BOURNEMOUTH Dolphins’ relay girls produced the most spectacular win of the South West Age Group Championships to help their club finish on top of the medals table for the first time in their history.

The team of Courtney Rowan, Olivia Esposti, Tess Carter and Amelia Maughan turned the 4x100m medley relay at Millfield into a thriller as they hauled back a massive deficit to snatch the gold from Plymouth Leander by 0.6sec.

England international Maughan sealed the win with an extraordinary anchor leg swim which saw her move from fourth to first.

Her split of 57.23 was six seconds quicker than the next fastest in the pool.

But coach Graham Bassi said: “The other three all swam great times to set up the impossible. Amelia made up three seconds on the first 50m but was still 10 metres down. Then, metre by metre, she closed the gap.

“It was a team performance which showed the true grit of this club and inspired everyone else for the rest of the day.”

Splits were: Rowan (back 1:09.55), Esposti (breast 1:23.57), Carter (fly 1:10.66), Maughan (free 57.23).

With Sam Bush replacing Esposti, the girls went on to complete a clean sweep of the three relays, winning the 4x200m freestyle by six seconds in 9:05.53.

Splits were: Maughan 2:07, Carter 2:19, Rowan 2:14, Bush 2:19.

The boys’ team of Harry Thorpe, Jay Olenicz, Joe Poynter and Stephen Littlefair chipped in with bronze in the 4x200m freestyle.

Dolphins ended the championships with 26 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals – less medals in total than Plymouth Leander, who have dominated South West swimming in recent years, but significantly more golds than either of them.

Bassi said: “Winning 26 golds and beating the top team in the country is a great achievement and a massive statement for our age group programme.”

Joe Poynter set five Dorset records as he took his tally of individual golds at the championships to seven with convincing wins in the 14yrs 200m and 800m freestyle (1:56.66 and 8:29.64) and 400m individual medley (4:45.68).

The medley and 800m events slashed three and eight seconds off his own county senior and junior records, while the 200m time knocked a second off the junior mark held by team-mate Martin Littlefair.

Tom Kingham led a Dolphins one-two as he won the 10yrs 200m freestyle from Bradley Currie (2:26.60 and 2:31.40).

First place in the 200m backstroke (2:47.12) and second in the 100m breaststroke (1:35.36) took Kingham’s personal tally to five golds and a silver in his first regional championships.

Another one-two came in the girls’ 13yrs 800m freestyle from Tess Carter and Sam Bush (9:53.40 and 9:54.90).

Dan Speers took gold in the 11yrs 100m breaststroke (1:23.94) and silver in the 100m butterfly and 400m medley (1:15.93 and 5:39.28).

Gold also went to Jasmine Holmes in the 10yrs 200m freestyle (2:30.05), silver to Jay Olenicz in the 13yrs 200m backstroke (2:19.39) and silver and bronze to Courtney Rowan in the 13yrs 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke (1:10.03).

Bronze went to 11-year-olds Oscar Esposti and Jamie Holmes in the 200m freestyle and 100m breaststroke respectively (2:21.48 and 1:28.07).

  • Izzy Frampton and Peter Griffiths are heading for the national age groups after taking Christchurch and New Milton Seagulls’ tally of gold medals at the championships to four.

Frampton is now ranked 10th in the country after dominating the 12yrs 100m butterfly with a winning time of 1:10.03.

Griffiths is also ranked 10th after winning the 12yrs 800m freestyle in 9:49.93.

  • Declan Callahan and Madison Kemp achieved Poole’s best results of the weekend, respectively coming fourth in the boys’ 14yrs 800m freestyle (9:20.06) and the girls’ 10yrs 100m butterfly (1:24.05).

Other finalists – Dolphins: 10yrs Bradley Currie 4th 200m back. 11yrs Oscar Esposti 4th 400m medley, 8th 200m back; Ryan McCormack 5th 200m free; Jamie Hol-mes 7th 400m medley. 12yrs Sophie Cooke 4th 200m free; Rachel Hawkins 8th 100m fly. 13yrs Harry Thorpe 4th 200m free, 8th 200m back; Tess Carter 7th 100m fly. Poole: 10yrs Kiran Olenicz 8th 200m back, 8th 200m free. 12yrs Rochelle Stott 7th 100m breast. Seagulls: 10yrs Kathy Rogers 8th 100m breast. 12yrs Izzy Frampton 4th 800m free; Peter Griffiths 4th 400m medley, 5th 200m back, 7th 200m free. 13yrs Sophie Duffell 4th 1500m free.

Medals table (unofficial, top three and selected local): 1 Dolphins 26 gold, 10 silver, 11 bronze, 47 total; 2 Plymouth 21, 23, 20, 55; 3 Bath Uni 17, 23, 20, 60; 6 Ferndown 6, 6, 5, 17; 9 Seagulls 4, 0, 2, 6; 22 Poole 0, 1, 0, 1.