More NQT's Bagged at Open/Youth NERs

Did anyone notice how quiet it was on Friday evening and Saturday morning at training? No Jessica Hubery talking her usual nonsense or Phoebe Weatherill complaining about the Water Blower pushing her back?

For those of you who didn't notice it was the 3-day NER weekend for our youth/senior athletes at Dartes. This event took place at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre and by all accounts our athletes were focused, determined to solidify their places in the Summer Nationals and that showed with some extremely fast racing.

The ultimate Dartes machine Phoebe Weatherill improved upon her NQT’s, notably in the 50m and 100m Fly where she claimed the All Time Dartes 15 Year Old girls Record for both events, but that’s not all, Phoebe put on a masterclass in the 50m Fly Senior Final (one of three 15 year old girls to make the senior final), taking home her first ever NER Gold Medal and solidifying 6 NQT’s (4 of those in the British Champs!), a huge improvement upon last season. The girl is not only a lovely person and an outstanding role model to her peers, but a total legend to boot all while claiming 1 Gold and 1 Silver Medal in an extremely competitive age group.

Also on fire this weekend was Kiera Binns, the goal being to secure her current NQTs and not only did she do it, she did it in style. Back in 2023, her first time on the National Squad, she qualified for just the 200m IM, last year she suffered the bitter disappointment of missing out on qualifying by the smallest of margins, so this year is turning into quite a leap forward for her with 3 NQT’s.

This weekend she secured the 200m Breaststroke and both Medleys - the Brave Binn certainly isn’t one to take the easy route, we knew 1 event was all but secured but we would be hanging on by tips of our fingers nails if Kiera couldn’t improve on her existing times. On day 1, her 400m IM was so fast it earned her Second Place in the Youth Final and dropping 7.2 seconds off her PB, that’s one NQT sorted! And off the back of all that super fast racing she set 3 more Dartes Age-Group Records in her first event as a 15 year old! Day 2 saw the same dogged determination in the 200m Breast, a time close to her PB would get her on the list, a 2:49.62 was a slight improvement on her PB set back in February and bagged another NQT, 2 down 1 to go. Day 3 was a struggle for all involved, the fatigue was setting in but we still had a job to do and in true Kiera style she scraped her way in to the Youth final alongside Phoebe Weatherill on her inside lane. Teamwork was the order of the day, with Phoebe being told to tow Kiera along for the first 100m (knowing Phoebe’s NQT is secure) and Kiera to explode in the last 100m. The result, Kiera was 2 seconds up on her 100m split, chased down the pack on the Breaststroke (with Phoebe smiling knowing she’s done her job well) and claimed 2nd place in the final, breathing every 2 facing into the inside lane definitely paid off as she used the competition to drag her into the finish with an exceptionally fast 2:28.35, a fantastic PB and the 3rd NQT secured!

Jessica Hubery was another one of our athletes who had a great National Qualifying Window; going into the NER’s with 3 events on the list and looking safe in the process, we could breathe a little easier this weekend. The difference this year to last for Jess has been tremendous, we’ve seen her talking and executing strategy, showing perfect consistency in training, a maturity (most of the time) that allows her to deal with the tougher moments, an ability to perform to the highest level when required and the results showed, last year Jess was another one that missed out on the Summer Nationals, this year she’s bagged 3 NQT’s in 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle. With huge PB’s across all events it was always going to be a big ask improving those times and so it proved to be, adding a minute to her 1500m Freestyle but no biggie, shake it down and go again and that’s exactly what she did on Day 2. A time that was as near to her PB in the 400m Freestyle took her to the Youth Final where we saw a dogged swim resulting in a 0.5 second PB, improving her NQT time in the process. 

Jessica Eggitt was our another of our athletes to make a Final as well, making some fantastic strides in her Breaststroke and taking PB after PB lately in the 200m Breaststroke and 50m Breaststroke after 12 months of near stagnation. Finishing in 6th place in the 50m Breaststroke Youth final; way to go Scotch Egg!

All four of the girls above are true examples of what happens when you commit to the process and knuckle down when the going gets tough, awesome weekend girls!