THE inaugural Dorset County Graded meet took place at the Dorchester Leisure Centre and enabled younger and less experienced swimmers (9-12 years) to experience swimming at a licensed county event.

Tornadoes of South Dorset took 23 youngsters along and they swam fantastically, following the examples set recently by the older swimmers at open meets.

Leading the way was 12-year-old Lee Penny who has worked his way through the teaching groups and has recently moved into the club's Performance Squad.

He won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle and a bronze in the 50m butterfly, with three fourth place finishes in the 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and the 100m individual medley.

This meant he was the overall winner in the 12 years’ age group.

Similarly in the nine year age group, Robert Chitty came out on top overall after winning the 100m backstroke and collecting a silver in the 100m individual medley.

Like Penny, he also had a couple of fourth place finishes in the 100m and 200m freestyle to back up his medal winning swims.

In the 11-year-old age group, Lewis Limm was the Osprey Leisure Centre’s top performer with a gold medal in the 100m individual medley and two bronze medals in the 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly.

This led to Limm finishing in second place overall for the 11-year-olds.

For the 10-year-olds, it was Aaron Griffin with two gold medals in the 50m backstroke and 100m individual medley and silver in the 50m butterfly that was the highest-placed Tornado with an overall third place.

The quartet achieved their successes with personal best times in all of their events.

Completing the medal haul for the boys was Charlie Rowe (10 years) with two silvers in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and Luke O’Dowd (11 years) with a silver in the 100m breaststroke.

Medallists for the girls were Charlotte Pattimore (10 years) with silver in the 50m butterfly and a bronze in the 50m backstroke, Jazmine Callaby-Jackson (10 years) with gold in the 100m breaststroke and Phoebe Jones (11 years) with two gold medals for the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle.

Paul Dashwood, the junior squad coach, was delighted by the performance of the young Tornadoes swimmers.

He said: “This was the first opportunity that many of our younger swimmers have had to experience a competitive open meet type gala. They coped brilliantly.

“Virtually all the swimmers achieved personal bests and gave 100 per cent effort.

“I am really pleased with their development and commitment to improving their swimming.”

Anyone wishing to join Tornadoes of South Dorset can contact the club secretary to arrange an assessment - tornadoessecretary@btinternet.com