TORNADOES of South Dorset earned equal fifth spot overall after the third and final round of the Arena League.

The level of competition was high with City of Swansea and United Bristol swimming clubs expected to battle it out for first place in the eight-team gala, which was held at Newport.

With Frome, West Dorset, Neath, Llantrisant and Bishops-worth also in good shape, Tornadoes’ coach Chris Beal was expecting a very tough afternoon of racing for his young team – and this proved to be the case.

Race wins were hard to come by and national qualifier Jennifer Scott put in a great swim to achieve a victory in the ladies’ open 100m backstroke.

She followed this with a second place in the 100m freestyle, narrowly missing out on first.

The other first place was gained by the 11 years and under girls’ medley relay team.

Jessica Gale swam the backstroke leg, Tabitha Samouelle the breaststroke, Abigail Barnes the butterfly and Bethany Firth was on freestyle.

These girls also proved that they are a force to be reckoned with by finishing fourth in the freestyle relay.

Individual second places were also secured in the backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly.

In-form Joshua Frampton claimed second in the 13 years and under 100m freestyle.

He was then joined by Joshua Rowe, Oliver Mills and Henry Wyrill for the freestyle and medley relays, with the quartet finishing second and third in those two races.

Completing the top-three finishes were the ladies’ open medley team of Jennifer Scott, Rebecca Beal, Eleanor Harvey and Bethan Whittall.

This quartet was joined by Hope Stanger and Kirsty Holmes for the freestyle relay and yet another third place was achieved.

The final gala placings were: 1 United Bristol Swimming Club (330 points), 2 City of Swansea (320pts), 3 Llantrisant Sharks (238pts), 4 West Dorset (187pts), =5 Tornadoes of South Dorset and Neath (187pts), 7 Frome (181pts), 8 Bishopsworth (172pts).

Chris Beal was delighted with his team’s efforts.

He said: “Having worked so hard to make such a strong final we set a top-five finish and the team delivered once more.

“The team spirit was fantastic all night.”