Vasey and Smithurst added to DX Roster for 2011 Nationals

2 more names have been added to the list of National Qualifiers for this season, at the conclusion of the Derbyshire County Championships.

Sarah Vasey stormed to a well-earned NQT in the 200m Breaststroke, after being voted top performing female swimmer at the recent Tenerife Training Camp. Her time of 2:40.43 was almost 4 secs faster than her previous best time (2:44.1) and was a great return to top form.

Matthew Smithurst also posted his first NQT of the season, in his favourite event, the 200m IM, in a new best time of 2:07.63. After qualifying for the Sem-Finals in this event at the 2010 National Youth Championships, a place in the final will be a realistic target in Sheffield this year. He also came very close to further national standards in the 100m/200m Back and 400m IM.

DX and DXDS Swimmers in Action at Derbyshire County Championships March 2011!

Most of the Derventio eXcel Swimmers have been in action this Month in the Derbyshire County Championships. With Derventio eXcel being the elite squad for the County our swimmers who train full time and compete for us at Regional, National and International events compete in the county championships for their home clubs. Derventio eXcel (DX) swimmers in action were:

• ABBIE WOOD (DX and Buxton) BEN GOODALL (DX and Belper Marlins) - CHRIS STEEPLES (DX and Etwall) CONNOR SMITH (DX and City of Derby) EDWARD BORYSIAK (DX and Ripley RASCALS) EMILY ALLSOPP (DX and Buxton) EMMA LONGDEN (DX and Buxton) EVE FARNSWORTH (DX and City of Derby) EVIE KEANE (DX and Derby Phoenix) FRAN MARSHALL (DX and Belper Marlins) GINA TOVELL-COLEMAN (DX and Long Eaton) HANNAH JONES (DX and Ripley RASCALS) HANNAH SULLIVAN (DX and City of Derby) HARRY WEBSTER (DX and Derby Phoenix) JAMES LATHAM (DX and City of Derby) JAMES LOVATT (DX and Swadlincote) JAMIE INGRAM (DX and Ripley RASCALS) KANE HAGGETT (DX and City of Derby) KATHRYN ROWORTH (DX and Etwall) KELSEY LOVATT (DX and Swadlincote) KEVIN WALLBANK (DX and Long Eaton) LEAH HOLLINGSWORTH (DX and Belper Marlin)s LOUISE RATCLIFFE (DX and Ripley RASCALS) LUCY WOOD (DX and Buxton) MATTHEW SMITHURST (DX and City of Derby) MISCHA MENZIES (DX and Long Eaton) MOLLY RENSHAW (DX and Ripley RASCALS) OLIVER DAVIDSON (DX and Long Eaton) ROSIE WATSON (DX and Swadlincote) RYAN LOVATT (DX and Swadlincote) SARAH VASEY (DX and City of Derby) SASHA WISDISH (DX and Derby Phoenix) TYLER-ANN BLACK (DX and Long Eaton) ZICHEN LIU (DX and Swadlincote)

• DXDS (Derventio eXcel Development Squad) Swimmers in action were: ADAM FORSTER (Ripley RASCALS and DXDS) HANNAH KINGDON (Belper Marlins and DXDS) IMOGEN CLARK (Rykneld and DXDS) JESSICA CROSS (Ripley RASCALS and DXDS) KRISSY TOMLINSON (Ilkeston and DXDS) ROB AINLEY (Belper Marlins and DXDS)

• Although for most of these swimmers the County Championships is not the main competition focus of the year all swimmers put in some really good performances. The Championships saw many of the DX/DXDS swimmers coming away with Trophies, but most importantly personal best times at this point in the season.

• New National Times were achieved by: Abbie Wood (200m Fly, 200m I.M, 400m I.M), Connor Smith (200m I.M), Evie Keane (200m Fly), Matt Smithurst (200m I.M), Sarah Vasey (in a very emotional for me 200m Breaststroke).

• This brings DX to 20 swimmers qualified for the National Championships so far.....

• DX and Great Britain swimmer Molly Renshaw pulled on her Yellow Ripley RASCALS hat to swim the 200m Breaststroke in which she won in a time of 2.28.36 a NEW BRITISH and ENGLISH JUNIOR RECORD, all present to watch the race will agree that it was amazing to see a British Record set by the fourteen year old and that the noise down that last 25m was electrifying, thankyou to all spectators gettting behind Molly.

• The younger swimmers were also out in fine form swimming well in both individual events and topping the BAGCAT rankings with Krissy Tomlinson, Oliver Davidson, Ben Goodall, Hannah Jones, Abbie Wood, Jamie Ingram and Kathryn Roworth all toping the results.

• The DX/DXDS swimmers will next be out in force next weekend at Derventio eXcel's 5th Open meet.

British Junior Record for Molly

Following on from her recent successes at the British Championships in Manchester, where she won a Silver medal and set a new British Age Group record in the 200m Breaststroke, Molly Renshaw was back in action at the Derbyshire County Championships along with all her DX team-mates.

Competing for her home club, Ripley RASCALS, Molly smashed her PB by over 2 seconds to set new British Junior and English Junior Records (subject to ratification) in the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:28.36.

Her time beats the existing records of Stacy Tadd which had stood at 2:29.16 from 2002.

British Junior records can be set by swimmers under 16 on the day of the swim, leaving Molly well over a year to improve on this time!

Congratulations Molly - you raised the roof at Queens Leisure Centre today with support from every person there!!!

Andi Manley selected as Coach on Great Britain Team!

Andi Manley Head Coach of Derventio eXcel has been selected as Coach on the Great Britain Team for the European Juniors in Belgrade in July.

He will join Derventio eXcel swimmers Molly Renshaw and Jodie Hawksworth who will also be competing in this competition for Great Britain.

Well Done Andi, we are very proud!

World Junior Championships call up for Jodie

Following on from the fantastic news of Jodie Hawksworth and Molly Renshaw being selected for Great Britain to compete at the European Junior Championships in July.............

We are delighted to report that Jodie has also been selected as part of a 17-strong British team travelling to Lima in Peru to take part in the World Junior Championships!

This now makes 5 International selections for Derventio this season - way to go!!!!!





http://www.lima2011.info/

Plaque unveiled at DX Training base to honour support by local Council!

Chris Steeples pictured top left along with Councillor Grimadell and DX Chairman Karl Davidson were present for the unveiling of the Plaque at Moorways Swimming Pool.

The Plaque symbolizes the partnership between Derventio eXcel - Derbyshire's elite Swim Squad and Derby City Council. It represents the council’s commitment to developing sport. Derby City Council recognise the importance of developing talent and see Derventio eXcel Swim Squad as key to developing elite swimmers from Derbyshire to International level.

DCC have made a commitment to free water time for the club to help out financially with training costs which without the club would struggle to function effectively . This is an amazing contribution from the Council and DX are thanking them 10-fold in the water! With the recent success of 3 swimmers on the Great British Team Chris Steeples, Molly Renshaw and Jodie Hawksworth.

Derventio eXcel was set up 7 years ago so that the best swimmers in the area could train and compete together, with the support and competition of fellow focused individuals.
Since its inception the squad has produced several International Junior and Senior swimmers these include Emma Smithurst, Chris Steeples, Molly Renshaw, Livvi Sefton, Jodie Hawksworth, Joe Keane and Paralympian Dave Ellis. In 2010 Derventio had 29 of their 33 strong squad qualify for the National Championships and 11 different swimmers came home with medals. The swimmers qualified for over 105 events between them, showing the strength and depth the squad has from 11 year olds right through to 18 year olds.These young people are dedicated and committed to achieving excellence in the sport and DX not only achieves this but also helps to mould them into upstanding young people of the county.

DX swimmers compete together at Regional and National Championships and selected other competitions, but all members of the elite squad also have Home Clubs in Derbyshire, which they go back and compete for in various league galas such as the Arena National League, County competitions and local Notts and Derby and Leicester Leagues (which Derventio eXcel do not compete in), therfore allowing swimmers to give back to their home clubs and support them.


Along with this the DX Coaching team offer their support and expertise to the local clubs and coaches along with eduacating the swimmers and parents on elite swimming and the road to achieving it. DX also put on swim clinics throughout the year where aspiring young swimmers get to experience coaching and swimming with some of the best swimmers in the country.

Derventio eXcel and GB swimmers Chris and Molly guests at ICON Business Breakfast

Check out the link to the Derbyshire Sport Website: http://www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/news_events/news/2011/march/olympic_stars_give_an_insight_into_highs_and_lows_of_life_as_a_world_class_performer.asp

Glory Board Update

After an excellent weekend's swimming representing their home club's at the County Championships we now have 19 swimmers going to the Nationals this summer and a total of 54 swims.

Congratulations to the following swimmers :-

Abbie Wood 400 IM and 200 Fly

Tyler-Ann Black 50 Free
Evie Keane 100 Free
Connor Smith 200 IM
Matthew Smithurst 200 IM

Click the link to view the up to date DX glory board

http://www.derventioexcel.org.uk/gloryboard11.php

not one but TWO DX Swimmers confirmed to swim for GREAT BRITAIN!

Today it has been confirmed that 2 Derventio eXcel swimmers have been selected to swim for Great Britain at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade in July. Jodie Hawksworth (left) and Molly Renshaw (right) have been selected from their excellent performances in the Breaststroke events at the recent World Championship trials and British Championships. Jodie has also been selected for the World Youth Championships in Peru in August.

The girls follow in the footsteps of DX Men's Captain Chris Steeples and several other DX swimmers by representing their country. Both Girls are excited and honoured, and I can say from all at DX Well Done, we are all very proud and lets look forward to some continued hard training and fast racing in the summer!

(pictured above Molly Renshaw, and below Jodie Hawksworth)

Message from the Renshaw's

We have just got back from Manchester after a very tiring but rewarding week, Molly and myself would like to say a big thank you
to Andi for all he has done this week in manchester, and the many weeks leading up to it! Also to Kim and keith for everything they have done, thanks as well to all the parents who travelled up to watch and all the texts of encouragement and congratulations i received, also all the comments molly got on facebook, it shows the great support and backing of the swimmers and parents of DX, and makes Molly proud to be part of it ! I am now looking forward to 4 days without seeing a swimming pool !!!
Thanks again DX

Jane and Molly xxxx

British Championships - Day 7

James Lovatt records a faster time in the 50m Backstroke Semi-Finals (27.26) but unfortunately finishes in 13th position and misses tomorrow nights Final.

One swim to go for DX with Molly Renshaw lining up in Heat 2 of the 400m IM on Saturday morning.

Also, good luck to all DX swimmers competing at the DASA County Championships this weekend.

British Championships - Day 7

Tyler-Anne Black made her British Championships debut this morning and stormed to a new PB in the 50m Freestyle of 28.41 - within the QT for the National Youth Championships in the summer. This places Tyler 7th in her age group in GB and shows what huge progress she has made in her short time at DX.

James Lovatt qualifies in 10th place for the 50m Backstroke Semi-Finals in 27.28 and Zichen Liu finishes off his British Championships for 2011 with a 27.71 in the same event.

Apologies to Kane Haggett for not mentioning his semi-final swim from last night in the 50m Freestyle. His time of 23.72 was slightly slower than his PB and his heat swim and gives him a best ever finish of 13th at British Championships.

MOLLY RENSHAW - NEW BRITISH RECORD!

Molly Renshaw, who broke the East Midland Junior Girls 200m Breaststroke record at the Central Zonal meet in January 2011, recieved her certificate whilst at the British Championships (pictured), she has since then gone onto beat this record 3 times at the British Championships and broke the BRITISH and ENGLISH records for 14 years age group 2.30.45!

Tune into the iplayer replays of Molly's semi final and final swims including interviews Molly had with Steve Parry on Radio 5 live.

Semi-Final:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00z6251/Swimming_09_03_2011/ 46 mins approx


Final:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00z629l/Swimming_10_03_2011/ 1 hour and 13 mins approx

(or go to bbc iplayer, radio, radio 5 live and select the swimming commentary from 9th and 10th March 2011.

Molly who has never had any experience in this media side of swimmming before did herself, her parents, her coaches and her squad very proud when being interviewed and as we all are is very excited about the races.

Twitter followers can see on the British Swimming and Karen Pickering twitter pages also mention Molly and her achievments and makes for a very exciting future for British Breaststroke swimming.

http://twitter.com/britishswimming

http://twitter.com/Karen_Pickering

The support throughout the whole week and continuing for the next two days has been fantastic, with swimmers and parents making the trip to Manchester to support the swimmers who are competing and those who could not make the trip as they are busy in hard training were checking the results and sending their messages of support.

Molly Renshaw - British Record !!!

The talk of poolside tonight was Molly Renshaw with her "world class swim" of 2:30.45 in the 200m Breaststroke final - breaking the British Age Group Record by almost half a second.

Molly claimed her first ever National medal, at the toughest of all domestic competitions and against 5 existing international swimmers, winning the Silver medal and the plaudits of many coaches and media representatives at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

This swim places Molly 17th in the current World Rankings and is a well deserved result after a totally committed approach to the Derventio training programme.

Congratulations Molly - you've made us all very proud!

British Championships - Day 6

Kane Haggett is our only swimmer of the morning heats on Day 6 but he makes the 6:30am alarm well worthwhile with a 10th place finish in the 50m Freestyle in 23.69, just outside his best of 23.65. With 2 minor mistakes to improve on tonight, he could well make it through to his first final at British Championships.

Good Luck Kane and Molly !!!

Swimnews Online

Check the link below for news on Molly's achievements tonight. Swimnews is the leading website for worldwide swimming news:

http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/8491


You can also view the most up to date world rankings on Swimnews and will see that Molly is currently 25th in the world for 2011 in the 200m Breaststroke and Jodie 59th in the 100m Breaststroke. This is for ALL swimmers not just for age-group - wow what a result!

British Championships - Day 5

What a session for us tonight!

Molly Renshaw dips under the qualifying time for the European Junior Championships with an incredible time of 2:31.53 in the 200m Breaststroke and in doing so goes through to tomorrow's final in 2nd place overall at just 14 years of age! Her split times of 34.4 and 1:12.9 were also both best times making 3 PB's in 1 swim!

Chris Steeples also found top form in the 200m Breaststroke semi-finals recording a PB of 2:18.27, just missing out on a lane for the final after touching home in 10th place.

Tomorrow morning sees Kane Haggett making his first appearance of the Championships racing head to head in the 50m Freestyle with Derbyshire's Olympian - Ross Davenport.

British Championships - Day 5

Molly Renshaw leads the way in the Womens 200m Breaststroke with a new best time 2:32.31 placing her in top spot heading into tonights Semi-Finals - what a swim!!!!!

Chris Steeples swims a well paced 200m Breaststroke to comfotably qualify for the Semi-Finals in 8th place.

James Lovatt and Zichen Liu surprisingly missed out on the Semi's with times of 2:06.96 and 2:06.23 in the 200m Backstroke.

Harry Webster continues his comeback from injury with a very solid 2:29.72 200m Breaststroke. There are promising times ahead for Harry over the next 2 years when he becomes eligible for European Junior selection.

Jodie Hawksworth struggled to find her tempo in the 200m Breaststroke and after such an impressive 100m Breaststroke on Sunday/Monday and will be hugely dissappointed with her performance today.

British Championships - Day 4

Chris Steeples moves up to a 7th place finish in the final of the 50m Breaststroke with his time of 29.38 just outside his PB from the semi-finals (29.33).

Emily Allsopp retains her 16th place with a 31.11 in the 50m Backstroke semi-final.

British Championships - Day 4

First up this morning was Emily Allsopp in the opening heat of the day. A time of 30.81 in the 50m Backstroke places her into the Semi-Finals where she will be looking to drop under her PB of 30.74 tonight.

Hannah Jones followed on in the 200m Fly with a new PB of 2:22.88 - a fantastic result after the dissappointment of the 100m Fly on the first day of the championships. With some hard work on skills and underwater kicking, this should see Hannah drop down to under 2:20 within the year.

James Lovatt, in the 200m IM, takes the 2nd reserve spot for the Semi-Finals with a 2:07.81. His opening 50m of 26.0 was the 2nd fastest out of all 36 competitors and his 100m split of 57.5 was 4th quickest. However, a last 50m of 31. 6 meant he drifted just out of contention for a second swim tonight.

At the end of the morning heats were a series of Time Trials (licesned at Level 1) open to all British Championships competitors. 3 DX swimmers took the opportunity to post a fast time in another event.

Molly Renshaw took almost 2 seconds off her 200m IM PB, swimming all alone in the pool to a 2:25.96 and with it, a 50m Fly PB of 31.56.

Harry Webster (50m Breaststroke 32.72) and Emily Allsopp (100m Backstroke 1:05.97) both swam to seasons best times.

British Championships - Day 3

2 swims for DX in the finals and both were well worth waiting for!!!

Jodie Hawksworth claims 5th place in the final of the 100m Breaststroke and in doing so finishes as the fastest GB junior swimmer. This is an outstanding achievement after coming in at 24th in 2010 in the same event. We wont know for sure until the end of the meet but this swim could lead to some very exciting news..........watch this space!

Chris Steeples qualifies for his first British Championships Final after a great PB in the semi-final of 29.33 (50m Breaststroke) - breaking Club and County Records.

A big thank you from Tracie Hawksworth

I would like to say A big "thank you" to all the parents and kids who stayed and supported Jodie in the 100 breaststroke final last night.

In addition I would like to thank all the people who watched the live results on their computers and mobiles.

We have an amazing club and the team sprit is fantastic. Andi borders on super cool and yes I`m a proud mum, but for the record I only had one glass of wine!

Tracie X

British Championships - Day 3

A quiet session for DX this morning with only Mens Captain Chris Steeples racing although 4 other swimmers were training in preparation for other events in the Championships.

A solid time of 29.72 places Chris 8th going into the semi-finals and only 0.06 outside his PB.

Good Luck to Jodie and Chris in tonights session.

British Championships - Day 2

Finals session - 3 swims - all faster than the heats - great work team!!

James Lovatt improved from 16th to 11th place in the 100m Backstroke with a time of 57.32, 0.6 faster than this morning.

Molly Renshaw achieved another PB in the 100m Breaststroke in 1:13.14 - this being her first appearance in a British Championships Semi-Final.

Jodie Hawksworth made some tactical changes to her heat swim and reaped the rewards moving up from 13th to 7th place and racing 1.3 secs faster, storming into tomorrow nights final. This places Jodie as the second fastest junior and so there is now an anxious wait to see if she gains selection to the GB team for the European Junior Championships.

British Championships - Day 2

The mornings heats sees 3 DX swimmers through to the semi-finals tonight.

James Lovatt in the 100m Backstroke after a seasons best time of 57.99 in the heats lies in 16th place but will be looking to drop into the 56's to secure a lane in the final.

Jodie Hawksworth and Molly Renshaw both qualify in the 100m Breaststroke with times of 1:12.77 and 1:13.19. Jodie's split time of 33.93 is a new Club and County Record for 50m Breaststroke, whilst Molly's was a new PB. With 6 Juniors making through to the semi-finals, both will need to step-up tonight to give themselves a chance of selection to the European Junior Championships in this event.

Zichen Liu finished 18th (2nd reserve) in the 100m Backstroke with a disappointing time of 58.30, after showing great early season form consistently swimming 57's whilst in heavy training. He'll now turn to his favoured 200m Backstroke on Wednesday to turn things around.

British Championships - Day 1

Mixed fortunes for DX on the opening day of the 2011 British Championships.

Making their debuts at these championships were James Latham and Harry Webster who both recorded excellent times in the heats of the 100m Breaststroke.

James stormed a new PB of 1:08.55 and also recorded a new 50m PB at the split in a time of 32.04. Harry, swimming his first 100m Breaststroke of 2011 after a prolonged knee injury swam to within 0.1 of his PB from Nationals 2010 with a time of 1:08.90. This placed them 2nd and 4th in their age group.

Hannah Jones in the opening event of the championships, the 100m Fly, hit a great split of 31.48 but couldn’t turn this into a PB overall, finishing in a time of 1:07.33. Hannah will be looking to set a new best time in her favoured event, the 200m Fly, on Tuesday.

3 time GB international Chris Steeples dramatically failed to progress from the heats to the semi’s after a badly misjudged race left him in 18th place and outside the cut by 0.13 secs. His time of 1:04.61 will leave him determined to make amends in the 50m and 200m events later in the competition.

British Championships (50m) 2011

The first group of DX swimmers arrived in Manchester yesterday for a late afternoon training session ahead of the opening day of the competition.

Pictured from left to right are James Latham, James Lovatt, Hannah Jones, Chris Steeples and Harry Webster.