A tough start to the season saw Stratford “A” finish in fourth and the “B” team in sixth pace in a recent junior gala held at Stratford Leisure Centre. The gala was practice for the forth coming junior league and with strong teams from Stourbridge, Leamington Spa, Haden Hill and Camphill Edwardians. Points were difficult to come by but the young swimmers held their nerve and recorded some impressive results.

  The first two events saw personal bests for Harriet Green, Jack Leeson and a fine third place for Joshua Martindale. The 11 yr girls’ relay saw Lucy Castle, Megan Pashley, Jemima Scrivens and Sophie Warden achieve two fourth places. Individually Castle claimed a third place in the fly and was a convincing winner in the backstroke, Sophie Warden saw her efforts in the freestyle rewarded with a personal best and fourth place. Sophie Reynolds just pipped Megan Pashley in the breaststroke both having good swims. Sian Morris, Kate Bellamy, Charlotte Inns all swam with determination showing what a competitive age group this is.

  In the nine year old age group the girls were outstanding Ysabelle Caswell, Elinor Bird, Kathryn Lythgo and Annie Cox combined brilliantly to win the medley relay and they would have won the freestyle had it not been for an eager start! Individually Cox was second in the breaststroke, Lythgo was third in the fly in a personal best, Bird flew to the end to take second place in the freestyle with a personal best and after a faulty start which saw the event being rescheduled Caswell won the backstroke in fine style in a personal best. Another strong age group for Sharks Connie Williams, Chloe Hale, Arabella King and Alice Poppitt had fantastic swims and achieved third place in the medley relay and first place in the freestyle capitalising on the other sharks’ team error. The nine year old boys were lacking in numbers but between Gregor Kelling and William Scrivens they had some super swims all with personal bests.

  The boys’ ten year old medley team took a fine second place Martindale, Leeson, Kelling and Harrison Tucker all had solid swims. For the girls’ Molly Fulford, Harriet Green, Elizabeth Walters and Annie Wright took two fourth places, Green taking a well deserved second place in the breaststroke. Anna Gamble, Claire Joseph and Lauren Mcdermott swam well and all gained vital experience.

  In the oldest age group Lucy Tame and Daniel Siviter swam well and picked up second places in the backstroke, Tame in a personal best a feat also replicated in her freestyle swim. Gwennan Williams swam positive fly and Breaststroke races and these swims were rewarded with personal bests. More personal bests in this age group were recorded by Katherine Peacop, Jo Harris, Lydia Fulford, Gabriella Clack, Alex Callaghan, Kitty Boyes and Alex Garstang. Improvements were also seen by Tom Brown and Christopher Jennings in only their second gala.

  The swimmers of the evening had to be the eleven year old boys Matt Newman, Sandy Forysiak, Andrew Morley and Edward Caswell all swam brilliantly and were totally dominant in their age group recording big wins in both the relays. Individually they did not disappoint either with Forysiak winning the breaststroke, Caswell the freestyle, Newman swam a gutsy fly to finish second as did Morley in the backstroke finishing third in a personal best. Newman and Caswell swam up an age group and did not disgrace themselves finishing in fourth place in the fly and breaststroke respectively. The quartet also swam the older age group freestyle relay and a superb display of swimming saw them win this by a good margin. George Purchon and Siviter joined Newman and Forysiak for the twelve years boys’ Medley relay and finished in third place.

  The mixed freestyle relay team of Lythgo, Kelling, Green, Martindale, Castle, Caswell, Tame and Siviter swam their socks off and finished in a close fourth place. The Boys’ eight lengths freestyle relay went even better and the team of Kelling Martindale, Scrivens, Leeson Forysiak, Morley Purchon and Siviter tasted the sweet success of victory. The girls’ team not to be out done by the boys put together another set of fabulous swims also claiming a stunnning victory. The team was led off by the talented Lythgo and supported by Bird, Green, Walters, Scrivens, Castle, Williams and Tame.