Micro League 2016 - Round 2

Pioneer 79 Swimming Club’s younger competitive swimmerscompeted in their ‘home round’ of the Micro League of the North West, at Accrington Academy recently.  The ‘Southern’s Solicitors’ sponsored team for 2016 were drawn to compete in round 2 against Garston, Everton and Carnforth.  Having finished 3rd in round 1, this was going to be a great opportunity for our swimmers to gain as many points as possible in their home pool.

The Micro League is a Nationwide competition, split into Regions, then again into Divisions.  Pioneer are competing in Division ‘A’ (the top division) and they have done for the last 8 years.  The Micro League consists of swimmers competing in 4 age groups (9-12 years) and is held over 4 separate rounds, 4 teams in each round, and consists of a combination of individual and relay events in each round.  In the Micro League, the relays are 25m legs (1 length) and individual races are 50m (2 lengths) except for the 9 year old swimmers who swim 25m individual events.  

The 4 galas take place between February and July, following which, depending on the overall points total in each division, teams may be involved in a promotion/relegation swim off or ‘grand final’in early autumn in order to determine the Champion Team for each Division/Region.  The Micro-League galas are extremely well supported and can be extremely noisy, parents tend to find that ear plugs are a necessity for the final event of each round, the canon, this is an event where the fastest freestyle swimmer in each age group form a relay, alternating male/female consisting of 8 swimmers in each team – without doubt always an exciting race.

Results were announced throughout the evening at 12 event intervals to ensure the swimmers and spectators could keep track.  Pioneer 79 had a great start, taking first place in the first 3 events, the girls 12 years Medley Relay, the boys 12 years Medley Relay and the girls 9 years Freestyle Relay.  At the first announcement, after 12 events and some fantastic swims from our swimmers, the Pioneer parents were surprised to find us lying in 3rd position with 28 points, behind Carnforth(34) and Everton (30) and Garston trailing with 20 points.  During the next quarter, Pioneer stepped it up a gear, with some great individual swims – a phenomenal 25m Freestyle swim by 8 year old Maddison McFadden started the ball rolling winning her race, followed by another great swim by 10 year old Lily Gregg who swam a very strong 50m Backstroke, again taking 1st place.  Baylie Seery-Kelly and Harry Robinson also secured wins for Pioneer 79 in the 12 year 50m Butterfly events.  Mia Newton’s win in the 50m Backstroke was also a great boost and after 24 events, the running totals were:  Garston 46 points, Everton 56 points, Pioneer 63 points and Carnforth 65 points!  We had closed the gap dramatically on the leaders, Carnforth and we could clearly see that we had a chance of clinching the lead in the final half of the gala.

With Pioneer just 2 points behind the leaders going into the final half, 8 year old swimmers Emmie Turland and Ethan Cookson-Burrows continued Pioneer 79’s fine form, winning their 25m Backstroke events.  Just before the next running totals were announced, 8 year old Georgia Eccles too had a fantastic swim in her 25m Butterfly winning by a shoulder length! After 36 events, Garston were lying 4th with 67 points, Everton 3rd with 82 points and the Pioneer 79 parents cheered, when it was announced Carnforth were lying 2nd with 96 points meaning the new leaders were now Pioneer 79 with 98 points.  The final 12 races were bound to be nail-biting!  Straight into event 37, Mia Smith’s 50m Breaststroke win brought confidence throughout the team, with Pioneer 79 taking further wins in both the girls and boys 12 and under 50m Backstroke events.  Before they knew it – they were straight into the final relay events.  

The next 30 minutes saw the lead increase slightly until the 12yr Boys and Girls freestyle relay races, these races raised the roof, the noise levels were incredible as the spectators cheered home their teams.  Again the Pioneer supporters proved to be the difference bringing the girls team home in first place toincrease the lead to 4 points, the boys swam their hearts out and after a great lead out by Harry Robinson, saw Pioneer take the lead and hold on through Jake Cooper and a fantastic swim by Stevie Hacking, to hand over to Sam Curran for the final leg.  A strong solid swim by Sam saw Pioneer win in what was an undoubtedly close race, although Sam’s dad was seen with his hands over his eyes and missed most of the last length! Pioneer put up a good fight, winning 4 relays and finishing 3rd in 3.  The final event of the night was the mixed canon, this is where 1 swimmer from each age group, both boy and girl swim 25m freestyle.  The outstanding winners in this event were Carnforth, however the battle for 2nd and 3rdplace was extremely exciting, the noise created on the poolside and in the spectators gallery was electrifying, Pioneer pipped Everton on the touch and finished 2nd. 

As the final results were calculated, the teams congratulated each other - there was a lot of uncertainty within the building as to which team would clinch top spot.  Eventually, the results were announced; 4th were Garston with 85 points, 3rdwere Everton with 108 points, then, there was a pause..... Carnforth had finished 2nd with 132 points and Pioneer 79 had won with 136 points!  

This win, when added to the points we achieved at the previous round, puts Pioneer 79 in 6th position in the Division A Leader-board.  Pioneer’s next round is on 18th June 2016 at the Dunes Splash World in Southport.  We have drawn another tough round, and will be competing against Southport A, Southport B and Preston A.

Team Manager, John Robinson commented on the team’s performance – ‘Well done to all the swimmers this evening in what was a fantastic meet, every swimmer put 100% into their performances, resulting in Pioneer 79 taking a win on the night!  It was extremely close throughout the evening, and after a slow start, Pioneer gained momentum and proved to be the best on the night.  Congratulations also to the Pioneer 79 parents on what was undoubtedly one of the noisiest galas I have ever experienced!  Let’s hope that the support from our parents and determination from our swimmers will take us to another positive result in Southport in June.  Thank you once again to Southern’s Solicitors for their continued support in sponsoring the Pioneer 79 Micro League Team.’