PERSHORE were handed another tough draw in the Worcester Winter League in Round 2, coming up against some of the strongest teams in the competition including Redditch A and Stourbridge A.

Pershore had an excellent start to the gala, with the mixed 11/u medley relay team of Megan Annis, Hamish Cross, Macey French, Patrick Heeks, Alexandra Barry and Kieran Cooper proving too fast for the opposition.

The team stormed to victory in 1.44.53, with Redditch A almost five metres behind Cooper on the anchor leg.

Jasmine Taite claimed third in the 15/u 100m free in 1.05.84, whilst Tyler McLean, who has recently come back to the Pershore team, battled hard for fourth in the boys event in 1.02.31.

Amy Weston was just edged into third place in the 13/u 100m back, putting in a superb effort in 1.10.90.

Pershore’s second maximum of the night came courtesy of Simon Sweatman, dominating the field in the boys 100m back and winning with a clear margin in 1.09.00.

Katie Sharratt and Michael Evans both battled hard in the Open 100m fly, producing times of 1.22.53 and 1.15.21 respectively.

Barry was soon back in action in the girls 11/u 50m freestyle and again was victorious, producing a massive personal best to win in 31.13.

Cooper nearly made it back-to-back wins in the boys 50m free, touching in second in 32.91.

Weston came fourth in the 13/u 100m fly in 1.17.32, while Chris Vizard produced a powerful display in the boys event to snatch second in 1.15.56.

Alex Dobell and Angus Jones faced national-level opposition in the Open 100m backstroke, both producing strong swims in 1.19.09 and 1.11.03 respectively.

Annis ensured another victory for Pershore in the girls 11/u 50m backstroke, leading from the start to win comfortably in 35.84.

Heeks also looked dominant for Pershore in the boys 50m event, again winning with a clear margin in 36.44.

Amy Cooper produced a 1.18.59 in the 15/u 100m fly, while Jack Betteridge claimed fourth place in the boys 100m fly in 1.14.32.

Annis could quite make it a hat-trick of swims, coming third in the girls 13/u 100m breaststroke in 1.28.62 against some strong regional swimmers.

Will Gearey was in fantastic form, winning the boys 100m breaststroke in a new pb of 1.18.93 and holding off the challenge from his older Stourbridge rival.

After 20 events, Stourbridge had a slim lead over Redditch A, with Pershore back in third, Redditch B in fourth and Orion back in fifth.

Barry produced another good swim in the girls 11/u 50m fly, this time having to settle for second in 35.19.

Heeks made it two individual wins from two, leaving his competitors in his wake in the boys 50m fly, touching in first in 35.91.

Hannah Simister looked strong in the girls 15/u 100m breaststroke coming home in 1.28.12, while McLean, coming back from a long-term injury, claimed a superb second in the boys 100m breaststroke in 1.15.91.

Harry Sykes dipped under the one minute barrier in the men’s Open 100m freestyle in 58.97 which was enough for third place – again against national-level opposition.

Annis then claimed second place in the girls 11/u 50m breastroke, hitting the wall in 39.72 and another personal best.

Cross, one of many of the club’s up-and-coming young swimmers, was unlucky not to win the boys 50m breaststroke, literally losing on the touch in 42.91 and again producing another massive personal best.

Taite took fourth place in the girls 15/u 100m back in 1.16.18, while Owen Leeks claimed a much-needed third in the boys 100m back in 1.12.75.

Barry, swimming up an age group, produced a brave effort in the girls 13/u 100m free to clock 1.11.50, whilst Gearey produced a blistering time of 1.00.91 in the boys 13/u 100m freestyle to claim his second victory and the fastest short-course time set by a 12-year old this year.

Alice Hall was in good form in the girls open 100m breaststroke, setting a time of 1.27.29 while Sykes took the second spot in the men’s open event in an excellent time of 1.15.31.

With just the relays left, Pershore’s teams kept on delivering the goods, with wins for the mixed 11/u 6 x 25m freestyle (French, Heeks, Barry, Cross, Annis, Cooper) in 1.31.91 and mixed 13/u 6 x 25m freestyle relay team (Weston, Vizard, Barry, Gearey, Annis, Sweatman).

The final scores 1/ Redditch A 199 points 2/ Stourbridge A 197 3/ Pershore 158 4/ Redditch B 123 5/ Orion 121.

Pershore’s head coach, Tom Naughton, said: “I couldn’t have asked more from the whole team and there were some notable individual performances from Hamish Cross, Tyler McLean and Hannah Simister.

“It was great to see our 11/u swimmers so dominant too both in the individual races and relays too. It’s going to be tight whether we’ll make the final but you can be sure we’ll be battling our hardest to get there!”