The Killerwhales were crowned "Top Club" at the Southern Counties Championships at Crystal Palace over the weekend.

At the end of the first half of the Southern Championship series all the senior and junior events were finished, and a hurried look at the computer called for a recount of the points.

Even after a recount the Killerwhales and the City of Reading could not be separated with 61 points each.

For the first time the trophy "Captain Cummins Memorial" has to be shared.

The weekend saw 16- year-old Greg Hunton (Grays) continue to improve speed and distance, winning silver in his age group 1500m freestyle.

Meanwhile, Brentwood schoolboy 15-year-old Wade Rimbach was just outside the medals with a fourth and 14-year-old Lee Wightwick (Stan-ford-le-Hope) in sixth.

They were joined by 16-year-old Richard Haynes (Hallmead Sch) to win bronze in the junior 4 x 50m freestyle relay.

They were unlucky in the final of the medley relay, having drawn the outside lane, they had little to actually race against, and lost their second bronze by two-tenths for fourth.

Thirteen-year -old Harriet Clement (Gaynes Sch) smashed her personal best 800m freestyle by 10 seconds to take fifth place.

Harriet teamed up with Nikki Ladlow, Claire Begmann and Michelle Kiff won through to both the freestyle and medley team finals.

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