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13/09/2002: BSC day 2 finals: Parry just keeps on rolling
The second night of finals at Parkside Pools was when it started to get interesting, as the big names chased down those elusive places on the GB team for the forthcoming European Short Course Championships. Steve Parry is fast becoming a one-man phenomenon as he notched his third and fourth titles of the week.
The first final of the night was a virtual procession for Rebecca Cooke as she led out the women’s 800 free final with some ease. Her dominance of the event in domestic terms is quite superb and she went away from the field right from the gun, giving them not hope whatsoever of claiming the title. Her time of 8.27.66 gave her a victory margin of 13 seconds from 15 year old Kerri-Anne Payne. The young Rochdale Aquabears swimmer was well inside the required time for the European championships and should now make the trip to Riesa.
The men’s 400IM final was, as is so often the case with these events, a see saw affair. In the absence of Adrian Turner, Steve Parry took the race out hard, opening up a clear lead over the field on the opening butterfly leg. Moving through the backstroke leg, Gregor Tait closed the Manchester man down and they moved into the breastroke leg level. Meanwhile, James Goddard, swimming form lane 1 was locked in his own battle with Newcastle’s Darren Wigg for third, although t he pair of them were someway down on the leaders. At the front of the field, Parry and Tait were stroke for stroke all through the breastroke leg, but Parry appeared to have paced his swim though the middle 100 much better than the Scot, as he blasted away from the Tait on the first 25m of the freestyle to open up an unbeatable lead. Parry came home in 4.13.09 7s up on Tait in second. Wigg did to Goddard what Parry had done to Tait, leaving the Stockport swimmer 4th.
The women’s 200 breastroke was a battle of the up and coming stars with only veteran Jamie King being over 20 years of age. It was the City of Edinburgh duo of Lauren Greenshields and Kirsty Balfour who took the plaudits, as they headed the field from the gun. Nova's Amy Konowalik challenged briefly and at one stage it looked as though Balfour was poised to strike, but Greenshields held on until the last few metres, when Balfour stormed through to take the title and set a new Scottish record, with a time of 2.28.38 Greenshields took second and Konowalik took bronze.
All of which brought us to the most eagerly anticipated race so far. The men's 100 breastroke had all the makings of a classic as the big guns went head to head for the available team spots. The centre lanes were all in a line as they moved through 50m, with Whitehead just edging the touch at the halfway stage. A sudden burst off the second wall from Darren Mew suddenly saw him open up clear water on his rivals and start the final leg with a definite lead. They were all gunning for him down the last 25m though and at one stage it looked as though Edmond, Whitehead or Newcastle's Chris Cook might take the touch, as Gibson faded away. Mew was strong enough in the last 5m though and got the touch in 60.22 to retain his title. Whitehead was second and Edmond third.
In stark contrast to the earlier 200 breastroke final, the women's 100 freestyle was all about the veterans, with the two fastest qualifiers being Alison Sheppard and Karen Pickering. 50m specialist Sheppard went off like a rocket, destroying the field in the first 25 to have a lead of almost 2m at the halfway stage. Pickering and fellow Manchester medallist Karen Legg, used all of their 200m strength to try and close down the deficit over the second half of the race, but Sheppard's power had already done the damage as she won in 54.38. Pickering and Legg were left to battle it out for the minor places with a fast finishing Ros Brett. In the end Pickering took silver and Legg touched out Brett for bronze.
The semis of the corresponding men's event were equally eventful. Ed Sinclair's flier did nothing to put off Loughborough's Andi Manley who took the first semi in 50.88. More surprising though was the performance of British record holder Matt Kidd who could only manage 6th in a time some 4s down on his best. In the second semi, David Leith took it out hard, but had no answer to the power of Alex Scotcher over the second 50 as the Loughborough man came home in 49.54 to head the qualifiers for tomorrow's final
Sarah Price was undoubtedly the strongest favourite of the night as she went in the 100m backstroke final. She was pushed all the way by Melanie Marshall, specialising on backstroke at this met. These two went clear of the rest of the field, but in the end it was Price's superior power around the turns which told and she came home in 60.15 to take the title. Behind them it was anyone’s race for the bronze, but in the final 5m 14 year old Stephanie Proud emerged from the pack to take bronze.
The men's 100 fly was a demonstration of underwater prowess as James Hickman destroyed his domestic rivals round the turns to touch first in 51.74 nearly 3s up on second placed Todd Cooper. Cooper had been locked in his own battle with Bath's Mark Graves, who eventually had to settle for bronze.
Sarah Whewell was impressive in winning her semi of the 100IM, but it was Alison Sheppard who stamped her authority on the event as she took the second. Fresh from her 100m free triumph she came home in 1.02.34 to qualify fastest.
The 50m sprints closed the session as Ros Brett chased her first title of the week. Having recorded an impressive 27.33 in her semi final she started as a clear favourite for the 50 fly title, starting as she did over second clear of her nearest rival. She was clearly the class act of the field as she took the title, but was pushed hard by Karla Hancocks who in the end had to settle for silver. The final event of the session saw Steve Parry gunning for his 4th title of the meet. The man simply can't lose at the minute as he took the touch in 25.39. It was a blanket finish with Matt Clay and Gregor Tait taking silver and bronze respectively.