Stratford Sharks swimmers have been in successful action at two recent Open Meets with great success. Firstly 11 swimmers competed at the Nuneaton & Bedworth 100 & 200m Open where they delivered 7 Midland Championship Qualifying times. In the first event of the day William Foster (9) got his meet off to the perfect start in the 9/10 year age group with 3rd place in the 200m Freestyle in a new age group club record and Midland Age Group Championship Qualifying time. Joshua Walker (14) & Andrew Morley (13) picked up 5th & 17th respectively in the 13/14 age group with Walkers time also a Midlands time. The final swimmer in this event was 16yr old Michael Ankrett finishing 4th in the 15/over age group

  The Girls 100m Backstroke saw only one Sharks swimmer compete, Olga Hall (10) taking the silver medal in the 9/10 age group. The next event on the programme was the Boys 200m Individual Medley in which William Foster (9) took his second age group club record and Midlands time with 7th in the 9/10 age group, Josh Walker (14) 8th & Andrew Morley (13) 15th in the 13/14’s and Michael Ankrett (16) 7th in the 15/overs. One of the most popular events the 100m Freestyle saw six Stratford girls competing, Olga Hall was the best placed of the clubs three 10yr olds in the 9/10 age group with 4th place, Ysabelle Caswell finishing 9th & Hannah Willis 10th. Lucy Tame (14) 13th in the 13/14’s with Becky Tame (16) 10th and Sarah Peacop (15) 15th in the 15/overs.

  The clubs third medal of the day came courtesy of Michael Ankrett (16) with 3rd place in the 100m Fly. Eve Morley (16) narrowly missed out in her first event of the competition with 4th place in the 15/over 200m Breaststroke in which 10yr olds Olga Hall, Ysabelle Caswell and Hannah Willis finished 6th,7th & 13th. William Foster (9) achieved a hat trick of age group club records and Midland Age Group Qualifying times in the 200m Backstroke finishing 6th in the 9/10’s, Joshua Walker (14) 6th and Andrew Morley (13) 14th in the 13/14’s.

  The Girls 200m Backstroke was also a success for Olga Hall (10) taking 3rd place in a Midlands time in the 9/10 age group her second medal in this stroke after her 2nd place in the 100m, 10yr old Hannah Willis also competed in this event finishing 14th. Becky Tame (16) narrowly missed out with 4th in the 100m Fly before William Foster (9) took his fourth age group club record of the day with 5th in the 9/10yr 200m Breaststroke. The Girls 200m Individual Medley saw Olga Hall (10), Lucy Tame (14) & Becky Tame (16) competing with Olga 6th in a Midlands time in the 9/10’s and the Tame sisters 16th & 7th in their age groups.

  William Fosters final event of the weekend the 200m Fly saw him finish with another age group club record giving him five from five and 3rd place in the 9/10 age group, another outstanding weekend of achievement from William. The final events involving Stratford’s swimmers were the Girls 200m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke. In the first, Olga Hall took her third Midlands time with 6th in the 9/10’s, Ysabelle Caswell 13th and Hannah Willis 14th. Lucy Tame (14) 13th in the 13/14’s and Sarah Peacop (15) took 9th in the 15/overs. Olga Hall (10) celebrated the end of another fantastic weekend of swimming with 2nd place in the 100m Breaststroke with Ysabelle Caswell finishing less than a second behind for 4th, Becky Tame (16) taking the Sharks final medal of the meet with 2nd in the 15/over age group.

  Over the Bank holiday weekend three swimmers competed at the City of Birmingham Open which this year attracted entries from 69 clubs. This meet held over four days offers the full range of events from 50m to 1500m with morning and afternoon heats for all events up to 200m with evening finals. On the first day, Edward Caswell (13) and Joshua Walker (14) were competing in the 13/over 800m Freestyle. Two superb performances saw them both knock around 20 seconds off their personal best times to finish 9th & 15th respectively in this extremely tough age group.

  Joe Evans (16) competed in five events over three days of the meet. His first day saw him compete in just one event the 400m Freestyle. With no final, the medals were decided from the heats with Joe seeded fourth fastest in the final heat. A controlled swim saw a 5 second personal best gain him a hard fought silver medal in a National Championship Qualifying time. Day two saw Evans compete in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly breaking his own age group club record in the heats of the Fly and qualifying for the evenings final in both events. A superb effort in the finals session saw him firstly lower his 100m Freestyle club record to take another silver medal in a National Championship Qualifying time and less than 10 minutes later another fantastic effort saw him break the 100m Fly record for the second time on the day but this time narrowly edged out to 4th.

  On the final day he competed in the 50m & 200m Freestyle. A new personal best in the 50m in which there were some extremely fast sprinters was not quite enough to qualify him for the final. The main focus of the day the 200m Freestyle saw him qualify comfortably for the final as 4th fastest. In the evenings final he was one of three swimmers who broke away after 75m and at the end just 0.37 of a second split them with Evans taking his third silver medal of the weekend in a new club record and National Championship Qualifying time.