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Chris Watson makes Best Boy at Stocksbridge Sprints and in doing so gets within 15 hundredths of a second of a Grand Slam - missing Gold in the 50m Freestyle by a touch.
The competition at Stocksbridge seemed tougher than last year with some impressive times required to reach the finals. As usual the event was very well run with non of the inexplicable delays experienced at other venues.
Limited spectator viewing meant the crowd were perhaps a little quiet which belied the excitement of some of the swimming. They found strong voice during the four finals periods, though, and club swimmers made plenty of noise supporting their teammates.
| Club Stats | |
| swimmers | 13 |
| Gold | 5 |
| Silver | 4 |
| Bronze | 1 |
| Place | 5 |
| DQ | 1 |
| PB's | 25 |
| Club Records | 5 |
13 Sharks swimmers came along and went home happy with 10 cups and 5 medals as well as an impressive pewter tankard for best boy won by an on form Chris Watson, who managed to swim 6 personal bests in 8 races. It was only his failure to gain the touch in the 50m freestyle that stopped him coming away with all four Gold's. The final was a straight race between Chris and the eventual winner. Chris was just ahead at the turn but a strong turn by his opponent put him half a meter down as they come up for air. The tussle continued for during the final 25m with Chris looking like he was going to have him as they powered into the red zone. But it was not to be. Having produced a PB in the heats and knocking a further half a second off in the final it just wasn't enough. Chris also broke his own club records in all four strokes.
Holly Lewis came away with two silver medals. In the 50m freestyle she lost in the final by a fingernail, another PB to help keep her at the top of the sprint ladder.
Lewis Starbuck showed what a good breaststroke he is by qualifying 3rd for the final and keeping form to clinch a bronze against strong swimmers either side of him.
Emily Fordham flew into the final of the 50m Freestyle with a blistering PB and then got a very creditable 6th place.
In the afternoon session it was the turn of our 11, 13 and 15/open swimmers.
Anna Laird knocked a quarter of a second off her PB in the 50m Fly to 3rd for the final. The unofficial coaching team (mum and dad) must have said the right things because she returned in the final and smashed that PB by a staggering 1.47 seconds to get a very well deserved Gold. Anna later cruised into the final of the 50m Backstroke and swam even faster again to add a silver to her Gold.
Charlie Squires made it into all four of her finals producing a great personal best in the final of the 50m Breaststroke to clinch Gold. Get managed a 5th in the final of the 50m fly, and 6th in both the freestyle and backstroke.
Hannah Hirst achieved a 4th in the final of the 50m Breaststroke with one of three personal bests on the day.
Daniel Leggott and Charlie Cocks both made finals, finishing 6th in the 50m fly and 50m breaststroke respectively.