FOUR talented swimmers from Radipole Primary School produced fantastic times in Division 12 of the ASA South East Region Primary Schools Relays held at The Quays in Southampton.

Year Six pupils Isis Hill, Jemma Brunell and Jorgie Luke, and Year Five student Lucy Goode, took part in the freestyle and mixed stroke relays where they competed against other schools from Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex.

Luke and Goode are both members of the Tornadoes of South Dorset while Hill and Brunell represent Weymouth Swimming Club and their added gala experience certainly aided their preparations ahead of the event.

The freestyle section was first and the girls swam a fantastic race to finish fourth in their heat, recording a time of 1:09.23, which smashed their entry time by a staggering six seconds.

Goode posted an amazing leg of 16.46secs with Luke (17.73), Brunell (17.87) and Hill (17.08) all producing solid swims to ensure qualification for the final.

In the showpiece the quartet did themselves proud again by finishing fifth in a time of 1:07.62, with all four girls improving on their heat split times (Luke 17.25, Brunell 17.22, Hill 16.87, Goode 16.10).

Only a short rest period followed before the Radipole pupils were then back in the pool for the mixed stroke relay.

After much debate and discussion on tactics the order of swim was decided with Goode taking the backstroke leg, Brunell accepting the breaststroke, Luke claiming the butterfly and Hill having the responsibility of the freestyle.

The girls once again produced a fantastic swim and even when Hill’s goggles came off on the final leg she managed to keep her composure to bring the team home in fourth in a time of 1:18.88, which was four seconds faster than their entry time.

That fantastic performance saw them progress through to the final where they showed improvement again by putting on a stunning performance to finish fifth in a time of 1:17.89 (Goode 19.15, Brunell 22.50, Luke 19.67, Hill 16.51).

Radipole teacher Karen Ireland said: “None of them probably realised it at the time but to finish fifth in both finals was no mean feat considering the amount of Primary Schools there are in the South East Region. We now have to wait to see if they qualify for the next round.

“Many congratulations go to all the girls. They were fantastic and represented their school with pride and achieved great success.”