TORNADOES of South Dorset entered 16 swimmers in the Swindon Open Meet, and those taking part did not disappoint across two days of competition.

Club members returned with 21 medals and 40 personal best times between them.

Competing in the 17 years and over age group, Jenny Scott bagged gold medals in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley (IM), and a silver in the 200m IM.

In the same age group, club captain Rebecca Beal completed a clean sweep of the breaststroke events, winning the 50m, 100m and 200m events. She also gained a silver in the 100m IM and bronze in the 200m IM.

Samantha Dunning won gold in the 100m butterfly and bronze in the 200m backstroke in the 15-16 years age group, while Charlotte Pattimore, competing in her first open meet, claimed a silver in the nine years’ 50m butterfly and bronze in the 50m breaststroke, both in personal bests – she also achieved a lifetime best in the 50m freestyle.

The Rowe brothers both had a very successful weekend with Josh winning the 11/12 years 100m backstroke and clinching silver medals in the 50m and 200m.

Younger brother Charlie ret-urned with two bronze medals in the nine years’ 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke.

Louis King raced to a bronze in the 11/12 years’ 200m backstroke to complete the medal winners for the Portland-based club.

Taking part in her first open meet for Tornadoes, 10-year-old Sophie Storey showed her imp-rovement by swimming personal bests in all five of her races.

She swam all four strokes (100m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 200m breaststroke and 50m butterfly) and also the 100m IM, demonstrating great technique in each.

In the 11/12 years age group, Abigail Barnes swam two races, the 200m freestyle and the gruelling 400m IM, and managed personal bests in both.

Lead coach Chris Beal was impressed with the performances, saying: “We targeted this end-of-season meet as an ideal chance to set some good times to carry into the new season.

“The swimmers responded well and banked some early county times for 2015.

“The levels of performance were very good from all of the swimmers and for the younger ones it was good to see the seniors racing hard.

Other personal bests:

Bethany Firth – 100m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 50m butterfly

Abigail Hamilton – 100m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 100m IM and 400m IM

Louis King – 100m and 200m backstroke

Lewis Limm – 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m and 200m freestyle, 200m IM, 50m butterfly

Phoebe Mills – 400m IM, 100m and 200m butterfly

Chloe Perkins – 100m backstroke

Charlie Rowe – 50m and 200m backstroke, 200m and 400m freestyle, 100m IM

Josh Rowe – 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, 100m IM and 50m butterfly

Tabitha Samouelle – 50m and 400m freestyle

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