New Welsh record for City's Sian

3:06pm Friday 9th May 2008

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Ilkley's Sian Morgan was in outstanding form at the Harrogate Distance Meet.

Morgan, who represents City of Bradford and trains under the supervision of head coach Andy Pearce in Bradford Council's Leisure Services coaching and training scheme, smashed the Welsh junior record in the 800 metres freestyle with a time of 8min 53.96sec, beating the old record of 8-59.23 set by Debbie Jones (City of Chester).

Sian still has three years to compete as a junior and will be looking to set new records in this event before moving up to senior level.

As well as this gold, she was also on top of the podium in the 200m freestyle and 400m individual medley.

Morgan also collected her age-group award for achieving the highest individual BAGCAT points for an individual swim, which came in the 800m freestyle.

James Dawson and Luke Constantine also came home with gold medals in the 400m individual.

James's sister Lorna took bronze in the 200m breaststroke, while 15-year-old Constantine swam consistently well to also claim bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Open-water specialist Lewis Sharp finished second in the 1500m event in the boys' 15 and over age group, as did Ben Balmforth in the 200m butterfly.

Twelve-year-old Niki Chatburn of Cononley tried her hand at the 1500m freestyle and was delighted to finish second place in 19min 29.15sec.

Older sister Jenna, better known for her breaststroke ability, showed her versatility by claiming third in the girls' 15 and over 800m freestyle Hannah Midgley's disciplined training regime paid off when she finished in bronze-medal position in the girls' 13-14 years 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle.

Lydia Biddiscombe and Joshua Zanner, both recently promoted to the National Potential squad, showed that their rise was more than justified when they both featured in the top-eight placings, along with Rebecca Lund of Keighley.

Chasing a further National Qualifying time, Sam O'Donohoe just missed out on a time but featured in no less than five finals, and 15-year-old Dyon Whitley had three top placings.