A WIMBORNE school has two national champions after Robbie Hemmings and Jess Kelleway stormed to victory at the showdown for prep schools.

The Dumpton School pair were among three Dorset youngsters who struck gold at the IAPS Championships in Crawley’s K2 pool.

Eleven-year-old Hemmings arrived in East Sussex ranked only fourth for the under-11 50m backstroke.

But in the heats he slashed 0.6 seconds off his previous best to qualify fastest for the final in a championship-record time of 32.50 seconds.

He then all but matched this to win the gold medal in 32.52s.

Kelleway, 12, justified her number-one ranking in the girls’ under-13 50m freestyle, first winning her heat in a personal best of 28.66s, then taking the final in 28.97s. Victory was a two-place improvement on the bronze medal she won last year.

Both Hemmings and Kelleway train with Poole Swimming Club and will be hunting more medals over the next two weekends, with the club set to take a 25-strong squad to the South West Age Group Championships at Bristol and Millfield.

At Crawley, Kelleway also teamed up with fellow Dumpton pupils Ruby Richardson and Maddy Harvey, both 13, and 12-year-old Eloise Ward, to finish 12th in the under-13 medley relay.

Dumpton’s head of physical education Chris Jeremiah said: “Although we’ve had individuals qualify before, it’s the first time we’ve had a relay team qualify for the national finals.”

Sherborne Preparatory School’s 12-year-old Jai Thompson also struck gold, winning the boys’ under-13 25m butterfly in 13.39s.

Thompson is not a member of a swimming club but is a sporting all-rounder who also plays rugby, cricket and hockey.

Sherborne’s Ella Petherick, 11, improved her personal best to come ninth in the girls’ under-12 50m butterfly in 16.30s, missing a place in the final by just 0.07s.

Nine-year-old team-mate Rocco Taylor came 15th in the 10 years 25m butterfly in 18.81s.

Eleanor Mowbray, also nine, from Castle Court at Corfe Mullen, came 11th in the under-10 25m freestyle in 16.11s. But fellow Castle Court qualifier Gabby Wood had to withdraw from the under-11 25m butterfly due to illness.

Eleven-year-olds Stanlav Lonskiy and James Byrne from Port Regis School near Shaftesbury came 16th and 15th, respectively, in the under-12 25m butterfly and 50m breaststroke.

Meanwhile, Poole’s Leonie Wiehle, Jaz Holmes, Madison Kemp and Emily Clarke have qualified for all three women’s relays at the British Summer National Championships in July. The quartet won silver and bronze medals at last week’s South West Youth Championships in Plymouth.