Swindon Dolphin End National Medal Drought
From
the
Swindon
Advertiser, first published Wednesday 2nd Aug 2006.
Swindon Dolphin
ended their national medal drought in style at Ponds Forge,
Sheffield
, as they returned from the Age Group championships over the weekend with two bronzes
and a silver.
The Milton
Road-based club had not won a medal at national level since Chris
Mills claimed bronze in the 400metres individual medley
in 2000 but duo James
Clark and Cathal
Westman re-wrote the record books.
Clark
, 11, was
the pick of the Dolphin team with two bronze medals while Westman,
13, became the club’s highest placed medallist with a silver in the 200m breaststroke.
On the opening
day of competition,
Clark
paved the way for a magnificent four days of competition with
a five-second personal best time to qualify for the final of the 200 metres individual
medley in 2.38.97 seconds.
The youngster
improved his time further in the grand final to secure bronze in 2.37.79 seconds.
Their success
continued on day two with fine individual performances from Westman and Clark qualifying
for the 200m boys’ backstroke sending Dolphin into seventh heaven.
Clark lined
up in the final as third favourite while Westman clipped
two seconds from his time to go in as second favourite to
Warrington
‘s Timothy Almond.
Clark
claimed
his second bronze medal while Westman reduced
his time further to gain the silver medal. Meanwhile nerves took hold on Rosie
Wells on her national debut in the 200m backstroke
and Peter Wasielewski fell
short of qualifying for the final of the 200m backstroke.
After scrubbing
the 200m butterfly,
Clark
saved his strength for the 100m breaststroke he qualified for
the final in third spot.
Teammate Wasielewski bounced
back with a stunning performance to reach the breaststroke final, Westman settled
for 13th position while a much-improved Wells suffered
the agony of finishing as first reserve in the 100m backstroke.
In the breaststroke
final,
Clark
finished in fifth while Wasielewski finished in tenth, maintaining
his record of making final appearances in three successive years.
On the final
day of competition, the ever-present
Clark
held his own in the 400m individual medley to reach the final
where he smashed his personal best by five seconds to finish sixth. He completed his
campaign by finishing sixth in the 200m freestyle final.
From
the
Swindon
Advertiser
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk
© Newsquest Media Group 2006
