National Qualification continues at DX Open Meet

National Qualifying Times were racking up at the DX Open Meet in Sheffield at the weekend.

There are now 21 swimmers with 73 NQT's between them and many more swimmers in the squad are closing in on the standards that will take them to Sheffield in July to compete against the best in Britain.

Leah Hollingsworth has booked her place for Nationals and is a great example of what can be achieved with a combination of talent, hard work and dedication. Leah is the perfect endorsment for the performance pathway in Derbyshire having joined the DX Development Squad at the start of the season and showing immediate potential. At the end of 2010 she was invited into the DX Squad and since then her progress has been nothing short of incredible. After achieving her first ever Midland Qualifying time at the County Championships, Leah has now gone on to qualify for the 100m and 200m Breaststroke at the National Youth Championships in July with times of and 1:16.33 and 2:44.24.

Ben Goodall added the 400m IM to his events for Nationals this summer with a superb 4:47.39. Having come so close to this NQT on several occassions this season, this time will give Ben a lot of satisfaction.

Sarah Vasey continued her well deserved return to top form with a 1:15.65 100m Breaststroke and completes the set of Breaststroke NQT's with a Senior National time of 34.32 in the 50m Breaststroke.

Kevin Wallbank dipped under the NQT in the 200m IM (2:17.05) to add to the 200m Fly he has already qualified for. He is also closing in on another 4 events which should make for a busy schedule at Sheffield in July.

Chris Steeples took a clean sweep of Breaststroke titles at the Open Meet in commanding style and as a bonus achieved the NQT in an event he doesnt swim too often - the 400m IM with an impressive 4:40.14.

Kane Haggett was in imperious form in the sprint events, swimming to a first ever NQT in 50m Fly (25.72) as well as a new best time in the 50m Freestyle (23.45).

James Lovatt broke his own squad record on his way to his 6th NQT of the season with a 25.42 50m Fly.

Molly Renshaw (400m IM) and Emily Allsopp (200m Back) added the Senior NQT's to the Youth NQT's they have already achieved - with highly impressive times of 4:59 and 2:19 respectively.