Southampton Dolphins Swimming Club took another leap forward at the Winter Open Meet, at the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth.
The Shirley based Club recorded 70 Hampshire qualifying times, and skipped away with 12 Gold, 12 Silver and 10 Bronze medals.
Among the youngsters breaking through was Alana Maddock (10), who won 3 gold medals in the 400m and 200m Freestyle, recording times that take her up to 3rd in Hampshire across three disciplines. The young flyer also took silver in the 200m IM & 50m Breaststroke,
Isabel Turner (12) topped the podium in the 200m Backstroke and recorded a time that now ranks her 6th in the Country. Issy had to settle for silvers in a high class field 50m Butterfly & 100m Free. The Dolphins showed their strength in depth with another 12 year old Ellena Lewis striking gold in a hard fought 50m backstroke. The resurgent Lewis produced best ever times to secure silver medals 100m IM & 100m Back.
Also improving was Rhyseren Taylor who won Silver in 400m Freestyle which lifted her ranking to 4th in Hampshire, boosting her results from the previous weekend where she won Gold in the 800m Freestyle, recording the fastest time in Hampshire to date for this event.
Alana on her way to gold
Issy Turner
Rhyseren Taylor
Emily Lowther (12) came away with 6 Gold medals, ranking her 4th in the Country for her 100m Breaststroke, 5th for her 50m Breaststroke and 9th for her 200m Breaststroke. Emily is also now ranked 1st in Hampshire for 400m IM, 200 IM and 200m Fly.
Younger brother Matthew (9) followed his sister by winning gold in the 100m Butterfly and recording a time that ranks him fastest in Hampshire.
To complete the haul, Phoebe Fields took 100m Free & 50m Free, Freya Latimore 200m IM & 200 Free and Freya Manning the 200m Backstroke.
Oliver Cook, Nathan Lewis and Verity Telford all won Bronze medals and joined Freya Latimore, Ellena Lewis, Alana Maddock and Isabel Turner in recording Hampshire qualifying times for this season’s County Championships in January 2019.
The 62 personal best times recorded by the swimmers, enthused Head coach Matt Boyd-Wallis and assistant Coach Paul Dollery,
“These results confirm how well all the Dolphins Swimmers have been applying themselves and how they have taken on the new changes and training approaches set by the coaches. It is an amazing example of swimmers believing in themselves, their training and supporting each other. These results have really enthused and encouraged everyone at the club to work hard and look forward to the New Year, Hampshire County Championships and beyond”
“It was just an outstanding weekend from all, not just the swimmers, but volunteers who helped out on poolside, to the parents in the stands supporting every swim and swimmer.”