Dolphin youths show their class at Regional Champs

Date: 4th – 6th May 2007 Location: Millfield School Event: South West Regional Youth Championships

Swindon Dolphin swimmers proved their class at the South West Regional Youth Championships at Millfield School last weekend signing off with 11 medals (5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze), 2 Wiltshire and 6 club records, and a whole host of new and improved National Qualifying Times (NQTs). 15 of the 25 competing swimmers were finalists or finished in the top 8, and several Dolphins returned home less than 1% outside their NQTs and will head to the Swansea 2007 Long Course Open Meet at the weekend looking to shave off those remaining few tenths of a second.

British 100m Breaststroke Champion Chris Jones came first in the finals of the men’s 50m & 100m breaststrokes while Tilly Gray won the 14/15 year girls’ 100 & 200m butterfly finals breaking the Wiltshire junior & senior records in the 100m.

Chief Coach Andi Manley secured gold in the men’s 50m freestyle final with Jones and Mark Tanner placed third and sixth behind him. Jones also took a silver medal in the men’s 200m brs, Nigel Masters won bronze in the men’s 50m Brs and Dan Rose finished third in the men’s 200m butterfly final.

Elizabeth Beckett (14/15 yrs) was in stunning form achieving her first NQTs of the season in the girls’ 100m & 200m breaststrokes; she won a silver medal in the 200m in a time of 2.45.67, a club record. Meanwhile club records continued to tumble as Mel Agius (15/16 yrs) added two more NQTs to her collection in the 200m & 400m freestyle events and Jose Prunty just fell short of her 1500m frs NQT coming home in a time of 18.31.10.

Jon Audis won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke and also reached the finals in the men’s 50m & 200m backstrokes, the 100m fly and the 200m individual medley.

Other notable performances included a 4th & 5th for Andrea Alleyne (16 yrs & over) in the finals of the 50m frs and 50m fly for women, while Sam Wells (15/16 yrs) was 6th in the men’s finals of the 100m fly, finishing less than a second outside his NQT, and 5th in the 200m fly. Kath Baker was well placed in 3 breaststroke finals and there were also NQTs for Audis (2), Gray (2), Jones (3) and Manley.