RETURNING to Weymouth swimming pool for round two of the Southern Junior League, the Torn-adoes of South Dorset were competing against one less outfit, after Wells had pulled out of the competition.

This left the Osprey Leisure Centre club up against teams from Chard, West Dorset, Weymouth and Yeovil in a five-team gala.

In a very close meet, the Tornadoes managed to secure 32 top-three finishes from the 49 races on the night.

Five swimmers managed individual first places with Charlie Rowe bagging two wins in the nine-years 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.

In the same age group, his teammate Aaron Griffin won the 50m breaststroke.

The 11-years’ girls had two wins with Jessica Gale in the 50m backstroke and Abigail Barnes in the 50m butterfly.

The other three wins came in the relay events with the 11-years’ girls’ team in fine form.

Joining Gale and Barnes were Phoebe Mills and Tabitha Samouelle they won both the freestyle and medley relays.

The other relay victory was for the nine-years’ boys’ medley team as Ty Penny and Zack Griffiths teamed up with Rowe and Griffin to win by a whopping four second margin.

With a high standard of swimming throughout the gala, the young Tornadoes team got themselves into third place behind Chard and Yeovil after 23 races and maintained that position until the end, finishing just two points outside the top-two.

Junior league coach Nigel Holmes was delighted with the team’s performance, he said: “To improve from fifth place in round one to third in round two is a fantastic achievement, and to be so close to grabbing second place is very pleasing.

“For such a small club this is a superb result. The swimmers are improving all the time and that is due to their hard work and commitment in training.”

Julie Samouelle, the Junior League team manager for Tornadoes, added: “The team spirit and effort put into the swimming was really impressive. Some of the youngsters had numerous races with little rest and despite this put in great swims.”

Another 43 personal best times were accomplished by the hard working swimmers who improved on their fifth position from the first round.

Eve Hewett and Jazmine Callaby-Jackson both made their first appearances for Tornadoes in this competition with Hewett swimming three PBs and Callaby-Jackson two.

Personal Bests: Abigail Barnes, Reece Dade (2), James Faley, Bethany Firth (3), Molly Frampton, Jessica Gale (2), Lizzy Gant, Scott Greaney, Emily Hanger (3), Eve Hewett (3), Harry Hutchinson, Louis King, Lewis Limm (4), Harry Mason (2), Phoebe Mills (2), Luke O’Dowd (2), Charlotte Pattimore (4), Ty Penny, Jazmine Callaby-Jackson (2), Charlie Rowe, Tabitha Samouelle (2), Freya Stanger (2), Georgia Wood.

Anyone wishing to join Tornadoes of South Dorset to either learn to swim, swim competitively, or wishing to access extra training, can contact the club secretary to arrange an assessment by emailing torna doessecretary@btinternet.com