Week 1 of 3 of the Warwickshire County Swimming Championships has been completed at Coventry’s Olympic sized 50m pool with Stratford Sharks in fine form and amongst the medals with many superb personal bests. With record numbers of Stratford Swimmers competing this year 3 age group club records, 6 Midland Championships Qualifying Times,18 top three positions and one County Championship title have already been delivered. The Girls 9/10 Freestyle Relay Team got the club off to a fantastic start in the very first event with Kathryn Lythgo, Seren Mahon, Ysabelle Caswell and Olga Hall taking second place.

  William Foster (9) in his first County Championships and his first year of competitive swimming continued his assault on the club records by smashing the 200m Backstroke record by some 25 seconds for 5th place in the 9/10 year age groups for a Midlands Age Group Championship Qualifying Time. Special mention must go to Robin Hughes (9) who also swam well inside the previous age group club record. In the 15/18 age group Joe Evans swam to 2nd place also collecting a 3rd place in the overall Championship positions.

  The first Gold medal of the Championships for the Sharks was delivered by Olga Hall (10) in the 50m Backstroke, Chloe Hale and Hannah Willis also gaining top 10 positions. Lucy Castle (12) took a new age club record and 2nd in the 11/12 year age group, qualifying for the Championship final as 6th fastest of 145 competitors in this event. Ellen Price (12) and Alice Quinn (12) also gaining top 10 places in their age group, with Sophie Warden 8th and Megan Pashley 10th in the 13yr age group.

  The Boys 100m events are decided over just two age groups, 12/14 and 15/over. In the 100m Breaststroke Alexander Forysiak (13) continued this seasons good form with 5th place, George Brear (18) taking 2nd place in the older age group and qualifying for the Championship Final to be swam later in the session. Olga Hall took 2nd place in the 9/10 years 200m Freestyle with a Midlands Age Group Championships Qualifying Time to underline her excellent start to the Championships with Kathryn Lythgo, Seren Mahon and Ysabelle Caswell adding to a strong Sharks presence in the top 10. In the 11/12 year age group, Lucy Castle took her 2nd medal of the day with 3rd place, again in a Midlands Age Group Championships Qualifying Time, Ellen Price taking a well earned 7th place. In this event the first of Stratford’s two Loughborough University based swimmers, Emily Key (18) took a Championship 2nd place in a Midlands Championship Qualifying time.

  In the first Championship final of the day, George Brear (18) was Stratford’s representative taking 2nd place in the 100m Breaststroke. Lucy Castle (12) was the next finalist in the 50m Backstroke finishing 6th a fantastic achievement considering she was 8 years younger than the winner. In a busy morning George Brear was straight back into action in the Men’s Open 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay taking the lead off leg before handing over to Michael Ankrett (16), Alexander Helliwell (15) with Joe Evans (16) bringing the team home to a hard fought 3rd place.

  The afternoon session started with the Ladies Open 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Team of Emily Key (18), Lucy Castle (12), Lucy Tame (14) and Emma White (19) matching the Men’s team for 3rd. Two Sharks took on the 1500m Freestyle, Edward Caswell (12) 7th in the 12/14 age group with Joshua Walker (14) 3rd, also taking Championship 3rd. The Boy’s 50m Freestyle saw a large entry with William Foster (9) taking another age group club record for 3rd place in the 9/10 age group. In the 15/18 years Joe Evans (16) swam well within himself finishing 6th overall and qualifying for the later Championship Final.

  Another Championship Finalist came in the Girls 100m Butterfly courtesy of Grace Wright (18) 8th. In the Boys event Jacob Humphrey’s (14) was 10th in the 12/14 age group and Joe Evans (16) secured another Championship Final place with 7th in the 15/overs.

  The Girls 200m Breaststroke saw a strong entry and in the 9/10 year age group Elinor Bird (10) showed her promise taking 2nd also a good swim from Kathryn Lythgo (10) brought her 9th. In the 14/over age group the clubs other Loughborough University based swimmer, Emma White again proved her county dominance of this event by taking the Championship title for the fourth successive year in a Midlands Championship Qualifying Time, Eve Morley (16) and Kara Malins (14) making it three Sharks in the top 10 with 6th & 7th respectively.

  In the afternoon finals session, Grace Wright contested the 100m Fly finishing in 8th. Joe Evans (16) had a tough task with virtually two back to back finals. In the 50m Freestyle a slow start cost him dear and despite overhauling most of the field he finished just 6/100th of a second behind a dead heat for first to take Championship 3rd in a Midlands Championship Qualifying time. Just a few minutes later he was back in the pool taking 7th in the 100 Fly a fantastic achievement at the end of a 12 hour day for Joe who had first entered the Coventry pool at 6am for a 2 hour training session with the West Midland’s Beacon Programme before the commencement of the Championships. After such a good start the Club are looking for many more successes to celebrate over the next two weeks.