Bassetlaw Swim Squad's Lewis Warner makes history with silver in British Summer Championships

A record turn-out for Bassetlaw Swim Squad at the British Summer Championships saw them pick up their first ever able-bodied medal through Lewis Warner as over 1,600 athletes from all over the country descending on Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.
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Team BSS had a record number of representatives at this level of competition, all of which had never competed at this standard.

They had eight swimmers competing across 23 events, contesting five finals and won their first able-bodied medal with Warner earning a silver on the men’s 17 years 50m Backstroke event.

Collectively, the team saw 10 individuals PBs broken and the team relay setting a new team best time.

Lewis Warner receives his British silver medal.Lewis Warner receives his British silver medal.
Lewis Warner receives his British silver medal.

Warner, 17, from Retford SC and Toot Hill School, also qualified for the 100m and 200m Backstroke events, achieving new lifetime best performances in both, narrowly missing the podium on the 100m distance.

Along with team mates Harry Benzies, Callum Kettlewell and Cillian McGuinness, Warner completed the line up for Team BSS’s first ever National Relay team.

This is the first time the team has had strength in depth to finish 18th in GB and the third team from the Midlands region, with only 3.7 seconds separating the top three. They managed a huge 10 second PB as a collective.

Boys team captain Callum Kettlewell, 18, of New College and Retford SC, set a new personal best in the 1500m Freestyle and agonisingly missed the final of the 200m Butterfly event by 0.3 seconds.

Girls team captain Amelia Stevenson, 17, of Tuxford Academy and Retford SC, similarly had a narrow miss, just 0.8 seconds off the final of the 200m Backstroke.

Harry Benzies, 17, Freya Peace, 15, and Layne Keyworth, 14, all set new personal records in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke events (Benzies), 200m Butterfly (Peace) and 50m Freestyle (Keyworth).

Rachel Webb, 15, of William Farr and Retford SC had a very busy week interrupted with a bout of illness.

Nonetheless she competed valiantly with her sixth placed finish in the 200m Backstroke the highlight of her week. Joe Seage competed in the S14 category of the multi-classification events 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual medley, progressing to both finals and close to his season’s bests.​​​​​​​