Tigersharks BagCat Swimmers continue to Shine

Last weekend saw the culmination of the Wiltshire BagCat Competition.  The young Tigersharks Swimmers confirmed that the new training regime put in place 18 months ago was now paying dividends.

The Nine year age group boys was dominated by Daniel Jones and Ryan Gooch With Daniel winning the overall BagCat competition by a huge margin of 260 points and Ryan in 2nd place and clear of the next contender by almost 100 points. Tayla Howie had a fantastic competition also taking the overall title in the 9-year girls by over 100 points. Tayla also edged towards her first Regional qualifying time missing it by just 1.5 seconds on the day. Young Zoe Gridgeman also made the top 9 year old swimmers in Wiltshire as she snatched 5th place overall. Zoe had been very unwell and swam some superb races throughout the second weekend. Notable performances from just nine Ella Wardale and 9year olds Hannah Healy, Megan Campbell, Catherine Gullen, Lea Adamson and Rebecca Maddox saw Tigersharks Dominate the top 13 places in this Age Group.

The 10-year-old swimmers also showed their Strength. Top performer in the Boys was Adam Brown who now has achieved every Regional Qualifying time for his age with the exception of one. Team Mate Sami Donmez was elated as he rocketed to 3 Regional Qualifying times for 2009 and only needs to shave off one second in two further events. Adam scooped 3rd place in the BagCat competition and Sami was a creditable 5th overall. Alex Wakeham produced some enormous PB’s throughout the competition and there was note worthy performances from Oliver Howitt and Conor Keye.

Abigail Davidson continues to improve in leaps and bounds and can now claim 6 Regional QT’s and she again only needs to shave one second off two further times. Following quite a lengthy period of illness Georgia Pearce showed us she was back on track. Her best swim coming in the 400m FC when she smashed her PB by over 17 seconds. Freya Weston, Bethany Wakefield & Amy Richards who also produced some outstanding swim's. Georgia Pearce and Freya Weston shone in the overall 10-year BagCat competition placed 5th and 6th respectively.

The 11-year boys missed Alex Eburne desperately, as he was unable to recover from a sickness bug he had suffered from all week. However Daniel Broad-Drake, Ben Jones and Sven Tobias shone for Tigersharks as they produced PB after PB during the weekend. The Girls 11 year old top performer was definitely Samantha Reeves who was unfortunate to miss her first ever Regional Qualifying time in the 100m Backstroke. However she was Tigersharks top BagCat swimmer in the 11-year girls. Rebecca Hussey was on top form as she cruised to PB after PB with relative ease. There were also great performances from Darcey James & Luisana Toner.

Jake Hancock, Elliot Willoughby and Rory Stephens put in some sterling performances which produced some enormous personal best times for the boys. Notable all three boys swam their FC events very well, Jake excelled in his Backstroke swims and Elliot shone in the Breaststroke.

Just turned twelve years old, Georgie Manning is now showing signs of being an outstanding swimmer. Having only been with Tigersharks 12 weeks she produced some outstanding PB’s in the second weekend of the BagCat competition. In particular her FC and BK events were massive improvements on her recent swims. Without a Form discipline she still managed to finish in the top 10.

Fast improving Kyle Gaskin who comes from a long line of very fine swimmers was in incredible form this weekend. Besides producing personal best times in nearly all of his swims he also managed to finish in the top 6 in Wiltshire for 13-year-old boys. His best performances were in the Butterfly and Frontcrawl events. Matthew Magness is another swimmer who only joined us 12 weeks ago. He too is showing what a great swimmers he will be as he cruised to within easy grasp of three district qualifying times. Christopher Chapman stepped up a gear to swim to some outstanding PB’s. All three boys finishing in the top 10.

The 13-year-old girls was a closely fought battle between Tigersharks and Trowbridge swimmers. Emily Weston proved to strong for the other top 13-year-olds as she produced some outstanding swims. TeamMate Sophie Roberts was also in top form as she to swam to some fantastic times. Both girls are now within easy reach of National QT’s for 2009. Tigersharks dominated this age group as well recording more than half of the top swimmers in the top 15. Becky Healy notched up her first Regional time for 2009 as did Michaela Boniface. There was also great performances from Ella Luffman, Melissa Glass, Charlotte Langley, Loren Stone & Emily Large.

The 14 year old boys was a tough age group with the two top boys about to turn 15yrs Tom Howitt who has just turned 14 had a big job on his hands. However he rose to the challenge and produced great form throughout the competition to take overall 4th place in his age group in the BagCat Competition. His best swims came in the 100m FC, 50m Fly and 200m Fly.

Overall a fantastic start to major competition for the season for our BagCat swimmers.