30 May 2024

Sharks have had a great few weeks with personal bests, club records and a nationals qualification. Congratulations to Jacob who ranked 13th in the UK for the 200m breast and 7th for 50 breast and will be representing sharks in 200m breast at the English Nationals in July!

Mercian League

Pingles Leisure Centre, Nuneaton

Sharks finished in second place in the first round meet of the league. The final gala points were:-

Halesowen 232
Stratford Sharks 199
Sandwell Aquatics 199
Rugby 181
Kingsbury Aquarius 170

19 Sharks swum personal bests, including some massive times from Lottie C (9 seconds off 25 fly), Andrei U (7.5 seconds off 100 free), Barney D (7 seconds off 100 back), Lottie A (4 seconds off 100 fly), Joe V (8 seconds off 100 back), Ruby W(5 seconds off 100 breast), Sam H (4 seconds off 100 breast).

Out of 50 events we had no disqualifications, which is outstanding.

Mercian is a fun league for swimmers that don’t have Midlands times. Sharks sit in 6th place out of 15 after round 1, you can follow the table online here. Round 2 is at Walsall on the 8th June. 

Swim West Midlands Summer Championships

Competitors were Martha B, Evangeline H, Dalton L, Jacob S, Bella B, Izzy G, Arabella P, Annabel S, Harry C and Isla T.

Congratulations to Harry C(50m breast), Jacob S (100/50m breast)and Martha(50 fly) who made the finals. Martha finished second and Jacob finished 3rd in both races. 

Jacob also broke a 9-year old club record for 50m/100m/200m breast long course, previously held by Marmaduke McTigue. 

Jacob qualified for the national championships as he was ranked 13th in the UK for the 200m breast. He will be representing sharks in English nationals 200m breast in July.

Nuneaton Junior round 2

Queens Diamond Jubilee Centre, Rugby.

Sharks were up against against Worcester, Solihull, Chase, Leicester, Braunstone, all whom are above us in the table and finished higher than us in the league last year. 

So it was a great result to finish 5th with 154 points - a high score for that placing.

Sharks currently sit in 17th/24. The bottom 4 go down so we go into the last round - on 15th June in Leamington - in a strong position to retain our place in the premier league.

Masters

Katie, Rob and Ali competed at the annual Gloucester masters gala. Rob came 1st in the 200m free(45-49), Katie came 1st in the 100m fly(40-44), and Ali came 3rd in the 50m breast(50-54). Katie and Rob also swam new club records for their age groups. Richard in masters managed to complete the Menai Swim, 6.5km along the Menai straight in tropical 12 degree water ! Finally Pete in Masters while in Ibiza sent in a video of himself competing in a new event called Unicorn butterfly, he now holds the 20m meter world record and we are awaiting official ratification from FINA.

 

Coventry and Districts

Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry

The C&Ds is a group of 9 clubs (City of Cov, Leamington, Stratford Sharks, Blythe Barracudas, Solihull, Kingsbury, Nuneaton & Bedworth and Rugby) who organise and take part in 2 full galas each year - one in May and one in October. These are very popular and always have a full program of events. Medals are awarded to the top 8 swimmers in each event, owing to the large number of competitors in each age group. All the clubs pitch in with the organising - a huge thanks to all our volunteers who worked as officials, team managers and general helpers.

This year Sharks took a fairly big team of 60 swimmers. Here is the full list of medals and places:

• Annabelle S (girls 13) 50 back, 2nd 100 fly,6th 200m back,
• Alex S (boys 9) 50 back, 4th 100m back, 6th 50m fly
• Arturo H (boys 13) 4th 100m free
• Alexa W (girls 9) 7th 50 back, 8th 100m breast
• Bella B (girls 12) 1st 100 breast, 2nd 200m breast, 8th 200m free, 3rd 200m IM,
• Barney D, (boys 12) 7th 400m free, 2nd 100m fly, 5th 200IM, 4th 100m back, 
• Ben R, (boys 14+) 7th 400m free, 8th 50 back
• Cora W (girls 11) 6th 50m back ,  6th 200 back
• Chris D (boys 12) 6th 50 back, 4th 100 fly
• Carsten L (boys 11) 6th 200m breast,
• Daniel T (boys 9) 3rd 50 back,
• Evangeline H (girls 11) 1st 50m fly, 1st 100m back, 3rd 200IM, 6th 50m breast
• Ellison B (boys 11) 2nd 100m free
• Eliza M, (girls 10) 200m back
• Eve E, (girls 11) 4th 50 back, 3rd 100 breast, 4th 200m breast
• Emilia P (girls 14+) 4th 200 fly, 5th 100m fly
• Grace M (girls 10) 6th 200m free, 7th 50m fly, 8th 100m free, 7th 50 breast
• Harry C (boys 12) 4th 100m breast, 4th 200m breast
• Harrison G (boys 9) 8th 100m breast, 7th 50 breast, 8th 100m free
• Hannah J (Girls 14+) 6th 50 free
• Imogen H (girls 11) 7th 100 breast
• Isla T (girls 12) 6th 50m fly,2nd 50 back
• Jacob S (boys 11) 2nd 100 fly, 1st 100m breast, 3rd 100 back, 1st 200m breast, 1st 200IM, 4th 50m fly, 2nd 100m back, 4th 200m free, 1st 50m breast
• Mya T (girls 11) 6th 200m free
• Phoebe H (girls 13) 3rd 100 breast, 4th 200m back, 4th 200m breast,
• Pearl SK (girls 12) 2nd 100 breast, 4th 100m fly, 6th 200m free,
• Paige K (girls 12) 5th 100m fly
• Toby S (boys 13) 4th 50 back , 3rd 100 breast, 3rd 200m breast, 6th 100m back
• Thomas G (boys 11) 3rd 100m free, 7th 200m free
• Will H(boys 10) 6th 50m fly,

Jacob Smith also broke yet more club records for breast stroke this time in 100m and 200m short course. These are now on club rankings page, anyone who breaks a record needs to follow the instructions on that page to claim them.

Volunteers needed!

A heartfelt plea to any parents who can volunteer their time either at events or to help with the weekly running of the club. Just a couple of hours a week can make a huge difference as we’re currently relying on a small number of individuals. Please email membership if you can help. 

Coming up

22nd June

The Mike Wardle Sprints night will be the Sharks’ biggest club event for 5 years with 96 competitors and 352 entries! The event is in memory of Mike Wardle who was a devoted Stratford Shark.

23rd June

The 2024 Open Water Championships, a collaboration between the West Midland, East Midland, and South West Regions will be held at Lake, 86 Spine Rd E, Cirencester.

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