‘Best ever’ Sharks shine

Welshpool Sharks Swimming Club says they achieved their best ever result in the weekend’s first round of the East Clwyd Seniors League at Holywell Leisure Centre.

Known as the ECL, the league is battled out over three galas between Buckley, Connah’s Quay, Flint, Mold, Welshpool and Wrexham Swimming Clubs and a very young Sharks team finished second behind Wrexham.

Some of Shark’s more experienced swimmers delivered the maximum six points with Billy Hunt winning his 100m free and breaststroke open races.

In the boys 13 years age group, Sharks took a clean sweep with Carwyn Owen winning the breaststroke, Morgan Bowen taking the butterfly, Tom Weaver the freestyle and Jason Simister finishing first in the backstroke as well as going on to win both the freestyle and medley relays too.

Great performances also came from Anna Davies and Mitchel Hunt who took second places despite swimming up age groups.

The real heroes on the day though were the Shark’s girls, the oldest of whom was just 13 with many stepping up age groups in order to cover all events.

In particular, Aaliyah Robbins, Megan Ellis, Keira McVeagh, Daisy Lloyd-Evans, Cerys Davies and Esme Hughes all just 12-13 years of age but stepped up to compete in the open women’s age group to bring home valuable points for the Club.

Sharks Head Coach Peter Swanton said: “We took a small team due to absentees which meant our swimmers had to cover a number of events between them with little rest between races. Ours was also a very young team and the commitment and determination shown by our youngsters in swimming up age groups to cover all events was huge. It contributed greatly to our points score and final placing as a Club, the best we’ve ever achieved.

“The hard work our swimmers are putting in at training is now beginning to show and they’re reaping the benefits. We’ll have a few more experienced swimmers coming back for the next two rounds so hopefully with their involvement we can keep hold of second place.”

The first round finished with Wrexham well ahead with 251 points, Welshpool then on 177 and Mold third with 175. Buckley finished on 172, Connah’s Quay 115 and Flint on 95.

The second round takes place on Saturday with the third and final round on March 28 with both events in Holywell.