TORNADOES of South Dorset had an outstanding Dorset County Championships.

Tornadoes took 23 swimmers over three weekends of hard racing. Between them they achieved eight gold, 11 silver, and 14 bronze medals.

The club also collected one senior championship gold medal, three bronze and also a junior championship gold, an improvement on 2017, which is a great achievement.

The personal best times return rate of almost 80 per cent was more than five per cent higher than the previous year.

Highlights were a Dorset County Senior championship win for Joshua Frampton (200 freestyle).

He also added three senior bronze medals to his list of achievements (200m backstroke, 50m backstroke, 400 IM).

Nathan Moorey claimed the Dorset County Junior championship gold in the 50m butterfly, winning that by a clear second.

Thirteen-year-old Charlie Rowe won the 50 and 100m freestyles, 50m fly and 100m backstroke, while rising star, Lilly Davies, 11, took 200m backstroke gold, 100m backstroke silver, 50m backstroke silver, and 100m fly silver.

The club’s other medal winners were Ellissia Walburn, Harry Falconer, Harry Stewart, Harry Collinson, and Luke O’Dowd, taking three silvers in the multi-disability classification events SB13.

There were 19 regional qualifying times and 22 regional considerations achieved by Charlie Rowe, Josh Frampton, Nathan Moorey, Bethany Firth, Falconer and Collinson.

Many swimmers made finals, with an impressive 37 in total, twelve of those producing top-three places.

The finalists were: Firth, Chloe Perkins, Freya Stanger, Phoebe Mills, Walburn, Charlie Rowe, Moorey, Stewart, Joshua Frampton, and Joshua Rowe.

Swimmers producing personal bests at the first county championships were Holly Kearns, Poppy Sanders, Caitlin English, Sophie Marsh, Natalia Barens, and Collinson.

Lead coach Chris Beal said: “This was a great championships.

“The performance level of the swimmers was excellent, showing their preparation has been good.

“The younger swimmers’ skills were also very evident, and some good results achieved because of them.

“There are more regional qualified swimmers compared with last season which is pleasing, with still more to be achieved over the next two months.”

Focus now turns to Plymouth, Hengrove and Millfield where May’s regionals are set to take place.

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