STOURBRIDGE swimmer Emily Bate was in barnstorming form at the opening round of the Worcester County Championships.

Emily was crowned county champion for both the Women’s Junior and Open 800 metres freestyle after producing some blisteringly fast times in Redditch last weekend.

She has now automatically qualified for the Midland Championships and could also have a tilt at the Nationals as well.

It proved a good meeting for Stourbridge Swimming Club with Tash Corbett, Tom Davidson, Jack Jones, Dylan Jones, Brodie Willetts, Frankie Bach and Alison Miller also amongst the medals.

The next round of the County Championships continue at Wolverhampton this weekend.

The week before had seen the club’s A team made a positive start to the new year at Droitwich for the Worcester Winter League .

Every swimmer gave 100 per cent for the team, resulting in 30 out of 40 first or second place wins to hand the club a close second place finish in the first round against a very strong Worcester City team.

Many swimmers achieved PBs, with a special mention going to Alisha Stevenson for taking first place in the under-13 butterfly and freestyle events plus a brilliant win in under-15 fly.

Dylan Jones and Alex Westwood secured a double first in the under-11 and under-15 free and backstroke while the under-11 team, including James Froggatt, Brooke Totney, Maddie Jones, Grace Vale and Lauren Taylor, took an exciting first place in both relay events.

Other successful first place winners include fantastic swims by Becky Cole, Natalie Dingley, Emily Bate, Jake Morris, Charlie Jones and Brooke Totney.

Meanwhile, Stourbridge B were swimming their first round at Abbey Stadium, Redditch.

Team manager Sam Morgan had a full, strong team for this round. Points between third, fourth and fifth place were only a few points apart all the way through the gala. The final few races which were the relays and made the decision for the end result with the team finishing in fifth place but missed out on third place by only four points. There was no one stand out performance as all swimmers who competed swam with a determination and as with the A team swimmers improved on their personal best swim times.