Jawsome results for Stratford Sharks in Coventry
STRATFORD Sharks swimmers delivered some great results at the first weekend of the ASA Championships held in Coventry.
TeamSharks were represented by 74 qualifying swimmers, with no less than 37 of the starting blocks in the finals being occupied by Sharks swimmers.
Three of these, Isabelle Callaghan, Leah Bowen and Charlotte Harding, were crowned as County Champions over six separate events.
This is the last time the Championships will be held at the old city centre pool as the brand new £10.5million Olympic 50-metre pool is currently under construction at the Alan Higgs Centre, in the south east of the city which is due to open later this year.
In the boys finals 10/11 age group 50m races, William Payton came third in the freestyle and Finn Proud fourth in the butterfly.
For the girls, in the same distance and age group, Serena Newell was sixth in the breaststroke and Martha Bullock came seventh in the backstroke.
In the 12-year-olds category, Cassie Lea finished sixth in the 100m freestyle and seventh in the 100m backstroke.
Alistair Ristov was sixth in the 100m breaststroke final and Jake Deaner came home fifth in the 50m freestyle.
The girls 13-year-olds category provided the biggest haul of Championship medals and finalists, with Leah Bowen gaining first place in the 100m freestyle and backstroke respectively as well as the 200m freestyle.
Bowen also finished fourth in the 50m breaststroke and runner-up in the 50m backstroke to another TeamSharks swimmer, Charlotte Harding, who also won the 400m individual medley.
Harding had finished in second place to Bowen in both the 100m backstroke and the 200m freestyle as well as finishing third in the 100m freestyle.
Holly Larkin appeared in four finals, finishing fifth in three of them and fourth in the 200m freestyle.
Completing the picture for the 13-year-old girls was Abi Dudfield, who was one of four TeamSharks swimmers in the 50m backstroke final, finishing seventh.
Although the boys could not quite match the girls’ performances, Connor Silvester finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke final.
In the 14-year-old age group, Rebecca Morrison finished seventh in both the 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle.
Joel Watson reached the 100m breaststroke final, also finishing seventh. Ellie Harsant finished second in the 15-year-old 50m breaststroke final, with Keana Pearce gaining fifth place in the 100m backstroke and sixth in the 50m backstroke.
Hannah Penny finished fifth in the 100m freestyle final.
The older age group finals provided more success for Stratford, with Isabelle Callaghan winning the 50m breaststroke final for the 16-plus category, gaining second place in the 200m breaststroke and third in 400m individual medley.
Daniel Cox reached two finals, finishing fourth in the 100m breaststroke and seventh in the 200m backstroke. Georgina Ireland gained fifth place in the 100m backstroke final.
The second round of the Championships is in two weeks’ time where Stratford Sharks will be aiming for more medals.
