Reading Swimming Club’s progress over the last couple of years was there for all to see at the latest galas in the National Speedo League.

The A team placed a strong third for the second round running in the Premier Division South of the country’s top inter-club competition, while Reading B followed a first-round win in Division 2 with a narrow second spot.

The third and last round will see the B team battling for promotion from the western section of Division 2 South, while the As will go into the middle-ranking Premier Division meet with an excellent chance of beating 2003’s final placing of ninth in the south – itself a major improvement on preceding years.

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Reading "A" were at Guildford’s stunning Spectrum pool, where the powerful Leatherhead SC were overwhelming pre-meet favourites. (Guildford, meanwhile, trekked to Dover.) The Surrey club justified the tag in form which will again see them strong contenders for the overall regional title.

The Evening Post-sponsored Reading club were always in touch with another strong Surrey team, Kingston, with the pecking order established early and the main issue as the heats unfolded being a battle between Haslemere and Rushmoor for fourth spot.

Reading produced four individual winners, all by significant distances in their heats. Eleven-year-old Chris Boyce took his age group’s 50 fly in 35.32 seconds, Amy Kunicki won both backstroke and freestyle in the 12/13 group in 1:12.50 and 1:04.40 respectively and Louisa Downs the 14/15 100m free in an impressive 1:01.45.

No fewer than 12 second spots across the meet’s 50 events helped secure Reading’s position. Danielle Mason’s 100m open individual medley second in the very first race set the trend. Boyce and Downs were again on the mark in their individual fly swims, and Russel Korting (15) was second in both his backstroke and freestyle – competitors are limited to two individual swims within their year.

Garry Dixon, like Korting a fierce competitor over every distance from 50 to 1500 metres, placed third in their year’s fly event despite a hand injury and York Kloeppel’s breaststroke third completed a very good set of results in the age group.

Holly Tanner, touched into fourth place in her year’s 100 backstroke in the tightest of finishes, produced exactly the right response "swimming up" in the open category in the same event and placed second to Leatherhead’s international Katherine Wild in a big personal best below 1:08.

Solid individual thirds included excellent breaststroke swims by Ashley James (13/14), Leanne Haas (14/15) and Leona Jones (open), Emma Zadrozny in both free and fly open, and by Daniel John (open fly) and Alex Macarthur (13/14 free) in the boys’ programme.

Relays are often the most exciting feature of Speedo meets, and Reading showed up well in both the opening and closing sections. Kristian Statham, Korting, Kloeppel and Dixon placed second in both medley and freestyle, and the 11-and-under quartet of Boyce, Matteo Spanu, Callum Willcox and James Tichband were third twice.

The 13/14 girls’ team of Kunicki, James, Kristina Paige and Naomi Herring placed second in their medley and third in their free. Mason, Jones, Zadrozny and Masters swimmer Sarah Vale pulled out another second in the open medley.

The 14/15 girls’ quartet of Downs, Tanner, Haas and Rebecca Alderson typified the team spirit, with gutsy swims from a less than fully fit Haas helping secure 10 points for two more second places. Tanner, Downs and Alderson went straight from their medley race to join Zadrozny, Mason and Vale in an excellent second place to the outstanding Leatherhead team in the six-leg "squadron" freestyle finale.

Final scores: 1. Leatherhead 254.5; 2. Kingston, 192.5; 3. Reading 178; 4. Rushmoor 147; 5. Haslemere 146; 6. Fareham 126.

Bruno Bamberger; Adam Barrett; Chris Boyce; Garry Dixon; Andy Flett; Sam Flory; Daniel John; York Kloeppel; Rob Knott; Russel Korting; Alex Macarthur; Matteo Spanu; Kristian Statham; James Tichband; Callum Willcox.

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