Tigersharks lead the way!

Tigersharks started the 2006 South Western BagCat District Competition by leading the way for the Wiltshire Clubs.

On Day one Tigersharks younger swimmers proved who the leading force in Wiltshire was when they amassed 5 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze medals on the first two days of the competition.

Alexander Jones (14) was superb in the first event of day one. Jones was untouchable from midway through the 30 lap race, finishing a comfortable 14 seconds clear of the second place swimmer. His time of 17:10.82 was a huge personal best time for Jones in what was a perfectly paced race.

In the girls 400m Individual Medley event 10 year old Briony Merritt also hailed Tigersharks as the swimmer to beat as she dominated her age group when she won by a clear 11 seconds from the next swimmer. Briony also recorded an enormous personal best time as she took the Gold medal. Rachel Waine (10), Amy Thrush (11), Lauren Jones (11), Eleanor Hussey (11), Rosemary Broad (12) and Hayley Towner (13) all swam this arduous event and produced personal best times with finishing places in the top eight. In the boys race Kane Baker (11) was truly amazing as he cropped six seconds off a time set just three weeks ago to produce his first ever National Qualifying time. Baker who only turned eleven last week was expected to qualify for Nationals on his 200m Backstroke next week, so this was an unexpected bonus for Baker and his coach. Alex Jones also produced his Long Course National time in the same event, with a time of 5:04.11.

The 800m Front crawl event saw two simmers who have already qu ali fied for the Nationals swim hard races in their age groups. Lauren Jones just missed out on the Bronze medal in the eleven years and Rosie Broad swam to 6 th place in the twelve years and managed to book her place in the 1500m Frontcrawl event next week.

In the 100m Backstroke event, Tigersharks continued to show their strength. Briony Merritt once again dominated the 10 year olds as she cruised to the gold medal. Team mate Sophie Roberts (10) was also in fantastic form as she snatched the bronze medal in the same race. Lauren Jones (11) made the final and swam to a creditable 8 th place. Joshua Wheeler and Kane Baker were both in the battle for the 11 year old medals. In a very tough race Wheeler swam a superb race to take the silver medal and Baker moved from seventh to 5 th place in a great final. James Magness was in a determined mood as he powered through the race, and in what was a tumultuous battle for silver and bronze between three boys he snatched the bronze medal by 100 th of a second.

The 200m Butterfly is always a very strong event for the Tigersharks and once again the young Sharks were not going to disappoint. Jason Butt and Joshua Wheeler were in the eleven year old battle of the titans and found themselves finishing in 6 th 7 th place respectively in a very closely fought battle between the boys. Dean Williamson, who is a Butterfly specialist, produced an amazing swim in the final to take the Silver medal but more importantly his LC National Qu ali fying time in a time of 2:20.52. Briony Merritt once again showed her all round ability as she took another medal in 3 rd place, while team mate Rachel Waine improved on her heat time by a massive six seconds to take 7 th place in the final. Eleanor Hussey also made her age group final and paced her race well to take 8 th place. Rosemary Broad (11) swam a superb final reducing her heat time by four seconds to move from 8 th place to 6 th , while Hayley Towner who had produce a fabulous heat time of 2:37.35 battled hard to finish in 6 th place in what was a very tough final event. Amy Thrush (11) produced a fantastic swim as did Siobhan Tierney & Alissa Johnson (13) in this very hard event.

Tigersharks have always been great Frontcrawl swimmers and again the young Sharks were to be found in nearly every final of the 200m event. In the boys eleven years old race Tigersharks had three fin ali sts. Joshua Wheeler (11) showed true grit as he raced from fourth position to take the gold medal, in what was a fantastic race between Wheeler and Ryan Hart of Plymouth . Jason Butt and Kane Baker finished in 5 th and 8 th places with very good swims from both boys. Dean Williamson thrilled his team mates as he produced his second National Qu ali fying time of the weekend in the 200m Frontcrawl in a time of 2:06.78 and 5 th place in the final. Alex Jones (14) stormed to victory in the same event in a time of 2:01.38 a massive six seconds inside his National time. Sophie Roberts and Briony Merritt both 10 powered through the final of their event to take 5 th and 6 th place respectively. Eleanor Hussey produced a fantastic swim in the eleven year old final to miss her first National Qu ali fying time by 0.50 of a second. Lauren Jones (11) who qu ali fied for the Nationals at this event in Swansea three weeks ago was 6 th in the same final and Sophie Hawkins (13) who has been very unwell for three weeks did well to make the final of the 200m Frontcrawl. Hawkins who has already qu ali fied for Nationals in this event finished in a creditable 8 th place.

The 100m Breaststroke is not the best event for the Sharks. However Dean Williamson produced a LC personal best time in the heat but chose not to swim the final of the event as it was just before the 200m Butterfly. Michaela Boniface (10) was in great form to make the final of her age group and in what was a very tough race she dug in and finished in a creditable 8 th place. Lauren Jones and Sophie Hawkins both swam superb races in their age groups producing personal best times and with Jones finishing in 5 th place in the final of her age group. Alissa Johnson (13) also swam a great race in her age group also producing a Long Course PB.

Overall it was a great weekend for the Sharks. Tigersharks can now boast 12 National Qualifiers with 41 National Qualifying times between them. The swimmers are:-

Grant Turner (17), Aaron Lee (15), Alex Jones (14), Dean Williamson (14), Jason Butt (11), Kane Baker (11), Jazmin Carlin (15), Stacey Wood (15), Natalie Montezuma (15), Sophie Hawkins (13), Rosemary Broad (12) & Lauren Jones (11).