Sharks show teeth at opening county tussles (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Sharks show teeth at opening county tussles

MEMBERS of Stratford Sharks have started their quest for honours at the annual Warwickshire County Championships at the City of Coventry 50m Pool.

Staged over three weeks, the Sharks, who have their base at Shipston and are sponsored by Sitel, made a positive start. Each event is decided with heat declared winners with the final heat spearheaded for the 50m and 200m and a final in the 100m sprint events.

The medal tally wasn't high during the opening skirmishes but a most impressive 54 personal best times were set.

Lawrie Mills, in the final heat for the 13/14-year 200m backstroke got the first medal of the day in a club record time taking bronze against stiff competition.

Gruelling

The girls' first competitor was Grace Wright who finished eighth in a gruelling 400m individual medley race.

The first medal for the girls came from Emma Bysouth who claimed bronze in the 11/12-year 200m freestyle. Frances Goss also made the final heat for the 9/10-year category when she touched an impressive eighth.

In the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle, all the girls between ages nine and 13 achieved pbs proving that their training is paying off.

The afternoon started with the 1500m freestyle when the club's sole competitor was Mills who set a new club record when finishing fourth.

The first event of the afternoon for the girls was the 200m breaststroke and the 13/14-year race saw Grace Wright, Fran Cassidy-Morris and Hattie Beaumont all lining up for the final heat and finishing third, fourth and sixth respectively with the latter pair setting new best times.

Emma White and Claire Bassinder went head to head in the final heat of the 14 and over 200m breaststroke with the former finishing third and her fourth-placed clubmate setting a new club record.

The boys 15 and over 50m freestyle is always an exciting and close-fought affair and it proved a triumph for the Sharks.

James Wardle took gold in a very impressive final split by less than half-a-second, while David Townsend had an equally exciting final in the 13/14-year race when he was just pipped by a fingertip when claiming a new club record.

The 11-year time trial for girls for the 100m butterfly saw Bysouth finishing third, while Wright was fourth in the same 12/13-year event.

Wardle and Townsend finished the day in fine style with gold and silver respectively in the 100m butterfly in their respective age groups.

John Tanner also made the 13/14-year final finishing a close fourthth behind Townsend and leaving the Stratford club ready to start where they left off and looking to increase their medal tally in the second week of action.

New club records were also set by Aaron Brough (9/10 200m back, 50m free), Robert Jolly (15 100m fly) and Emma White (14 100m Fly).

Ben Brough, Georgina Mackey, Megan Stanley, Chloe Bird, Lucy & Rebecca Tame, Imogen Cork, Georgina Harrington, Katie Cardwell, Lily Russell-Wilks, Fay Malling, Aaron Robinson, Tom & Jack Pilling, David & Chris Jolly, Lewis Seabright, Ben Lane, Joshua Walker and Josh Fell all set new pbs in certain events.