Sharks win Lincs Senior B Final
by Bev Webb

Sharks were up against it in a tough final. Our swimmers came through beating off a strong challenge from Louth to take home the top trophy
- or not! (see later...)   

The final round of the Lincs Senior League saw Sharks going to Yarborough Pool in Lincoln. Looking at the line-up of Teams, it seemed as though we would have a difficult task ahead. The challenging teams were Louth, City of Lincoln Pentaqua, Scunthorpe Anchor, Trenton Dolphins and Grimsby Santa Marina.

Club Stats
swimmers	26
1st	15
2nd	12
3rd	11
DQ	1
PB's	??
Club Records	??

Starting on the blocks for the first event was Gareth Bowden in the boys open 100m Freestyle. Gareth, incidentally, was swimming against one of his training buddies at Scunthorpe Anchor, so the pressure was on for him to perform well and he didn’t let us down, by coming in 2nd after Louth. Sharks then proceeded to gain the lead by winning the next 3 races. Alison Pennell brought us another 1st place in event 10, the girls open 100m breaststroke.  After event 12 ‘the scores on the doors’ were as follows: Trenton Dolphins 27, Scunthorpe Anchor 32, Grimsby Santa Marina 38, City of Lincoln Pentaqua 45, Louth 54 and yes, wait for it, Sharks 55 points! The usual Sharks supporters were in raptures and were on their feet shouting and cheering from then on. 

The next set of events, from event 13 to 24, saw Sharks romp home with six first places including Katie Lindop in the girls 14/U 100m freestyle, Hannah Hirst in the girls 12/U 50m breaststroke, the girls open freestyle relay team, both the boys & girls 10/U medley relay teams and Katie Lindop, again,  in the girls 14/U 100m backstroke. We were then half way through the gala with the following points:

Trenton Dolphins 55, Scunthorpe Anchor 75, Grimsby Santa Marina 80, City of Lincoln Pentaqua 81, Louth 101 and Sharks 110. We were pulling ahead and things got very exciting!

The next round of events (25 to 36) saw our swimmers bringing in two 1st places and a number of 2nds and 3rds. A special mention here to Charlotte Squires who won the girls 14/U 100m breaststroke and Holly Lewis who won the girls 10 years 50m breaststroke, leading all the way. We all waited with baited breath for the scores at this point and they were:

Trenton Dolphins 77, Scunthorpe Anchor 104, Grimsby Santa Marina 113, City of Lincoln Pentaqua 139, Louth 153 and Sharks 168. Still in the lead!

It was looking as though we were going to win but the swimmers kept their heads and continued to swim well in events 37 to 48, bringing home another three 1sts, with Alex Cook winning the girls 10 years 50m backstroke and both the girls 14/U freestyle relay team and the girls 12/U medley relay team also winning their races.

At the end, all the swimmers and supporters waited, optimistically, on poolside for the final points. The final scores being Trenton Dolphins 106, Scunthorpe Anchor 140, Grimsby Santa Marina 148, City of Lincoln Pentaqua 191, Louth 202 and Sharks 216 points. We were ecstatic to say the least. This means that we were the overall winners of the second group in the Lincs Senior League! Unfortunately, I believe last years winners of this group took the winners cup home with them, much to our dismay. I am sure Kev will be making every effort to recover this, for our display cabinet.

A special mention must be made to the girls and boys 10/U relay teams who won all their races. The teams were Holly Lewis, Alex Cook, Cari Williams & Lily Webb for the girls and David Eke, Matthew Hirst, Luke Shipklye & James Lockey for the boys. Also the talk of the supporters and the boys 14/U relay team was Daniel Leggott, who not only swam in his own age group, the 12/Us but also swam up in the 14/U relay team and was an inspiration to watch.  Also, Jeff Squires did a great job as stand-in coach in Kev’s absence.