TORNADOES of South Dorset have proved they are up with the best in the county.

The Dorset Sprints Championship saw nearly 1,400 entries for the five-event competition (50m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke, and 100m individual medley) and Tornadoes played their part to the full to finish in third place.

The South Dorset club entered 163 swimmers, and 55 per cent (90) of those returned personal best times.

Eight swimmers achieved a high level of performance thoughout the day with four or more personal bests.

Tom Mules and Eleanor Harvey gained five out of five while Tom John, Lloyd Briggs, Natasha Cain, Georgia Eiles-Clarke, Connor and Farron Aitken all claimed four.

It was also a very profitable day for the club in terms of medals with 15 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze age group awards.

Special mentions go to the following swimmers who were placed in the top three in all their events They were Laura Newsam (5 golds), Jaz Hepburn (3 golds, 2 silvers), Tom Mules (2 gold, silver, 2 bronze) and Eleanor Harvey (silver, 4 bronze).

Six others achieved at least three - Josh Eiles-Clarke, Tom Crew, Natasha Cain, Lloyd Briggs, Connor Aitken and James Baker.

In the Junior Championships (aged 15 or under), Joanna Puckett sprinted to glory with a red-hot 50m backstroke, in a regional qualifying time. This was also good enough to claim silver in the senior event.

Team-mate Newsam cruised to a silver medal in the 50m fly and 100IM, fast enough to take senior bronze for the latter.

For the boys, club captain James Baker continued his victorious sprinting tradition with silver in 50m fly, and bronze in 50m freestyle senior championship (aged 16+) events.

Four swimmers will also now be entered into the Dorset Counties' records, after their blistering place saw the records book re-written.

They were Tom Mules (100IM - 11yrs), Joanna Puckett (50bck - 14yrs), Connor Aitken (50fly - 10yrs), and Laura Newsam (50bck - 13yrs).

This complemented the 11 other records broken in the middle and long distance sessions of the counties, back in February.

That was not the only targets to be reached as Tornadoes' club records fell.

Mules again showing his potential posting new 50m freestyle and fly records, along with 100IM for 11-year-olds and Puckett (14yrs) also claimed the 50m backstroke record.

Three swimmers sprinted to Regional Youth Championship qualifying times in six events - Puckett (2), Josh Eiles-Clarke (2) and James Baker (2).

This means Tornadoes will now have 38 qualifying times for the Youth (14/15yrs+) Championship this month.

The final points tally for Tornadoes meant third place, in the counties' club rankings.

Result: 1st Bournemouth Dolphins, 2,182 points, 2nd Ferndown, 2,059 points, 3rd Tornadoes of South Dorset, 1,465 points, 4th West Dorset Warriors, 740 points, 5th Christ-church Seagulls, 687 points, 6th Poole, 649 points Tornadoes total medal tally was 156 medals, over the three blocks of the championship, 46 of these golds (excluding junior/senior championship medals).