backstroke. Luke Edwards and Callum Black followed him into the water to record second places in the boys U12 Butterfly and U11 freestyle respectively. Despite this Wey Valley were slipping down the points table and were now lying 5^th out of 7, there could be no more positions dropped.

Tom Kearsey was the first to respond with a 1^st place in the U12 boys 50m breaststroke and then Davis Taylor followed the earlier example of his twin brother Elliott by winning the 50m U11 boys backstroke in 43.57. For the girls Emily Whall recorded what turned out to be their first and only victory of the night in the U13 girls 50m butterfly in 36.33.

Second places from Becky Doran in the backstroke and Mark Tuddenham in freestyle and several third places across the team were enough to comfortably secure Wey Valley's place in Division 3, just as the coaches had predicted at the start of the night. In the end Wey Valley finished 4^th on the night with 210 points, just 15 points off second place and comfortably ahead of the teams in the bottom half of the table. Winchester were the run away winners on 272.5 points.

Club Chairman Jeni Colbourne commented after the gala "We achieved our target of keeping ahead of Woking B and Isle of Wight. Again the younger swimmers showed the strength that we have coming up through the club and I am delighted for the Taylor twins and Ed Chapman with his two wins. But overall we never really looked in trouble because of the solid team effort that is typical of Wey Valley."

Chris Michael