Tigersharks Celebrate 3 National Champions!

Tigersharks were celebrating at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, as 14-year-old Alex Jones was crowned National Champion over 400 metres freestyle.

His time of 4:11.44 was enough to snatch the gold medal, while he also produced an outstanding swim in the 200m freestyle to take the silver medal in an outstanding time of 1:59.30. He also qualified as a finalist in the 100m freestyle, 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley.

Butterfly specialist Dean Williamson, 14, was also in great form as he rocketed from 13th place to seventh to make the championship final in a time 1:02.25. Williamson also produced outstanding personal best times in the 200m Butterfly and 200m Frontcrawl.

Kane Baker, 11, found himself in the final of the 200m backstroke at his first national competition, when he recorded an outstanding time of 2:42.20. Baker also smashed his 100m Backstroke time by two seconds and swam a very strong race in the ardous 400m Individual Medley.

Sophie Hawkins, 13, just missed her final when she stormed to an outstanding time of 1:01.80 in the 100m freestyle, recording the qualifying time for a 14-15 year old. Hawkins who has been ill for 8 weeks up to the Nationals was thrilled with her overall performance, producing a huge PB on her 400m Individual medley and still managed to dip inside the NQT for the 200m Frontcrawl having just swam the previous race.

First-time qualifiers Lauren Jones, 11, and Jason Butt, 11, were in great shape and recorded personal best times on their first outing. Rosemary Broad, 12, dipped three seconds under the 800m freestyle NQT in a very strong swim.

Tigersharks swimmers continued to shine during the second week of the National Competition in Sheffield.

Jazmin Carlin (15), found her form for this National Championships and swam an outstanding competition. Carlin swept aside the competition to take the Championship title in the 800m Frontcrawl beating some very strong swimmers along the way. Carlin also snatched a silver medal in the 1500m Frontcrawl clocking a new Welsh Record and Wiltshire County Record along the way, Silver in the 400m Frontcrawl and Bronze in the 200m Frontcrawl.

Grant Turner (17) who trains at the elite centre on the gulf coast of Australia was in superb form. Turner powered to a bronze medal in the 100m Frontcrawl in a personal best time of 51.96, but was not content with a third place. Turner produced the swim of his Nationals when he destroyed the field in the 17-18 years 50m Frontcrawl to take Gold in another personal best time, dipping into the 23 seconds for the first time. Turner also featured in the grand final of the men's championship 50 Frontcrawl where as the youngest swimmer he placed 7 th , he also swam his way into the final of the 400m Frontcrawl.

Stacey Wood (15) also found her form for this competition when she produced a life time best in the 200m Butterfly with an outstanding swim. Natalie Montezuma (15) looked doubtful for the competition following a nasty ankle injury three months ago, however she was not to be denied this experience and swam a fantastic race in the 50m Frontcrawl. Swimming at the bottom of the 15/16 year age group Aaron Lee (15) produced a great swim in the 100m & 200m Backstroke and will be back next year where his age should be more favourable.

Once again Tigersharks were at the top of the table for all Wiltshire clubs with a haul of 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze medals & 6 finalists. The best ever result for the Tigershark club at a National Competition. Coach Lesley Leffers was delighted with all of the swimmers performances and looks forward to the 2006 – 2007 season.