There was an early-season boost for the Evening Post-sponsored Reading Swimming Club with the announcement of the Berks and South Bucks sprint team for next month's intercounty meet at Sheffield's Ponds Forge pool.
The twin counties' team hit its best form for many years in winning promotion to the country's top division last year, and head coach Graeme Thomas's squad now has a bigger representation than in recent seasons.
Two Reading boys and five girls will be in the 24-member squad for the 16th October meet, for which the country's top 50 metre pool is split into two short-course 25m pools with back-to-back races in the two divisions. With four swimmers picked for each year, all should get two relay swims as well as one individual event.
Reading field three swimmers in the youngest age category, 12-13. Adam Barrett was top all-round boy in his year at both county and Southern Counties level last season and will almost certainly swim the 100m fly, probably his best event.
Kristina Paige swam brilliantly in her last outing in Sheffield, where she placed seventh and slashed her 100m butterfly PB in both heat and final at the high-pressure national age-group championships. Another newcomer to the team, 13-year-old Ashley James, is an excellent breaststroker and freestyler but looks likely to take the latter stroke.
Louisa Downs was a member of last season's promotion-winning team and will swim either free or fly in what looks a very strong 14-15 quartet with Wycombe girls Katie Ambridge, Anna Jemielity and Cordelia Wilson.
Garry Dixon is much better known as a distance swimmer than a sprinter, and was third fastest in the country among 15-year-old 1500 metre freestylers when he was last in Sheffield at the national youth championships in August. This time he will swap the sport's longest event for one of its shortest and will swim well under a minute in the 100 free.
Two Reading girls make the team in the top 16-17 age group. Breaststroke specialist Leona Jones will be adding representative honours to an outstanding 2004-05 which included gold at county and Southern Counties levels, national youth finals and a high placing in the Commonwealth Games trials. Emma Zadrozny, 17, is a veteran of last season's county squad and will be tackling the 100 fly.
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