Young Divers Put In Impressive Performan …

Active Nation’s Southampton Diving Academy recently hosted the ASA South East Regional Age Group competition at The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex.

This competition was a qualifying event for the ASA National Age Group Diving Championships to be held in Sheffield’s Ponds Forge in May. Clubs from across the South East region attended including Albatross Diving Club (Reading), Maidstone Swimming Club and Star (Guildford) alongside guest teams from Crystal Palace, Southend Diving, Waltham Forest, Haringey Aquatics, West Wilts and Dive London Aquatics Club.

The team scooped an impressive 26 South East Regional medals over the two weekends, 9 Gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze.

SDA’s head coach Lindsey Fraser said: “These results were very impressive and I would like to congratulate the coaches and divers on these performances.”

Many of the Southampton Divers were new to this level of competition; some were looking to achieve the qualification scores to progress to the National Finals and some were there for the experience of competing in a higher level event.

Taking gold on the Platform and 1m Springboard for Boys 14/15 Years was Elliott Moorhouse in a fantastic comeback after a long absence from injury. Also performing well in that age group were William Osborne, who took gold on the 3m Springboard and bronze on the 1m Springboard, and Thomas Bailey who took silver on the 1m Springboard.

In Boys 12/13 Years, Reuben Brown took silver in both the 3m and 1m Springboard and bronze on the Platform with a solid performance on all 3 boards showing consistent skills under pressure.

In Boys 10/11, Milo French, the youngest boy in the Southampton squad, impressed the judges to take silver in both the 1m and 3m Springboard and a bronze on the Platform with team mate Ethan Bennett putting in some very consistent diving to take the bronze on the 1m.

The girls’ competition was fierce in all age groups, but in the 14/15 Years group, Southampton’s Katie McArthur held her nerve to take gold on the 1m, beating team mate Serena Torpey into Silver.

In the Girls 12/13 years Tia Pritchard and Evelyna Johnson battled hard and eventually couldn’t be separated, taking joint top spot, Tia was one of the few girls in this age group to dive from the 7.5m Platform. Tia also took gold on the 3m Springboard and bronze on the 1m Springboard to complete a great all round performance. Ella Anderson and Lauren Bailey took gold and silver respectively on the 1m both of them performing risky double somersaults to secure their medals.

Meanwhile in Girls 10/11 Years, the star was Milly Batten taking gold on the 3m Springboard with a superb inward 1.5 somersault with pike securing her title. Milly also took silver on the 1m Springboard against some tough competition and bronze on the Platform. Dulcie Wilson showed great composure to take the bronze on both 1m and 3m Springboards in only her second competition at this level and is one to watch for the future as one of the youngest girls in the Southampton team.

Angus Kerr and Cameron Gammage, two of Southampton Diving Academy’s Elite divers also took part in this competition as guest divers in preparation for their National Junior Elite Championships which take place in Sheffield in May.

Girls 10/11 Years

1m  2nd Milly Batten, 3rd Dulcie Wilson, 5th Collette guyett-Smith, 7th Lucy Chandler

3m   1st Milly Batten, 3rd Dulcie Wilson, 5th Collette Guyett-Smith, 6th Lucy Chandler

Platform  3rd Milly Batten

Boys 10/11 Years

1m  2nd Milo French, 3rd Ethan Bennett, 8th Robbie Lee

3m  2nd Milo French, 5th Ethan Bennett

Platform 3rd Milo French, 7th Ethan Bennett

Girls 12/13 Years

1m 1st Ella Anderson, 2nd Lauren Bailey, 3rd Tia Pritchard, 4th Gabrielle Kirkham, 6th Sofia Sathio, 7th Victoria Ward

3m 1st Tia Pritchard, 4th Ella Anderson, 5th Victoria Ward, 6th Sofia Sathio, 7th Lauren Bailey, 8th Gabrielle Kirkham

Platform Joint 1st Evelyna Johnson and Tia Pritchard, 4th Gabrielle Kirkham, 5th Lauren Bailey, 6th Ella Anderson, 7th Chloe Harrington, 8th Victoria Ward, 9th Sofia Sathio, 10th Megan Curtis

Boys 12/13 Years

1m 2nd Reuben Brown

3m 2nd Reuben Brown

Platform 3rd Reuben Brown, 4th Alex Walton

Girls 14/15 Years

1m 1st Katie McArthur, 2nd Serena Torpey, 4th Jessica Bennett, 5th Jade Brindley, 7th Nicole van Hoof, 8th Emily Adams, 10th Victoria Kennedy, 11th Chantelle Beckett

3m 4th Katie McArthur , 5th Jessica Bennett, 6th Serena Torpey, 7th Emily Adams, 8th Nicole Van Hoof, 9th Victoria Kennedy, 10th Chantelle Beckett

Platform 5th Katie McArthur , 6th Emily Adams, 7th Victoria Kennedy

Boys 14/15 Years

1m 1st Elliot Moorhouse, 2nd Thomas Bailey, 3rd William Osborne

3m 1st  William Osborne, 3rd Thomas Bailey, 4th Elliot Moorhouse

Platform 1st  Elliot Moorhouse

• Posted on: Tuesday, May 19th, 2015 by Bita Rezaei