Tigersharks Top at Nationals

Tigersharks swimmers were in top form at this years National Age Groups and British Championships.

Top performer was Jazmin Carlin (16) who came home with a hat trick of medals of every colour and an additional silver & bronze. Carlin struck Gold in the 1500m Frontcrawl where she smashed her Club Record, Wiltshire Record, District Record and Welsh Record in one foul swoop. Carlins time of 16:51.83 also earned her a Bronze medal in the Open Ladies Age group where she was only beaten by international stars Rebecca Cooke and Cassandra Patten. Carlin also collected a silver medal in the 800m Frontcrawl and 400m Frontcrawl. Her 400m Frontcrawl time was also a new Senior Club Record, County Record & Welsh Record.
Alexander Jones (15) swimming in the tough 15-16 years age group swam an outstanding 400m Frontcrawl race to gain a place in the final. With only three 15 year olds and seven 16 year olds Jones put in a sterling performance to take 8th place overall. His time of 4:09.82 placed him as the 3rd fastest 15-year-old in the competition. Jones also produced a massive swim in the 400m Individual Medley to be place 2nd overall out of the 15-year-old swimmers. He also swam great races in the 200m Individual Medley in a lifetime best and the 200m Frontcrawl.
Dean Williamson (15) had an astonishing Nationals this year. Williamson who also had to swim in the double age group of 15-16 years, starting his campaign by hacking a massive five seconds of his 400m Frontcrawl time, he went on to take two seconds off his 200m Butterfly and 3 seconds off his 200m Frontcrawl. His crowning glory however came in the 100m Butterfly where he swam under the magical minute barrier in a time of 59.93. His time was enough to claim the long standing Tigershark Club record held by Martin Brown.
Sophie Hawkins (14) swimming in the double 14-15 years age group, also produced some fantastic personal best swims. Her 50m FC time was enough to break the Junior Club record and her 100m Frontcrawl time 0f 1:01.33 placed her 10th overall in the 14 years age group in the competition. Hawkins also swam strong races in the 200m FC, 400m FC and 200m IM.
Aaron Lee (16) had his best ever National Competition where he swam to personal best times in both the 100m Back and 100m Butterfly. His time of 1:00.07 in the butterfly placed him 8th in the 16 years age group. Natalie Montezuma (16), James Magness (16) and Laura Young (14) all had out standing swims in their events to produce very good times. Magness set a new personal best time in the 200m Back and Laura Young produced a fantastic swim in the 100m Breast to set a new life time best.
Briony Merritt (11) who had been ill for two weeks prior to the competition, swam to personal best times in the 200m Back and 200m Frontcrawl and produced an outstanding life time best in the 400m Individual Medley. Briony was placed 17th overall in the BagCat competition, 2nd in the West and 1st in Wiltshire. Sophie Roberts (11) put in a sterling performance to produce a best time in the 100m Backstroke. Eleanor Hussey (12) swam a fantastic 400m Individual Medley in her first ever National Competition & Sam Clayton (14) also produced his best performance in the 400m Individual Medley. His time was a massive four seconds inside the qualifying time. He also had outstanding races in the 100m and 200m Butterfly.

With all Tigersharks swimmers achieving personal best times when it counted, they showed their training and preperation had been perfect.
Jazz Carlin, Alex Jones, Dean Williamson, James Magness, Laura Young, Aaron Lee and Sophie Hawkins all recorded times which were inside next years National Qualifying Standard.

In the performance table Tigersharks were placed 22nd in the country, 4th in the West of England and 1st in Wiltshire.

Tigersharks would like to extend their congratulations to Chris Jones of Swindon Dolphins on his Gold Medal in the 50m Breaststroke.