Sharks show bite at West Midlands Championships

STRATFORD Sharks enjoyed great success at the West Midlands Swimming Championships at Coventry Leisure Centre over five days.

There were many impressive performances from the 22 qualifying Sharks swimmers, including 12 medal wins, while seven long-standing club records were broken.

There were two gold medal wins for Leah Bowen in the 11/12 year, 50m and 100m freestyle events, with a silver in the 200m.

In the same age group, Charlotte Harding got a silver medal in the 100m backstroke. In breaststroke, there were also silver medal finishes for Ellie Harsant in the 50m (14 yr group), Eleanor Vickers 200m (16 yr) and Elinor Bird (17 yr plus).

Isabelle Callaghan (17 yr plus) won bronze in both the 100m and 200m and also managed second in the 800m freestyle. Robin Hughes (17 yr plus ) won gold in the 1500m and Daniel Cox (15 yr) added to the medal count with a third place bronze in the 15 yr backstroke final.

The 22 swimmers who represented Team Sharks over the two weekends were Abi Dudfield, Sandy Forysiak, Alistair Ristov, Cassie Lea, Charlotte Harding, Daniel Cox, Eleanor Vickers, Elinor Bird, Ellie Harsant, Georgina Ireland, Hannah Penny, Isabelle Callaghan, Joel Watson, Kathryn Lythgo, Lauren Maher, Leah Bowen, Lilian Perdomo, Molly Bullock, Morgan Evans, Owen Lawton, Rebecca Morrison and Robin Hughes.

Head coach, Kim Mortimer, said: "This was an outstanding performance from the swimmers and is great reward for the past year's hard work and dedication.

"Swimmers, coaches and parents were faced with humid conditions over the weekends, but responded well to the challenge.

"I was proud to see many fine swims, plus outstanding professionalism and resilience.

"With all of the hard work of the swimmers and coaches and continued support, plus a positive drive we will make even more gains in up and coming open meets for the remainder of the season."