Bognor swimmers are making county waves

In all 13 swimmers from the club competed in a meet open only to children and young adults who had achieved qualification times in one or more of the four swimming disciplines.

Clubs and individual swimmers from across Sussex participated and Bognor come home with a number of personal-best times and podium finishes.

Abbie Turner, 13, achieved nine personal bests and qualifying times for seven events at the regional finals. Two of her podium finishes were achieved in longer distances.

She came second in the 800m freestyle and third in the 400m medley. In the short course events, Turner competed in a variety of races, including the 50m freestyle and 200m butterfly. In all, Turner achieved six podium finishes - three silver and three bronze-medal finishes.

Success for the Turner family was not restricted to Abbie. Anna Turner, 15, just missed out on third place in the 800m freestyle and achieved four personal bests, whilst Alys, 10, achieved a personal best in the 50m freestyle.

Archie Strowger, nine, continued his promising start to competition by winning the 200m individual medley - 50m each of butterfly, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.

Elated mum Donna Strowger said: “I am so very proud!”

His gold medal will be complemented by the silver he won in the 200m backstroke. In all, he achieved four personal bests in the events he qualified for.

Olivia Spink, nine, managed three personal bests and was on the podium twice. She achieved a silver medal-winning time in both the 50m and 200m breaststroke events.

Her sister Georgia Spink, 11, also achieved three personal bests and reached the finals in each of her events.

In the 12-13 age group, Sam Hawkins, 12, finished a respectable third in the 200m individual medley and missed out on regional qualification in the 200m backstroke by less than half a second.

Meanwhile, Emily Guiry, also 12, came third in the 50m freestyle, achieving a personal best.

There was also a personal best for Ellie Fox, 16, and a season’s best for Jazmine Day, 17, in the highly-competitive 16-plus category.

The children will now start training for next year’s championships, with qualification events starting in less than two weeks.