A swim club has gone top of a national league after a convincing success at the first meet of the season.

Harpenden Swimming Club took first place in over half of their races at the National Arena League Division Two gala at the Becontree Heath Leisure Centre in Dagenham.

From the 50 races, they took 28 wins, made the podium in another 14 and never placed lower than sixth.

It was the club’s first sortie into the National League and they ended up top of the standings, 102 points ahead of second-placed Hertford.

Head coach, Annie Thompson, said: “We are very proud of our Arena League swimmers.

“There were some great start and turn skills on show and even when we were clear of the field our swimmers kept racing and going for personal bests.

“It was a brilliant start to the League campaign, and it fills us with confidence as we head into the next two rounds of this competition.”

Relays proved a notable success where they never finished out of the top-three.

There were clean-sweeps for both the U14 boys, made up of Yannik Wilson, Ed Campfield, Angus Harrow and Luke Temple, and the U16 girls, Claire Burrell, Katialin Dang, Caitlin Hoddinott and Alice Dyson.

Among them there were personal bests for Hoddinott, in the 100m butterfly, and Burrell, in the 100m backstroke.

Elsewhere Bradley Borland won the U12 breaststroke by five seconds while Michael Ripper and Dan Toy both went under a minute for the 100m freestyle for the first time.

The next round takes place at Woodside Leisure Centre in Leavesden Green, on Saturday, November 14.