CITY of St Albans Swimming Club were left delighted with their A and B teams after the second round of the Peanuts League.

The A team were in Division 1 action at Hemel Hempstead, a night that saw some fantastic swims as they finished first on the night 10 points clear of Stevenage in second.

The night started with a win from Ella Chown in the nine-year-old girls’ 25m fly.

Ben Muckleston decided he wanted to get in on the action and won both the boys’ 10 year free and fly.

Other victories on the night came from Grace Horne in the girls’ U12 50m free; Seona Ellis in the nine year girls’ 25m back, and the girls’ nine year 25m free relay, comprising of Seona and Mhairi Ellis, Ella Chown and Ruby Hatch.

The boys’ U11 25m medley and free relay comprising of Elliot Hitchen, Ben Muckleston, Kieran McArthy and Scott Brice, the U13 boys’ medley relay comprising of Callum Keane, Alex Ong, Will Alderton, and Piers Watford.

With a number of swimmers missing due to school trips all the swimmers stepped up the mark.

Head coach Stewart Melton said he was: “so proud of the team, they all swam there socks off!”

CoStA’s B Team, competed at Potters Bar in Division 2, finishing a fantastic second to a very strong Cheshunt A Team.

The team represented the growing strength of CoStA’s Junior B performance squad.

For some swimmers it was the debut gala night and they could finally put all their hard training into practise and swam above themselves.

It was a tense start as they kept finishing second behind Cheshunt until Ben Baldwin claimed the club’s first win in 50m backstroke.

The team went on from here to take a further six first places including two individual in U11’s 25m breaststroke from Jessica Chadwick and U12 boys’ from Ewan Langford.

In the relays St Albans had four wins.

The U12 boys were unbeatable, consisting of Noah Charsley-Smith, Ewan Langford, Paul Knight, Cameron Smith and Joel Green who won both boys U12 freestyle and medley relays.

The club’s nine-year-old girls’ medley relay led from the start with a strong backstroke from Tessa Burrows, Chloe Lavin, Sophie Taylor and Nicole Egenes continuing to hold the lead.

The girls’ U11 freestyle relay team came from the back to win, in a fantastic effort from Tess Watford, Jessica Chadwick, Nicole Egenes and Devon Pearce - special mention to Tess Watford who swam in both U11 and U12 girls’ team swimming six races.

“We had a brilliant night, the results reflect the hard work and commitment from our swimmers. It made me proud to coach them, well done!” said Kate Chadwick, who was rather hoarse from all the cheering.

Senior coach Sarah Stephens was thrilled with the team’s performance adding: “Everyone has worked so hard for this. It’s great that we have such strength in depth. Roll on round 3.”