Plymouth College swimmers have returned from the British Swimming Championships with a clutch of national records and international selections.
Ruta Meilutyte, 14, won the 100m Breaststroke Guest Final (non-British athletes) in 1:07.30, the third fastest female time in the world this year. Already selected to swim for Lithuania in the Olympics, she broke the Lithuanian Senior National Record in both 100m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle.
Joe Patching, 17, came 5th in the 200m Backstroke Final and was only 2.1 seconds outside of the Olympic qualifying standard. Both GB places for this event will still be available at the second Olympic trials in July. Joe broke the British record for the 17 years age group and has been selected to swim for Great Britain at the European Junior Championships in Antwerp in July.
Grace Vertigans, 15, made it to the semi-final of the 50m Freestyle and will swim for Great Britain at the European Junior Swimming Championships. Ben Proud, 17, has also been selected for the European Junior Swimming Championships.
Jack Smith, 15, broke the 15 years age group record in the 50m Freestyle. He also broke Mark Foster’s South West of England Junior Record set in 1986!
Laura Vertigans, 18, and Sian Harkin, 17, both swam in the semi-final of the 50m Freestyle.
“This is a truly excellent set of results for Plymouth College swimmers”, said Plymouth College Director of Swimming, Jon Rudd. “They were up against the best senior swimmers in the country and I was really pleased that they pulled off so many great performances.”