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

2^nd Dulcie Wilson

Girls 10/11 Years

1^st Evelyna Johnson, 2^nd Milly Batten, 5^th Leah Burnston, 8^th Sofia Sathio, 10^th Lucy Chandler,12^th Victoria Ward, 14^th Grace Hill, 15^th Astrid Davis, 16^th Maddie Newcombe, 17^th Amy Leneve, 18^th Kate Baxter

Girls 12/13 Years

4^th Chantelle Beckett, 5^th Ella Anderson, 6^th Gabrielle Kirkham, 7^th Serena Torpey, 8^th Catherine Palmer, 9^th Georgia Milward, 11^th Megan Curtis, 13^th Liberty West, 14^th Mia Wood, 15^th India Bari, 17^th = Chloe Harrington, 17^th = Ysabella Foster, 20^th Alice Baxter, 22^nd Chloe Davis, 23^rd Olivia Ward, 24^th Lucie Hill, 27^th Abigail Cross, 28^th Kelsey Mills

Girls Group 14+ Years

3^rd Suzanna Burt, 4^th Nicole Van Hoof, 7^th Victoria Kennedy, 9^th Abigail Wales

Boys 8/9 Years

2^nd Milo French

Boys 10/11 Years

2^nd Ethan Bennett, 3^rd Aidan McMullan, 4^th Alex Walton, 6^th Ashley Burnard, 8^th Thomas Crew, 11^th Jonathan Cross, 12^th Hamish Lindsay, 13^th Finley Hughes, 14^th Nathan Bull, 17^th Thomas Macfadyen

Boys 12/13 Years

2^nd Jamie Bevan, 3^rd Reuben Brown, 5^th Daniel Cove, 7^th Oliver Clements, 8^th Thomas Cove, 10^th Michael Stewart, 12^th Thomas Kelly

Boys 14+Years

3^rd Alfie Lakeman-Brown, 4^th Oscar Kitchen, 5^th Jacob Batchelor, 6th Olly Walton, 7^th Oliver Lambert, 9^th Louis De Freitas