Borough squad prove the best

Nov 14 2007 by Huddersfield Sport, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SYNCHRONISED swimmers from Kirklees once again proved they are the best in Yorkshire – winning the Millennium Cup for the second year in a row.

Both the junior and senior teams from Borough of Kirklees triumphed to win the award for the best overall team at the Yorkshire championships.

Fifteen-year-old Jenna Bissell – a Brighouse High student who has been in the sport seven years – won the coveted Suzanne Shortet trophy for achieving the highest individual scores.

She came top in figure skills and also won gold for her duet with teammate Emma Deighton.

Alice Wood and Jennifer Merson won silver in the duets while Demi Leigh Bairstow and Jade Wyke completed a hat trick for the club by taking bronze.

In the figures category, where swimmers are judged on their ability in a variety of individual synchronised movements, Bissell came first, Deighton second and Wood third.

Kirklees also performed well at the North Eastern Counties Championship where teams from Yorkshire and Tyneside competed against each other.

Merson and Wood were first in the duets while the junior aged 13-14 team were awarded first place in the championship and the Under 13 team won bronze.

Emma Winterbottom, the 18-year-old from Huddersfield, had a tremendous competition finishing first in the duets with Stephanie Roberts, aged 21 from Pontefract, in addition to coming top in the 18 and over figures competition.

Stephanie also came second in the figures while her 18-year-old sister Elle came third.

Chief coaches Bill Cooper, Leanne Parker and Karen Jackson now have the girls training at least four and a half hours a week for the nationals in Gloucester next month.

“I am very proud of the team,” said Parker. “They always try their best, and to be the No1 club in Yorkshire is a great achievement as the competition is always very tough.”