Sharks and Dolphin team up for Wilts

From the archive, first published Wednesday 25th Oct 2006.

SWINDON Dolphin and Tigersharks swimmers both had 10 swimmers joining forces to represent Wiltshire in the National County Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield .

Unfortunately, Wiltshire just missed the cut by five points but both Dolphin and Tigersharks swimmers put in some fine swims.

The star performer in the Dolphin contingent was undoubtedly Andrea Alleyne, pictured left, who jetted in from Turkey just hours before the competition, to become the first Dolphin female to break the magic one-minute barrier in the 100m freestyle, with a new Dolphin record of 58.55 to take fourth place.

Elsewhere, Georgia Dymoke (backstroke), Tilly Gray (freestyle), Katie Hall (breaststroke), Cathal Westman (breaststroke) joined Alleyne in setting personal best times.

In the relay events Dolphin swimmers played a key part in securing two victories for the county.

In the boys’ 12/13 years 200 metres medley relay, Dolphin’s Cathal Westman (breaststroke) and Tim Berry (butterfly) joined forces with Christopher Weston and Sam Clayton.

Wiltshire made it back-to-back relay wins in the final event, the girls’ 14/15 years 200 metres medley relay as Dolphin’s Georgia Dymoke (backstroke) and Tilly Gray (butterfly) combined with Alexandra Warren and Natalie Montezuma to close in 2:04.70 seconds.

Fourteen-year-old Dean Williamson was third in the 14/15 100m butterfly in 1:01.84 and five races later was just seconds off a National Qualifying Time (NQT) again in the 100m breastroke.

Sophie Hawkins (13), pictured right, swam a phenomenal race to win the 100m frontcrawl in a personal best time and NQT of 1:00.48. She also clocked 27.80 on the final leg of the medley relay for 50m frontcrawl.

Teammate Sam Clayton (13) took two second off his personal best time, going under the minute mark for the first time as he clocked 59.96.

He also produced a great final leg in the 12/13 medley relay to bring the team home in first place with a split time of 27.30.

Hayley Wood (17) was in top form when she produced a strong swim in the 100m butterfly to swim home in a time of 1:09.23 and she topped this off with a 50m butterfly split time of 30.54.

The boys 14/15 medley team was made up entirely of Tigersharks swimmers.

The boys (James Magness, Dean Williamson, Aaron Lee and Alex Jones) were in outstanding form to take fourth place overall.

Jones (14) was in his usual startling form as he produced his fastest ever short course time in the 100m frontcrawl in a time of 54.86.

Jones also racked up two 50m frontcrawl swims of 24 seconds in both the medley and cannon relays.

Natalie Montezuma (15) was in great form in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:08.49 to help the girls 14/15 medley team home in first place.

Aaron Lee (15) swam a very strong 100m Backstroke to finish fourth in a new short course personal best time of 1:02.36.

Rachael Steel (17) waited a long time for her swim in the 50m backstroke leg of the 16/17 medley relay, produced her best-ever 50m backstroke time of 32.66.

Her strong swim led the way for the team to finish third.

From the archive http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk © Newsquest Media Group 2006