Stratford Sharks found themselves in a tough battle in the third and final round of this year’s National Swimming League West Midlands Division Two. After excellent team performances in the first two preliminary rounds held in October and November in which they gained second places in both, the Sharks found themselves in 4th position in the League table and therefore qualifying for the six team final held at Droitwich Leisure Centre. This Gala of the top clubs would then decide the final League placings with the top four promoted to Division One for next season

  The night got off to a great start with the Sharks taking six top three places in the first 10 races with Club Captain Lawrie Mills registering the first win of the night in the Open 200m Individual Medley. This was followed by the Men’s Open 4x50 Medley Relay of Mills, George Brear, James Wardle & Joe Evans. Second places were gained by Emma White in the Ladies 200m IM, the Boys 15yrs 4x50 Free Relay of Joe Evans, Josh Newman, Alex Helliwell and Michael Ankrett and the Ladies Open 4x50 Medley Relay of Becky Sherren, Emma White, Grace Wright and Emily Key. Third place went to the Boys 11yrs 4x50 Free Relay of Matt Newman, Sandy Forysiak, Ianto Davis and Edward Caswell. At this point the Sharks were second to Mansfield, the home club of double Olympic Champion Becky Adlington.

  The next points check would be after 18 events and 11yr old Lucy Castle got the Sharks off to a perfect start in the eleventh event with a win in the 50m Backstroke, the only other win in this section coming from James Wardle in the Mens Open 100m Fly with Evans adding a second place in the Boys 15yr 100m Backstroke. After 18 events the top 4 teams were separated by just 7 points with the Sharks maintaining second to Mansfield. With the atmosphere hotting up, the next set of 8 races were tough for the Sharks with only 2 second places being achieved, Evans in the Boys 15yr 100m Fly and Mills in the Open 100m Backstroke. However special mention must be made of two young ladies who stepped in when the club needed them due to illnesses to other swimmers, 11yr Lucy Castle took on the Girls 13yr 100m Backstroke and Sarah Peacop the Girls 15yr 100m Fly, both achieving very valuable points. At event 26 though the Sharks had dropped to 4th place with Mansfield sharing the lead with Ledbury followed by Wyre Forest.

  It wasn’t to be too long before more top 3’s were achieved, in event 28 Sandy Forysiak took 2nd in the Boys 50m Breastroke, and two events later Jacob Humphreys 3rd in the Boys 13yr 100m Fly. In between the two boys, Gwennan Williams swam a gutsy race in the Girls 13yr 100m Fly to score valuable points after standing in at the last minute. Two wins followed for Michael Ankrett in the Boys 15yr 100m Freestyle and Emma White in the Ladies Open 100m Breastroke backed up by George Brear’s 2nd place in the Mens Open 100m Breastroke. This enabled the Sharks to pull level with Wyre Forest after event 34, Mansfield were in second place with Ledbury showing their strength in depth to pull away slightly in first.

  With 16 events left, 8 individual and 8 relays to finish, there was still everything to swim for. Good points were picked up in 4 Freestyle events with Edward Caswell taking 3rd in the Boys 11yr 50m, Josh Walker 3rd in the Boys 13yr 100m, Emily Key in the Ladies Open 100m came 2nd and Lawrie Mills recorded another win in the Mens Open 100m. At this point Sharks had slipped marginally in to 4th place again. The final section of races in the National Swimming League are the relays and they are always the most noisy and exciting as all the team members take part starting with the youngest teams of 11 year olds building to the Open teams at the end. The Girls 11yrs Medley team of Lucy Castle, Sophie Reynolds, Eleri Williams and Ellen Price took 4th place which was matched by the Boys, Edward Caswell, Sandy Forysiak, Matt Newman and Ianto Davis.

  The Girls 13yr old team of Gwennan Williams, Kara Malins, Laura Bryan and Lucy Tame swam tough all night despite some suffering recent illness but they still managed to score decent points for the team and in their Freestyle relay came 6th. The Boys team in this age of Josh Walker, Ed Caswell, Andrew Morley and Jacob Humphreys went one place better for 5th. The 15yr old Girls Team had also been affected by illness and in their Medley Relay, Caroline Ankrett, Becky Tame, Frances Goss and Sarah Peacop fought hard but came 6th. The Boys Team of Alex Helliwell, Josh Newman, Michael Ankrett and Joe Evans took a well earned 3rd place.

  This left just the Ladies and Mens Open Freestyle relays both of 6x50m to decide the final results. In the Ladies Emma White got the team off to a great start before handing over to, Becky Sherren, Sarah Peacop, Becky Tame and Frances Goss with Emily Key taking the final leg. In a very close and exciting race Emily was just beaten into 3rd place by the narrowest of margins albeit by a GB International.

  So the last race of the night was the Men’s Open Freestyle and with a strong team hopes of a victory were high. Joe Evans led off with George Brear on the second leg followed by Alex Helliwell, Michael Ankrett, Lawrie Mills and James Wardle powering them home for maximum points.

  The final results were awaited with eager anticipation by all the clubs so they could be factored in to the League Table to see who would be promoted. Ledbury took the Gala on 209 points followed by Mansfield 199, Wyre Forest 179, Stratford Sharks 177, Phoenix Youth 172 and Droitwich 110. The team and supporters from Wyre Forest went mad as this result leapfrogged them from fifth in the league to third behind Ledbury and Mansfield to gain promotion. This meant Phoenix Youth slipped from third to joint fourth with Stratford Sharks but a count back of total Gala points gained sees the Sharks come out on top by just 8 points 601 to 593 and should see them regain Division One status which was lost last year, just rewards for all their efforts a and great team spirit.