POOLE’S relay girls made themselves contenders for national qualification with a bronze-winning performance in the South West Youth Championships at Millfield.

The 4x100m freestyle quartet of Fiona Hardie, Dani Burry, Katie Mills and Courtney Rowan were beaten only by Plymouth Leander and Millfield, two of the top teams in Britain with swimmers drawn from the whole of the UK and overseas.

The 13 teams behind them included most of the other leading clubs in the West Country.

It was the first relay medal ever won by Poole in the regional youth championships – and from a team ranked only ninth beforehand and not even drawn in the fastest heat.

But they face stiff competition for a place in the ASA National Youth Championships at Sheffield in July, which will be offered to the fastest 30 teams around the country.

Poole’s bronze-winning time was 4:05.74 with splits of – Hardie 59.13, Burry 1:03.69, Mills 1:03.36, Rowan 59.56.

Poole coach Robin Armayan said: “It was an outstanding performance and they showed an incredible team spirit. The girls have written a new page in our club history. I was intending to take their splits at 25m but I was so excited I forgot.”

Armayan was this week eagerly comparing the results from other regions with one eye on the nationals.

“Our time would have placed us 15th or 16th last year but so far I make it that we are 29th – so it’s going to be hard to get there,” he added.

Hardie and Rowan will be in Sheffield anyway having qualified for individual events.

Hardie, 17, now has eight national qualifying times (NQTs) after adding three at the weekend with PBs in the 100 and 200m backstroke (1:07.81 and 2:24.25) and 200m freestyle (2:07.29).

She also reached several finals including the 200m breaststroke in which she came sixth in another PB of 2:50.42.

Rowan won silver in the 14-15yrs 50m butterfly in 29.89 and bronze in the 50m and 100m freestyle (27.88 and 1:00.26).

The first and third of these events were won by her best friend and former Bournemouth team-mate Amelia Maughan, now training in Bath.

Maughan’s times were 29.72 and 58.88 and she also won the 200m freestyle in 2:03.46.

As she is still a Swim Bournemouth member, her heat time of 29.56 in the 50m butterfly breaks a Dorset junior record held by Tornadoes’ Leanne Studley since 2003.

Poole’s Todd Price recorded a long course NQT of 4:57.70 in the 14/u 400m individual medley time trials.