TORNADOES of South Dorset picked up seven medals and a huge haul of personal best times at the South West Regional Youth Championships at Millfield.

Fourteen members represented the club at the event after achieving qualifying times in the recent Dorset County Championships.

Other teams that participated included the likes of Kelly College, Plymouth Leander, Swindon Dolphins and, of course, the hosts but the Tornadoes more than held their own.

On the first day, Lucy Goode (12), time trialling as the youngest competitor in the 13-and-under age group, swam in a tough 400m individual medley where she finished in sixth overall in a time of 5mins 50.03secs. She also claimed ninth spot in the 200m backstroke in a time of 2mins 38.62secs while Hope Stanger (13) came 16th in 2mins 44.30secs.

Isis Hill, competing in her first-ever Regional Championships, set a personal best of 1min 6.61secs in the 100m freestyle to finish 16th, before Bethan Whittall (14) posted a time of 1min 26.33secs in the 100m breaststroke to secure third.

Ellie Harvey (14) came 22nd in the 400m individual medley in 5mins 48.97secs and then followed it up with a personal best of 2mins 54.11secs in the 200m backstroke where George Eiles-Clarke (14) and Sophie Dawe (14) finished in 2mins 38.85secs and 2mins 48.49secs respectively. That was a personal best for Dawe and Jenny Scott (15) achieved a similar feat in the 100m freestyle, where she came home in a time of 1min 3.64secs, and the 50m butterfly where she earned a bronze medal in 30.01secs.

Whittall then returned to the pool and set a new personal best of 1min 26.33secs in the 100m breaststroke where Rebecca Beal also recorded a time of 1min 26.41secs.

It was clear the Tornadoes were already enjoying a very encouraging competition but the boys in the 15-16 age group ensured it got even better.

Thomas John won gold and booked a place at the National Championships in Sheffield in August in the 100m breastroke by recording a personal best time of 1min 9.80secs.

That was then followed by another phenomenal performance, this time from Jay Lelliott, who improved his national qualifying time in the 100m backstroke to take silver in 1min 1sec.

Tom Mules came in at 56.76secs in the 100m freestyle and set a personal best of 28.04secs in the 50m butterfly, while Chris Perham also recorded his best ever time in the 400m freestyle where he touched in 4mins 36.44secs.

The success continued the following day with Goode achieving a personal best of 1min 16.74secs in the 100m backstroke and Harvey doing likewise in the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly, which she completed in 2mins 24.51secs and 1min 15.30secs respectively.

Scott came in at 1min 12.15secs for the 100m backstroke before setting a career best of 1min 9.74secs in the 100m butterfly, before Eiles-Clarke recorded a time of 1min 14.80secs in the 100m backstroke and Beal completed the 200m individual medley in 2mins 51.93secs.

Looking for a repeat performance of the previous day, John finished just short of a national qualifying time in the 200m breastroke where he came in at 2mins 35.99secs.

It was still a personal best though and handed him a place in the final where he claimed seventh overall.

Lelliott then secured gold in the 200m butterfly in a personal best time of 2mins 8.82secs, giving him a long course national qualifying time, before Mules picked up bronze in the 200m butterfly in another career best of 2mins 17.31secs.

Lelliott, John, Mules and Crew then took part in the 4x100m medley and finished eighth out of 17 teams.

Although a little less hectic, the third and final day proved just as good for Tornadoes with Goode finishing sixth in the 200m butterfly in a time of 2mins 49.99secs.

Beal then set a personal best of 3mins 2.42secs in the 200m breastroke before Scott did likewise in the 50m backstroke where she claimed bronze in 32.14secs. The latter also competed in the 50m freestyle where she finished in a time of 29.13secs.

In a bid to finish the event on a high, the Tornadoes brought the curtain down with Lelliott claiming a national qualifying time of 59.93secs in the 100m butterfly before securing bronze in the 200m backstroke. Mules also finished fifth in the final of the 50m freestyle in a time of 27.23secs.

Tornadoes head coach Phil Daniels said: “To qualify for so many events and to achieve 21 personal best times, as well as two gold medals, one silver medal, and four bronze medals and numerous top eight finalist places, was truly fantastic.

“The overall performance also made Tornadoes of South Dorset the top club in the county.”

Anyone interested in joining Tornadoes can contact club secretary Sharon Howe on 814105.