Sharks snap up medals

Welshpool Sharks Swimming Club performed brilliantly across two weekends of swimming at the North Wales Championships at Llandudno, delivering a clutch of medal winning performances.

The first weekend saw Deiniol Owen (12) clinch the club’s first medal with a bronze in the 400m Individual Medley (IM) followed by fifth in the 50m Fly. He finished the day with a big personal best to finish sixth in the 100m Free.

Tom Weaver (14) took a closely contested fourth in the 100m Back and then a bronze in the 50m Fly, whilst Carwyn Owen (14) broke three minutes for the first time to finish fourth in the 200m Breast, narrowly missing out on a medal.

Two more medals followed with Silvers for Finlay Jones (12) in the 50m Back and Tom in the 50m Free. Deiniol narrowly missed out on another Bronze, finishing fourth in the U12 100m Breast and fifth in the 200m IM.

The second weekend saw more medals coming Sharks’ way with Deiniol clinching Bronze in the 200m Breast whilst Robbie Marsden-Jones (11) just missed out, finishing fourth in the same event in his age group.

Kate Pugh (14) swam a great 50m Free to break 30secs for the first time but just missed out on a spot in the final. More medals followed in the boys U14 50m Breast with Carwyn dipping under 36 seconds to take Silver with Tom taking Bronze.

Dyfrig Jones (11) lowered his personal best in the 100m Back to finish fifth and went on to swim a great 50m Free, finishing fourth but missing out on a medal by a whisker. He did take Silver in the 100m Fly and a Bronze in the 400m Free.

As the Championships drew to a close, the last few events saw Tom win Silver in the 50m Back and Morgan Matthews (12) a Bronze in the 50m Breast.

All in all, it was a great two weekends of competition by the Welshpool Sharks winning five Silvers and seven Bronzes and setting a huge number of personal best times along the way.

Some achieved big gains on times set just eight weeks ago – a clear sign that swimmers are on top form going into the East Clwyd League which starts later this month with Sharks seeking to defend the title they won last year.

PICTURE: Sharks team members Meg Smith, Deiniol Owen, Kate Pugh, Carwyn Owen and Tom Weaver.