TORNADOES of South Dorset swimmers bagged Regional Qualifying Times and a host of personal bests at both the Taunton Deane Long Course Open Meet and Bournemouth Short Course Open Meet.

Both Freya Stanger (10yrs) and Hannah Marklew (12yrs) joined the Osprey Leisure Centre-based outfit’s growing band of Regional Qualifiers for 2012 with superb swims at Bournemouth.

The former, who joined the Tornadoes’ Performance Squad only recently, gave outstanding displays in her 200m frontcrawl and 200m backstroke to gain Regional Qualifying Times and a total of seven personal bests.

Marklew’s determined training is showing top-class results as she stormed into bronze medal position in the 200m butterfly, collecting a Regional Qualifying Time in the process.

Ten-year-old Regional Qualifier Josh Rowe from Portland competed in a long course pool for the first time, giving an excellent account of his future potential with improvements in both 200m and 400m frontcrawl times.

Gutsy swims by another Regional Qualifier, 14-year-old Portlander Connor Ward, resulted in a gold medal, a personal best and a new meet record in the 50m butterfly.

Fellow islander Jay Lelliott was in a class of his own, gaining seven gold medals and setting five meet records.

Fifteen-year-old Jenny Scott also powered her way into the record books in the 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke and 100m frontcrawl.

Ellie Harvey, 14, bagged bronze and silver in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly while Francesca Arrowsmith just missed out on a Regional Qualifying Time in the 100m backstroke .

Tabitha Samouelle (9yrs) showed her competitive spirit and determination in the 200m breaststroke with a pb while the ever-improving Leanne Holmes, 13, scooped four pbs, spanning every distance from 50m to 400m.

Isis Hill (14yrs) produced exceptional performance times to finish in the top-six in all five of her events, Hope Stanger came back refreshed from holiday and recorded a pb in the 200m frontcrawl while Starr Sams earned a silver medal in the 50m butterfly.

Elsewhere, Rebecca Beal struck gold in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events.

For the boys, Rudy Sawtell (11yrs), brother Will Sawtell (13yrs) and Scott Greaney (9yrs) showed they could all sprint over the 50m distances and then step up a gear to the 200m events and still produce personal bests.

Anyone interested in joining South Dorset’s Performance Squad or Junior and Development Squads, can contact head coach Phil Daniels on 07879311018 or email pbkd52@hotmail.co.uk to arrange an assessment.