Salisbury Stingrays swimmer Luke Demetri produced some dazzling swims at the recent British Gas ASA National Age Group Championships at the Ponds Forge International Pool in Sheffield.
The young 14-year-old breastroke swimmer trains at Five Rivers Leisure Centre under Salisbury’s Head Coach Eric Henderson & was previous nurtured by Salisbury’s Junior Development Coach, Dave Currie.
Luke has had a brilliant year by winning several titles at the County Championships & claiming silver at the Regional Championships in Plymouth back in June. His silver would’ve surely been gold if English age group record holder Charlie Attwood, who swims for Taunton Deane, didn’t swim in the same region.
Luke, although familiar to National level competition when competing for Wiltshire at the National Inter-County Championships, was at his first National Age Group Championships as a Salisbury swimmer; one of only two Salisbury swimmers to qualify for the season ending National Championships.
Luke competed in the 200m and 100m breaststroke at the championships. He first tackled the 200m breastroke where his entry time of 2 minutes 36.92 seconds saw him seeded in 18th place. Luke managed to qualify for the semi-finals where he improved on his seeded position to finish 13th overall with a new PB time of 2 minutes 35.28.
It was in the 100m breastroke where Luke really shone. Luke’s entry time of 1 minute 11.38 seconds had him seeded in 8th place. In the heats Luke qualified for the semi finals in joint 10th position with a time of 1 minute 11.78 seconds. In the semi final he stepped up through the gears to record his second PB of the meet, with a time of 1 minute 10.71 seconds. In the final he excelled further when he bettered his PB by finishing the final in a highly creditable 6th place, two ahead of his seeded position, in a time of 1 minute 10.49 seconds.
“It was a great experience and I was pleased with my performance, improving on my personal best times and finishing sixth overall in the 100 m breaststroke final.” Luke commented
Luke performed brilliantly at the Championships, especially in the 100m breastroke, where he was actually one of the youngest swimmers in his age group having only turned 14 in May. Many of his competitors towered above him at 6 foot plus, so when Luke hits his growth spurt, he’ll be more evenly matched physically & will surely be knocking on the door for a podium finish at next year’s championships.
