BARNSTAPLE?S inability to field a team left Okehampton Otters and Ilfracombe to compete for second place as Torridgeside were as strong as ever and won the North Devon mini league gala.

With swimmers returning from unavailability the Otters won 12 events on the night.

The girls? 14/15 years age group swimmers of Becky Rowe and Vicky Medlyn, with Charlotte Rowe and Natalie Bowles, gained 12 points out of 15 to dominate their age group.

Becky swam to two individual wins and Vicky one in the 100m fly with a new age group club record. Another was the 4x25m freestyle relay, where Becky swam a storming last 25 to win by a narrow margin.

Alex Wooldridge came away with two victories in the 12/13 years age group. The 50m fly was timed to perfection on the last stroke to out touch his opponents and the other was a comfortable 100m breaststroke win.

Other wins came from Matthew Webber, Janek Jachnik, Robert Aubry, Jo.Cade, Charlotte Rowe and the boys 12/13 years 4x25 medley relay.

A grand total of 25 second places gave the Otters enough points to do enough to finish in second, their highest league position since joining two years ago.

Two other club records came from Janek Jachnik in the 15 yrs 100 back and Matthew Westlake 12/13 yrs 100m backstroke.

Personal best swims came from Amelia Allen, Tom Aylen, Tom Bradley, Beth Freeman, Gemma Jachnik, Rebecca Jarvis, Vicky Medlyn, Charlotte Radnor, John Radnor, Charlotte Rowe, Ellen Squire, Matthew Webber x 2, Matthew Westlake, Scott Wilson x 2 and Alex Wooldridge.

Coach Nigel West said the team took their chance well to finish

second.

?With returning swimmers making a difference to our total points it shows we can finish in a strong position this year if all can compete at the same time.?

The club have also been busy out of the water recently. Kevin Jones, Keith Webber and Nick Bowles have attended an ASA lane coach?s course. This should help the club to carry on the good start to the year by giving quality instruction to all the swimmers.

An error to the club championship results has been pointed out. The winner of the boys? 15/16 years trophy this year should have read Gavin Best.