KAYLA van der Merwe came within 0.1sec of the British junior 100m breaststroke record at the Swim England County Team Championships in Sheffield.

The British age group champion carved more than a second off her Dorset senior and junior short-course records to come second in the 16-17yrs event in 1:08.46.

The Bournemouth Collegiate School swimmer has two more chances to claim the national standard before her 16th birthday next month.

One is at the Manchester International in the same pool where BCS coach Zoe Baker broke the 50m breaststroke world record at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Baker told the Daily Echo: “Having one of my swimmers break a national record in the pool where I set my world record in the year she was born would be special.”

At 15, Van der Merwe was one of the youngest in the race at Sheffield.

But her points were not enough to save Dorset from relegation.

A year after earning a second season in Division One for only the second time, the county finished 18th out of 20 and will join Cambridgeshire, Swim Wales West and Leicestershire in Division Two next year.

Coach Sam Woodward said: “Everyone swam with pride and passion and represented the county very well.”

Swim Bournemouth’s Ella Chown was sixth in the 14-15yrs 100m butterfly and joined club-mate Amy Brown, Wareham’s Tanya Blanchard and Poole’s Ella McNamara for eighth in that age group’s medley relay.

Brown was also ninth in the 14-15yrs 100m backstroke while Swim Bournemouth’s Drew McGregor came eighth in the 100m breaststroke.

Poole’s Jazz McCrea and BCS’s Christian Tai were ninth in the 16-17yrs 100m butterfly with McCrea also 10th in the freestyle.

Result: 1 Yorks 497, 2 Scotland W 431, 3 Devon 427, 4 Somerset 414, 5 Kent 407, 6 Scotland E 401, 7 Middlesex 367, 8 N & Durham 358, 9 Ox & N Bucks 349, 10 Essex 327, 11 Surrey 324, 12 Lancs 319, 13 Wales E 307, 14 Berks & S Bucks 296, 15 Northants 255, 16 Suffolk 238, 17 Cambs 218, 18 Dorset 211, 19 Wales W 188, 20 Leics 181.

• Swim Bournemouth’s youngsters came within one point of reaching their first junior league national final since 2012.

The Southern Junior League champions finished fifth against other title-winners in the southern area final in Norwich, just one point behind City of Derby.

The top four progress to next month’s all-England showdown.

Coach Sam Woodward said: “It was agonising to miss the national final by one point but it was a great performance and they will learn from the experience.”

Swim Bournemouth’s 10yrs boys dropped only one point with wins from both relay teams, Hugo Young in the freestyle and butterfly and Cody Collins in the backstroke and second place from Oliver Crowe in the breaststroke.

Halle Harris won the 12/u 50m backstroke and Freddie Hodgetts the 11/u freestyle.

Result: 1 Guildford City 261, 2 City of Coventry 209, 3 Camden Swiss Cottage 156, 4 City of Derby 152, 5 Swim Bournemouth 151, 6 City of Norwich 147.