Tigersharks on the right path to Nationals 2007

Tigersharks swimmers attended the Crawley K2 Long Course Open Meet this weekend and returned home with a crop of outstanding performances.

Alex Jones (14) and Sophie Hawkins (13) started their National competition campaing when they both achieved qualifying times for 2007. Jones notched up four times in the 50m, 100m & 400m Frontcrawl and the 200m Individual Medley. Hawkins snatched the 200m Frontcrawl time and left herself with very little to do to achieve her 50m & 100m Frontcrawl times when she missed them by 0.32 and 0.11 of a second respectively.

Newcomers to the team Laura Young, Sam Clayton, Rachael Steele and Kieron German had a fantastic first outing with their new team. Young (14) was in outstanding form as she cruised to victory in the 100m and 200m Breaststroke leaving her very close to her NQT in the 100m Breaststroke for 2007. She also smashed her 100m and 200m Frontcrawl PB's as she swam in what are relatively new events for her to compete over. Sam Clayton (13) proved what an outstanding talent he will be over Individual Medley's and Breaststroke swims when he abliterated his current PB's by huge margins to take silver medals in the 200m and 400m Individual Medley and 200m Breaststroke. Kieron German (14) also smashed his personal best times at 200m & 400m Frontcrawl and 200m Individual medley by enormous margins. Dean Williamson and Stacey Wood who are Butterfly specialist did not disappoint as they both started their assult on 2007 NQT's with outstanding swims in the 200m Butterfly to take gold medals and James Magness, Aaron Lee & Rachael Steele all matched their fly counterparts as they all took medals in the 200m Backstroke with outstanding swims.

Briony Merritt and Rachel Waine (11) were both in fine form as they produced outstanding swims throughout the weekend. Merritt took a staggering 25 seconds off her previous LC Frontcrawl and Medley times over 400m.

The weekend was bittersweet for Tigersharks as they bid farewell to team-mate Hayley Towner. Hayley's family have relocated to Bath so she will now be joining Bath University on a full time basis. We will all miss her but wish her well for the future.