Seventeen swimmers from Winchester City Penguins recently took part in the South East Region Championships held over the first two weekends in June at the 50m K2 pool in Crawley.

With nearly eighty clubs from all over the South East and Channel Islands taking part it was a highly competitive event with between 50 - 90 swimmers in each age group.

Six of the boys from Penguins qualified for the full range of BAGCAT swims, and taking the highest place, in the boys' 13-year- old age group, was Tom Mills who took 10th position. His best swims of the competition were taking 7th place in the 200m backstroke and 8th in the 100m backstroke.

In the boys' 10-year-old age group, Oliver Heath came 11th overall, taking 4th place in the 100m backstroke and 7th place in the 200m backstroke along the way. Also taking 11th position, in the boys' 11-year-old age group, was Matthew Ryall, who also came 4th in the 200m backstroke and 12th in the 200m Individual Medley.

In the boys' 12-year-old age group, Joel Frank took 23rd place overall; his best swims were taking 9th place in the 200m backstroke and 12th place in the 100m backstroke. Christopher Sharpe took 25th place in the 11-year-old boys age group, taking 11th place in the 400m freestyle event.

Nicholas Courtney also swam in the boys' 12-year-old age group, and took 38th position. An unfortunate disqualification from the 200m Individual Medley meant his total score was not what it should have been, but his best swim of the competition was taking 8th place in the boys 100m breaststroke.

Other Penguins who swam well at the competition were: Isabel Rafferty (9th place 10-year-old girls 400m IM and 15th 400m freestyle) Sally Goodhand (15th place 10-year-old girls 100m breaststroke) Emma Falconer (10th place 10-year-old girls 400m IM), Emily Butcher (19th place 13 -year-old girls 100m backstroke) Florine Forster (9th place 13-year- old girls 200m butterfly) and Justin Craig (12th place 13-year- old boys 100m backstroke and 16th place 100m freestyle). Also qualifying for the competition were Charlotte Preston Howes, Eleanor Cross, Alexa Dymond, Natasha Perriam and Sebastian Haw.

For more information please go to www.wcpsc.org.uk