BOURNEMOUTH Collegiate School have become the first Dorset school for six years to win a medal at the English Schools Relay Championships.

After a hat-trick of fourth places last year, BCS finally cracked the podium with bronze in the intermediate girls’ medley at the London Aquatics Centre.

The quartet of Honor Davies (backstroke), Kayla van der Merwe (breaststroke), Ella Chown (butterfly) and Alesha Gibson (freestyle) came second in the heats and third in the final.

The result contributed to a South West domination of the event with Millfield and Plymouth College first and second, Devon’s Mount Kelly fourth and Dorset’s Sherborne School for Girls eighth.

It’s the first medal for a Dorset team since Bournemouth School’s junior boys won bronze at Stockport in 2010.

Earlier, there was another near-miss as the same four BCS girls came fourth in the intermediate freestyle.

Teams from Twynham and Parkstone Grammar also made finals at the Olympic pool.

Twynham were sixth in both heat and final of the junior boys’ freestyle and 21st in the medley.

Parkstone were ninth in the intermediate girls’ medley and the senior girls’ freestyle, 10th in the senior medley and 24th in the intermediate freestyle.

Sherborne School for Girls missed a second final by just half-a-second as they came 11th in the intermediate medley.

St Peter’s, Bournemouth, came 12th in the junior boys’ freestyle.

Bournemouth School for Girls were 13th and 14th in the senior medley and freestyle.

In the senior events, BCS came 12th and 16th in the girls’ medley and freestyle and 18th and 22nd in the boys’ medley and freestyle.

Bournemouth School were 16th and 19th in the intermediate boys’ medley and freestyle.

Poole Grammar School were 17th and 21st in the intermediate boys’ freestyle and medley, 19th and 25th in the senior medley and freestyle and 26th and 28th in the junior freestyle and medley.

The championships involved around 900 swimmers from more than 130 schools across England.

Meanwhile, Swim Bournemouth’s Jay Lelliott broke six Dorset senior records on his way to a seven-medal haul at the British University Short Course Championships in Sheffield.

Lelliott, swimming for Bath University, set new figures in the 50m, 400m and 1500m freestyle (22.75, 1:44.19 and 14:53.75), 100m and 200m backstroke (52.89 and 1:56.24) and 100m butterfly (53.44).

But his best result medal-wise was gold in the 200m butterfly in which he was 0.15sec outside his county record.

In the 400m he beat Rio Olympians Tim Shuttleworth and Max Litchfield to come second to Olympic finalist and relay medallist Duncan Scott.

Lelliott also won five bronze medals.