THE Kelly College swim squad returned from the National Age Group and Youth Competitions at Sheffield with some fine results from the nine-strong team.

One notable absentee was Jack Cockerton, team captain who had produced some great performances at the Olympic trials and Western Counties championships only to contract an energy-sapping virus just a month before the Nationals.

The team?s busiest member was Adam John who had entered seven events including the gruelling 1500m. Despite his hectic schedule, Adam managed to produce personal best times in all his swims, most notably in the 1500m freestyle where he knocked more than 50 secs off his entry time. He earned himself places in the final no less than 4 times and his all round abilities gave him 5th place in the BAGCATS overall placing in the 12 year boys category.

Tom Howe 14, was the only squad member to return with medals ? silver in the 200m IM and bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Tom produced a great swim to claim the silver in the 200m IM reducing his time by 4 seconds.

The other 14 year old competitor, Matthew Henry followed Tom in a number of events but he also contested the 1500m freestyle along with Adam and produced a 19 second PB and finished 7th. Matthew qualified for finals in two other individual events where he finished 9th in both the 400m IM and 400m freestyle.

The ?most improved? award must go to Ben Clark who qualified for the 100m freestyle by a few tenths of a second which ranked him 50th going into the heats. He then knocked 3 seconds off this and earned himself a place in the final where he maintained his improved time to finally finish in seventh place.

Matthew, Tom and Ben were joined by Joshua Lake to make up the boys 11-14 relay team who swam in the freestyle and medley relays in both the heats and the finals finishing 6th in the freestyle and 8th in the medley. It was a great achievement for Kelly to contest the race against Millfield, Plymouth Leander and the nation?s larger city teams such as Leeds and Sheffield and hold their own.

The only girl entrant in the age group competition was Holly Yeo who had qualified in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke. She produced a time 4 seconds inside her entry time in the 200m event which moved her from 31st place to 11th but just missing out on the final.

The youngest team member was Lawrence Oxborough, 11, a freestyle specialist, who swam the 100m, 200m and 400m distances and produced some strong performances.

In the youth competition (13-17 for girls and 14-18 for boys) the two remaining representatives were Amanda Sanderson, 15, and Matthew Hill aged 17. Amanda entered 6 events. Her best performances were in the 400m IM where she improved her initial heat position of 8th to finish 7th in the final for the 14/15 years age group and similarly in the 200m freestyle where she improved from 7th to 6th from the heat to the final.

Finalists, boys: 100m freestyle: 13yrs Ben Clark 6th; 200m backstroke: 12yrs Adam John 5th; 200m IM : 14yrs Tom Howe 2nd; 400m freestyle: 12yrs Adam John 6th, 14yrs Tom Howe 3rd, Matthew Henry 9th; 1500m freestyle: 12yrs Adam John 6th; 14yrs Matthew Henry 7th. 400m IM :12yrs Adam John 6th; 14yrs Matthew Henry 9th. 100m backstroke: 12yrs Adam John 5th. Relays: Matthew Henry, Tom Howe, Joshua Lake and Ben Clark 4x100m freestyle 6th 4x100m medley 8th.

Girls: 100m breaststroke: 13yrs Holly Yeo 7th. 200m freestyle: 14/15yrs Amanda Sanderson 6th. 400m IM: 14/15yrs Amanda Sanderson 7th.