SWIM Bournemouth are champions of the Southern Junior League for the third year running.

The club’s nine to 12-year-olds defended their title in some style in the final at Swindon, achieving a victory margin of 77 points.

They recorded 22 wins and 17 second places, finishing out of the top three only twice in 49 races.

The only blip came after the gala, when the team coach broke down in Swindon and the young-sters did not get home till 2am.

Swim Bournemouth will now represent the league in the South of England final on October 5, when a top four place against other junior league champions would take them to their second national final in three years.

Trevin Michelo and Amy Quarrie were both double winners for Bournemouth, boys’ captain Michelo taking the 12yrs 50m butterfly and backstroke, Quarrie the equivalent events for nine-year-old girls.

The 10yrs age group produced two boy-girl doubles with Archie Corbin and Amy Brown winning the 50m backstroke and Ajay Coombs and Hermione Cull the 50m freestyle.

Other individual winners were nine-year-olds Saskia Van Der Show in the 50m breaststroke and Matthew Workman in the 50m backstroke and Abbie Manns in the 12yrs 50m breaststroke.

Swim Bournemouth also won 11 of the 17 relays.

Christchurch Seagulls achieved third place at Swindon.

Result: 1 Swim Bournemouth A 253, 2 Swindon SX3 176, 3 Seagulls 169.5, 4 Severnside 155, 5 Weston-super-Mare 143, 6 Keynsham 110.5.

  • Poole also ended their Southern Junior League campaign on a high with victory by 74 points in the B final at Littledown.

Junior coach Jan Hutchings said: “We missed out on the A final but this result was convincing to say the least. We raced with confidence and self-belief and the result means we finish seventh in the league which is an improvement on last year.”

Robbie Hemmings led the scoring for Poole with individual wins in the 9yrs 50m butterfly and backstroke and the 10/u 50m backstroke plus a contribution to four of the club’s eight relay wins.

Eleven-year-olds Guy Selwood and Morgan Hiles provided a clean sweep of the individual events in their age group, Selwood winning the 50m butterfly and breaststroke, Hiles the freestyle and backstroke, while Lorna Webb was also a double winner in the 9yrs 50m freestyle and breast-stroke while Will Longhurst won the boys’ 9yrs 50m breaststroke.

Iola Dear’s second place in the 11/u 50m butterfly was the best result for Swim Bournemouth’s B team as the league’s only second-string team came eighth.

Result: 1 Poole 315, 2 Bradford-on-Avon 241, 3 Swindon Dolphins 222, 4 Bristol Penguins 221, 5 Trowbridge 207, 6 Chard 187, 7 Yeovil 176, 8 Swim Bournemouth B 147.