Swimmers and coaches from the City of St Albans Swimming Club are celebrating their recent success at the Hertfordshire County Championships.

Following three weekends of competition, CoStA has recorded its best championships ever, winning twice as many medals as last year.

Fifteen junior swimmers achieved top eight finishes in the British Age Group Categories (BAGCAT) events. This is a points based system operated by the Amateur Swimming Association designed to encourage younger swimmers to compete in a wide range of events, with each swim earning points based on time achieved, distance, stroke, age and gender.

The following CoStA swimmers achieved BAGCAT awards: first place: Jessica Patrick, 10, who also broke the 50m and 200m backstroke 10-year-old records; second place: Eilidh Dunwoodie, nine, Ella Chown, 11, Leyla Manthorpe-Rizatepe, 13, Henry Flatt, nine, Daniel Schindler, 14; third place: Lauren Stott, 11, Shannon Stott, 13, and Alex Ong, 14; fourth place: Grace Wylie, 12, and Guy Muncer, 11; fifth place Thomas Cadenhead, 11; sixth place Oscar Brice, nine and Ben Muckleston, 12; and eighth place Nicole Egenes, 10.

Leyla Manthorpe-Rizatepe, Alex Ong, Liam Curran, Lauren Winfield and Georgina Lawson reached championship finals. Junior Championship medals were won by Shannon Stott, Leyla Manthorpe-Rizatepe, Alex Ong, Elliot Wylie and Liam Curran, who was also awarded the overall senior championship gold in the 200m fly.

Strong swimming in the relay events resulted in bronze medals for the girls’ U13 medley team (Lauren Stott, Monica Ong, Ella Chown and Grace Wylie), the boys’ U13 free team (Ben Muckleston, Guy Muncer, Thomas Cadenhead and Elliot Hitchen) and the boys’ U16 free team (Elliot Wylie, Alex Ong, Liam Curran and Daniel Schindler). The boys’ U16 team also won silver in the medley event.

Stewart Melton, head coach of CoStA swimming club said: “The past year has seen many changes to the club. The coaching team has put in hours of work and our swimmers have gone from strength to strength.

“This year’s results are proof of what hard work can achieve. The club has recently won the Herts Major League and had the most successful County Championships ever. We also have more qualifiers for the upcoming regional championships than ever before.

“I am so proud of the squad and the coaching team.”