Southampton Diving Academy recently sent a team of divers to take part in the South East Regional Skills competition at the K2 centre in Crawley. They returned with a total of 10 medals, 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze.
This event was represented by all the clubs within the region including Reading, Guildford, Worthing and Amersham. The younger divers demonstrate 12 dives/jumps at three stations, 4 from poolside and 4 each from the 1m springboard and 3m springboard and the older divers perform 6 dives each from the 1m springboard and 3m springboard. Many of SDA’s divers achieved the recommended qualifying standard for the National Skills Finals and will now travel to Ponds Forge, Sheffield in May.
SDA’s gold medal came from recently crowned ‘Best Newcomer’ Evelyna Johnson in the girls 10/11 years. Evelyna was awarded several 9’s from the judges and won the gold by a clear margin, team mate Milly Batten followed up in silver, Millys score sheet also included some impressive scores. For the boys in the same age group Ethan Bennett took the silver medal scoring 9.5’s for his remarkable back jump tuck from poolside. Aiden McMullen won the bronze medal in this age group.
In the 8/9 years Dulcie Wilson dived consistently to take the silver medal in the girls event and Milo French the silver for the boys.
The boys 12/13 years saw team mates Jamie Bevan and Reuben Brown battle it out for the Silver and Bronze medal, Jamie eventually finishing in silver and Reuben taking the bronze.
In the 14 Years+ event the divers perform 6 dives each from the 1m springboard and 3 springboard and SDA won a bronze medal in both the boys and girls events, Alfie Lakman-Brown for the boys and Suzanna Burt for the girls.
Girls 8/9 Years
2nd Dulcie Wilson
Girls 10/11 Years
1st Evelyna Johnson, 2nd Milly Batten, 5th Leah Burnston, 8th Sofia Sathio, 10th Lucy Chandler,12th Victoria Ward, 14th Grace Hill, 15th Astrid Davis, 16th Maddie Newcombe, 17th Amy Leneve, 18th Kate Baxter
Girls 12/13 Years
4th Chantelle Beckett, 5th Ella Anderson, 6th Gabrielle Kirkham, 7th Serena Torpey, 8th Catherine Palmer, 9th Georgia Milward, 11th Megan Curtis, 13th Liberty West, 14th Mia Wood, 15th India Bari, 17th = Chloe Harrington, 17th = Ysabella Foster, 20th Alice Baxter, 22nd Chloe Davis, 23rd Olivia Ward, 24th Lucie Hill, 27th Abigail Cross, 28th Kelsey Mills
Girls Group 14+ Years
3rd Suzanna Burt, 4th Nicole Van Hoof, 7th Victoria Kennedy, 9th Abigail Wales
Boys 8/9 Years
2nd Milo French
Boys 10/11 Years
2nd Ethan Bennett, 3rd Aidan McMullan, 4th Alex Walton, 6th Ashley Burnard, 8th Thomas Crew, 11th Jonathan Cross, 12th Hamish Lindsay, 13th Finley Hughes, 14th Nathan Bull, 17th Thomas Macfadyen
Boys 12/13 Years
2nd Jamie Bevan, 3rd Reuben Brown, 5th Daniel Cove, 7th Oliver Clements, 8th Thomas Cove, 10th Michael Stewart, 12th Thomas Kelly
Boys 14+Years
3rd Alfie Lakeman-Brown, 4th Oscar Kitchen, 5th Jacob Batchelor, 6th Olly Walton, 7th Oliver Lambert, 9th Louis De Freitas