On Saturday evening Stratford Sharks sent an almost full strength Junior team to Nuneaton for their first Junior League practice gala. For many of the younger swimmers this was their first taste of proper team competition against 7 other teams, some of them the strongest in the midlands.

  They got off to a good start with three third places and a first for Matt Newman in the first 4 races. As well as winning his 10yr Boys 50m Freestyle Matt also won his 25m Butterfly race, swimming exceptionally well in all his races. Following suite was Megan Stanley winning both her 12yr Girls events, the 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly, leading from the front as the senior swimmer in the team.

  Supporting strongly were Jonathan Witchard & Lucy Tame winning one event each, Jonathon the 12yr Boys 50m Freestyle and Lucy the 11yr Girls 50m Backstroke. Josh Walker (12) and Josh Martindale (9) came second in their respective Butterfly races, swimming strongly all night with Lucy Castle (10), Matt Bailey (9), Bryonie Owen (9) twice, Thomas James (12) and Josh Martindale again all picking up third places. All the new 9 year olds swam out of their skins in tough competition, Molly Wright, Harriet Green, and Ailsa Gavan McHarg along with Bryonie getting a fourth and fifth in the girls relays and Ieuan Owen with Josh & Matt in the boys relays.

  Of the older debutants Tom Green showed great fight to earn fourth in the 11yr 50m Breaststroke in his first ever gala and Joe Harris and Daniel Siviter, swimming extremely well along with Tom Freeman in the 10 year olds. Last years 9’s of Lucy Castle, Sian Morris, Kelly Greener, Eleri Williams, Caitlin Stephenson, Matt Newman, Tom Freeman and Tom Precious showed they are progressing well swimming competitively in the 10 year age group with two thirds and two fifths.

  Along with their team mates the 11 year olds of Gwennan Williams, Laura Bryan, Lydia Fulford and Andrew Morley picked up a second and a fourth in their relays and the 12 year olds of Jacob Humphreys, Chloe Bird, Kara Malins & Lydia Mee picked up a second and two fourths. The whole team swam exceptionally well right up to the end just being pipped in the final 8x1 Cannon for second by the dominant winning team from Nuneaton & Bedworth, all in all a good start to the junior season showing promise for the league starting in April.