Seven Kingfishers Achieve a County Top Three

February brought an end to the Devon County Championships, in which Kingsbridge swimmers competed valiantly against the very best from the county’s clubs and private schools to win a total of 13 medals.

Club Captains Lucas Quiggin and Hana Wood both won their first individual medals at this level. Hana qualified 4th for her 50m Backstroke final, before successfully tweaking her race to finish 3rd when it mattered.

Lucas continues to make improvements to his breaststroke, and was only beaten in the 50, 100 and 200m distances by national and international Mount Kelly swimmers.

Lottie Taylor also won bronze in the 400m Freestyle by less than a quarter of a second, a remarkable feat given that she has not been able to perform at her very best after illness.

Silver medals were won by Danny Clack in the gruelling 200m Butterfly, and Emily Baxter in the 100m Butterfly. Emi Charley, who had earlier won bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, went one better with a fantastic silver medal in the 50m Breaststroke.

Emi and Emily had previously teamed up with Luna Browne and Clara Simons to become Devon champions in the 4 x 50m Freestyle relay event.

Kingfishers were waiting until the final day for an individual gold medalist, with Diego Clark winning twice in the 200 Individual Medley and 50m Freestyle. Diego is only the second KKSC individual county champion this decade, after Chloe Morris last year.

Another eight swimmers reached county finals, meaning they are in the top eight in Devon. Well done to Freddie Stathers, George Stone, Callum Weeks, Layla Quiggin, Lola Carpenter, Ethan Clack, Emilia McKinlay and Fabiano Noto.

Fabiano also won a relay bronze medal, alongside captain Lucas, Daniel Carrick and George Tucker.

KKSC had 37 qualifiers to this event, all of whom were sponsored by The Cove bar and restaurant in Hope Cove, who gifted each swimmer a new racing hat. The Cove are very generous supporters of children’s sport in our local area, also being involved with junior football and rugby. 

The next event for Kingfishers takes place on 28th February, when they host Plymouth Leander, Devonport Royal, Tavistock and Plymouth RNRM at Quayside Leisure Centre for the 2nd round of the City of Plymouth Swimming League.

Shortly after this, some swimmers will be attempting to qualify and prepare for the South West Regional Championships in April and May.