Reading swimmers rounded off 2005’s county championships at Maidenhead in sweltering conditions on Saturday, and the meet was a landmark for several.

Twelve-year-old Adam Barrett, whose late July birth date makes qualification for the summer’s national age group championships in Sheffield particularly difficult, nonetheless beat the qualifying mark by over half a second in winning his age group’s 400m individual medley in 5:13.24, booking a first ever swim at nationals.

Barrett’s outstanding series at counties - medals in virtually every event in times which will make him a strong contender in June’s Southern Counties championships at Crystal Palace - was crowned by the trophy for top boy in his age group under the BAGCAT (British age group categories) points system.

Along the lines of the decathlon in athletics, points are awarded for each swimmer’s best performance over each distance, making it possible in theory to compare one’s 200m breaststroke swim with another’s 200 butterfly, for example.

Further strong all-round performances brought second places in their years under BAGCATS for Frankie Wilkins (12) and Amy Kunicki (13) – Kunicki’s performance particularly impressive as she missed the first weekend of counties to swim at a long-course meet at the Wales National Pool in Swansea.

Reading also won a number of trophies in both the overall and junior categories, the latter for swimmers under 17 as of the end of the year. These included first-time wins in the ladies’ 50m breaststroke in both.

Leona Jones pipped Wycombe’s Anna Miller to the overall trophy by winning the final in 35.27, and Rebecca Alderson, fourth in the final and missing the bronze by just six hundredths, nonetheless took the junior title under the complicated meet rules thanks to her heat time of 35.74. In the 11s group, the very promising Katie Hawkins won in 42.60.

Matt Sandell, 19, won his second sprint trophy, following up his 50 fly win the previous week with the 50 free gold in 24.31 and reinforcing his fastest-qualifier status. Sandell’s margin of 0.03 over Maidenhead’s Jordan Lewis was about as close as it gets.

Russel Korting, already on the rostrum earlier in the series for the junior 400 free title, repeated his success over 200 metres. Korting, who also has a tough birth date for national qualification as he turns 16 in July, swam 2:00.15 and has the prized sub-1:59 national qualifying time for 16-year-olds in his sights.

Alex Macarthur and Sam Flory, second and fourth in a field of 12, swam strongly in the 13s age group, with Barrett this time pipped to the gold by Wycombe’s Edward Howard and Sandell third in the 17-and-over group.

Holly Tanner, like Korting in her last year as a junior, was slightly outside her best in winning the 400m free junior gold and overall silver, as Newbury’s older Emma Harris took the overall title by a big margin. Emma Zadrozny was a narrow third overall.

Tanner, Louisa Herring and Jones made a clean sweep of the 15/16 group medals.

Wilkins and Rachael Mills swam well-coached 400 free races for second and fourth places in their year in a big field, Wilkins in particular as she resisted the temptation to chase fast starters too soon and moved right through the field in the later stages.

Tanner was also junior 100m free champion and was fourth in the final won by Newbury’s Harris – the only swimmer beating the one-minute barrier. Zadrozny took a comfortable bronze.

Tanner, Zadrozny and training partner Leanne Haas also featured in a 200 fly championship-deciding heat which showed Reading swimming at its best.

Despite the absence through illness of Louisa Downs, a pre-meet certainty for a medal, the trio were among four setting the pace as the eight-lane race unfolded, along with Bracknell’s Emma Boret. Tanner and Zadrozny eased ahead in the closing stages and Tanner took both trophies in 2:24.46, with Zadrozny hot on her heels for the overall silver. Reading took all three top rostrum places in one of the sport’s most demanding events as Haas finished strongly to win the overall bronze and junior silver.

Wilkins won her year in 3:05.90 and there was an age group silver for Kunicki and a bronze for 14-year-old Louise Gillatt.

Among the boys, Reading produced a clean sweep of the 400 IM medals in the 15/16 age group via Korting (also second overall), Garry Dixon and York Kloeppel.

Both boys and girls also swam the shortest individual medley, over 100 metres, with the highest ranked being Alex Macarthur as third 13-year-old and Callum Willcox, who missed a medal by one place in a large field of 11-year-olds. Kunicki and Wilkins (both second) Jones (third) and Hawkins and Haas (both fourth) were Reading’s top-placed girls

Relay events were again very poorly supported, with most of the counties’ 10 clubs failing to field a single team in either male or female categories.

Reading’s girls "A" team (Tanner, Jones, Zadrozny and Kunicki) won both 4 x 100 events clearly, and were joined on the rostrum by the bronze-winning "B" quartet of Herring, Haas, Amy Thomas and Charlotte Thompson.

Rob Knott put in a great last leg to win the "A" team boys the freestyle title, following on from Korting, Bruno Bamberger and Dixon, and with York Kloeppel coming in for Dixon to swim the breaststroke leg the boys placed third in their medley.

-----------------------