The Evening Post-sponsored Reading Swimming Club has had a great reputation for individual medley swimming in recent seasons, and spectators could see why as the 2006 Berks and South Bucks championships got under way at Maidenhead's Magnet Pool on Saturday.
Girls swam the 400 metre version – arguably the sport's toughest event, demanding stamina and technical skills in all four strokes – and boys the 200.
Frankie Wilkins and Adam Barrett starred with age group golds, by contrasting margins.
Wilkins wrapped up her 12s age group by some 25 seconds in 5.18.96 and placed a brilliant seventh in the overall field of 38. The swim beat Holly Tanner's four-year-old meet record and was just over a second outside a first ever national qualifying time, with several chances left to nail it.
Tanner was on song too, and in her best swim of the season by far placed second overall to Wycombe's formidable Katie Ambridge in a national qualifying 5.04.74.
Louisa Downs (15) was third overall - and second in the junior championship, for swimmers still under 17 at the end of the year - and Kristina Paige's eighth spot meant Reading fielded half the top eight, while Rachael Mills picked up a bronze among the 13-year-olds.
Barrett's 2.26.33 200m IM yielded a big heat win, but he had to wait for Windsor's Richard Hau, slightly faster beforehand so in the next heat, before knowing if it was good enough for the 13 years gold. Hau was a whisker out in 2.26.60.
Top Squad swimmers Alex Macarthur (14) and York Kloeppel (16) also beat their PBs. Macarthur missed a medal by one place, with Markus Orgill swimming a three-second best in seventh, and Kloeppel was within 0.07 of team-mate Garry Dixon as they finished fourth and fifth in a fiercely contested age group.
Most Reading boys recorded PBs, starting with Barnaby Kempster, James Bradley and David Mills in the youngest age groups. Callum Willcox (12) eventually placed sixth in his year thanks to a great start, and James Tichband in the same year took four seconds off his entry time with a smooth 50 of backstroke.
Girls' 100 back: Wilkins was just pipped to the 12s age group gold, and Eleanor Cawthorne missed a medal by one place in the field of 15. Naomi Herring edged Amy Kunicki out of third place among the 14s. Tanner's season's best 100 placed her fifth in the overall final and Annette Hopson was fifth11-year-old.
Boys' 100 breaststroke: Kloeppel was top performer overall, eighth in the final, while Willcox secured the 12s silver in a PB.
Girls' 50 free: Paige and Downs both made the final, qualifying fifth and seventh and finishing fourth and joint sixth. The heat swims gave Paige the junior bronze and the 14s gold, with silver to Kunicki, and Downs the 15/16 bronze. Ellie Wood, making her counties debut, was sixth 11-year-old. Beth Ayerst, 17, placed an excellent sixth out of 15 in the top age category.
Boys' 200 back: Barrett won the 13s gold by 0.03. Dixon took the overall bronze ahead of Amersham's Gareth Fowler, a Welsh national medallist, by an identical margin, and was runner-up in the junior championship. Kempster secured an excellent age group bronze in the youngest category. Tichband built on his fine IM performance in the stroke to place seventh 12-year-old in a big PB.
Boys' 100 fly: A career-best 1.03.62 by Daniel Jackson was Reading's top male swim of the day. Jackson has cut three seconds from his PB since October - and kept Wycombe's Alex Vine, a multiple county champion, out of the final. Macarthur (1.02.69) and Dixon (1.03.36) also made the final, where they placed fifth and sixth and Jackson eighth. Barrett took another age group gold, this time by three seconds.
Girls' 50 fly: Downs, Kunicki and Paige all took age group medals via the heats and Downs took the overall bronze with Paige fifth. Wilkins and Cawthorne were third in their years.
Boys' 200 breast: Reading didn't really click, with the notable exception of Willcox's age group silver in 2:58.05.
Girls' 200 free: Downs lifted Reading's first trophy of the year, with her 2.10.80 taking the junior championship as well as ranking her third across all age groups. Wilkins won her year by a second in 2.23.23 and Rachael Mills - probably the youngest in the 13s field of 18 - was a strong sixth. Paige took an age group bronze, as did Louisa Herring in the top category, where Leona Jones was fifth and Amy Thomas eighth.
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Relays: Worryingly small fields contested the senior girls' events in the morning session, Reading's quartet of Downs, Tanner, Jones and Kunicki swam strong second places to Wycombe in both the medley and freestyle.
Reading "A" took a fine medley silver in the 13-and-unders although drawn in the slower heat, through Cawthorne (backstroke), Katie Hawkins (breaststroke, with a brilliant start), Wilkins's powerful fly and a smooth 100m of freestyle from Mills. Bracknell needed a new meet record to beat them, and Reading were just 0.3 outside the old record.
As well as the individual events, the younger swimmers are competing for the award of top all rounder under the BAGCATS points system. Frankie Wilkins goes into week two leading her year, Adam Barrett a close second in his, Barnaby Kempster third, Katie Hawkins, Callum Willcox and Markus Orgill all fourth, James Bradley fifth and Chris Boyce sixth..
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