Dolphin Juniors pipped at the post

Event: Southern Junior League 2012 Round 2 Venue: Horfield Leisure Centre, Bristol Date: 19th May 2012

The second round of the 2012 Southern Junior League took place at Horfield Leisure Centre on Saturday.  A third placed finish in the first round meant Dolphin knew some tough racing would be required in order to improve on this, particularly as meet favourites and first round runaway winners Seagulls were in attendance.

A solid start by Dolphin saw them take two wins from the first block of eight relays and sitting comfortably in second place; a position they held for most of the evening.  Despite a further nine wins throughout the evening, too many lower places resulted in occasionally occupying the third place slot and then agonisingly slipping into fourth place by the end of the evening.

Dolphin’s main strength undoubtedly lay in the girl’s 10/under and 11/under who won both their medley and freestyle relays.  Also winning individual events in these age groups were Millie Jeans (11/under 50m backstroke), Sophie Bartlett (10/under 50m backstroke), Olivia Flack (10/under 50m freestyle) and Georgia Dicks (11/under 50m breaststroke).  James Watson looked impressive as he convincingly won both the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke in the 12/under age group.  Dolphin’s last win of the meet was by the girls 12/under 4 x 25m freestyle team just two events before the end, but it was too little too late as they finished just three points behind third placed Trowbridge and only six points adrift of runners up Severnside Tritons. 

A streamlined start for Rebecca Matthews in the 4 x 25m freestyle relay

Seagulls repeated their domination shown in the first round of the competition with a clear overall victory, and with top three finishes in all but three of the events must surely be serious contenders for the Southern Junior League title when it is decided at the third and final round on 23rd June.

Round 2 scores: Seagulls 244, Severnside Tritons 186, Trowbridge 183, Swindon Dolphin 180, Chard 124, Bristol North 86