It was always going to be a hard meet for Newcastle’s swimming team against local rivals, Northumbria, but the team did themselves proud on the day, putting in some strong individual performances, which the final score did not reflect.
Starting off solid, Newcastle Swimming’s Lucy Ellis demonstrated the team’s strength by winning the first event, the 200 metre free. NUSwim then went on to hold Northumbria in the 100 metre back, with Captain Emily Shone coming a close second by just 10 milliseconds, as well as the 100 metre breast with Captain Ben Purcell being out-touched by milliseconds.
It was clear that throughout the meet that Northumbria were strongest in the 100 metre distances, but come the 50 metre sprints, NUSwim won convincingly, and with ease. Issy Centeleghe fought hard to win the 50m fly, as well as our relays in both the medley and freestyle relays, demonstrating our power. Whilst Northumbria may have won the meet overall, our swimmers showed incredible sportsmanship, with many of our swimmers smashing times, as well as racing in events never swum before. Watch out Northumbria – Newcastle Swimming is coming for the Stan Calvert 2018 title!