Despite last minute upheavals, a determined 24-strong squad from Dorset headed north to Sheffield to take part in this year’s National County Team Championships on 5 October, which resulted in the Dorset team finishing in fifth place with 408 points to remain in Division Two for 2026, but nevertheless providing some exciting swimming and spectacular PBs.
As usual the start of the competition saw a colourful parade with Dorset sporting new style team shirts and where team captains Elliott Dunnett and Sadie Robertson introduced our swimmers to the competition while Dorset President Stuart Dawson enjoyed the hospitality all county presidents receive. Next came Dorset’s team swimming out of their skins to achieve 8 podium placings plus an array of personal and often awesome PBs.
In the second event of the day, Henry Dean kicked off the Dorset run of successes to finish first in the 16/17 years with a PB of 51.52 following a hard fought battle with Cheshire and Cornwall, which was quickly followed by Molly Robinson who pipped Cheshire to the post with a first place and an impressive two secs+ PB of 1.16.40 in the 12/13 years 100m Breaststroke. Jess Huggins then got the better of Leics in the 16/17 years 100m Backstroke (1.04.53) to finish in third place and, having got her breath back, a performance she repeated in the 16/17 years 100m Butterfly (1.02.84) losing out to Norfolk by just .29 sec.
A neck-and-neck with Northants then produced another first place by Team Captain Elliott Dunnett in the 16/17 years 100m Butterfly with a time of 56.01, while Polina Korotkova fought off Norfolk and Notts to secure third place in the 12/13 years 100m Backstroke with a one secs+ PB of 1.08.45. Sadie Roberts then eased comfortably into second place two seconds ahead of Beds in the 14/15 years 100m Freestyle with a time of 58.09, and then got the better of SW Wales by just .01 sec in the 14/15 years 100m Backstroke to finish in third place with a time of 1.05.36. The final podium placing of the day came from Sadie Roberts, Sophie Kilby, Layla Wareing and Carmen Mgbadiefe who finished in a very comfortable second place 2 secs ahead of Cambs in the 14/15 years Medley.
Other top ten placings came from Sophie Kilby in the 14/15 years 100m Breaststroke (1.13.80) who narrowly lost out to Cambs to finish fourth but nevertheless clocked up a 2 secs PB. Jack Feilder produced a 1.5 sec PB to come sixth in the 12/13 years 100m Butterfly (1.01.60) and in the 14/15 years 100m Breaststroke (1.10.49) Leo Condie placed seventh while Angus Watson (14/15 years 100m Freestyle 56.01) and James Gunn (16/17 years 100 Breaststroke 1.07.61) both placed tenth. An extra special “well done” goes to Bailey Booth who placed eighth in the 12/13 years 100m Breaststroke (1.17.92) and clocked up an impressive PB of 4.6 secs!
Finally impressive swims producing big BPs were also achieved by Layla Wareing (14/15 years 100m Butterfly 1.06.72), Jack Fielder (14/15 years 100m Freestyle 1.01.60), Bonnie Chen (12/13 years 100m Butterfly 1.13.42) and Monty Tibbatts (14/15 years 100m Backstroke 1.02.91), while the Dorset team were just pipped at the post by Herts to finish fourth in an exciting and hard fought Cannon, the final event of the day.
Sincere thanks must go to all our swimmers together with coaches Chris Neilson and Heidi Hine (photo right), team staff of David Clark and Amanda Osgood and Dorset Officials Sarah Huggins and Clare Treliving. Especial thanks must go to Adam Deren for stepping up at the eleventh hour.
The Dorset Team was as follows: Bournemouth Collegiate – Bonnie Chen, Gabriel Ness, Monty Tibbatts, Angus Watson. Poole – Leo Condie, Jack Feilder, Arthur Keeling, Carmen Mgbadiefe. Seagulls – Lucy Corner, Sophie Kilby, Archie Rand, Sadie Roberts, Freya Treliving. Swim Bournemouth – Bailey Booth, Henry Dean, Adam Deren, Elliott Dunnett, Jess Huggins. Talbot Heath – Polina Korotkova. West Dorset – James Gunn, Anna Miles-Simmonite, Mollie Robinson, Sadie Robinson, Layla Wareing.
President: Stuart Dawson