Southend’s surge sees more medals for the club on day two of National Age Groups

The medal places were dominated by Southend Diving during the afternoon session of day two at the GoCardless Swim England Diving National Age Group Championships.

The club from the East of England claimed a total of five of the available 12 podium places – one of which they shared with Amersham.

Those five places saw the club come away with two golds and two silvers – followed by a joint gold in the final event of day two.

Kicking off the medal haul was Seb Surry in the Open Group C 3m event following an expertly executed set of dives.

His club have shone so far at these championships and the talented, young diver was no different, scoring a total of 227.55.

Surry’s points total saw him earn the gold medal and the title of national champion.

City of Leeds occupied the next three places on the leaderboard, as Hakim Whyte was awarded the silver medal having scored an overall total of 220.25.

Lucas Bishop followed him in third (207.40) – adding to his personal medal tally, having already won gold yesterday in the Open Group C Platform event.

Whyte and Bishop’s City of Leeds teammate, Brogann Gainfort, finished closely behind them in fourth with a total of 201.70, making this a greatly competitive event for their club.

One-two finish for Fell-Cowen and Stratford

Running alongside the Open Group C 3m event was the Female Group B Platform competition – and Southend were enjoying success in both.

The club achieved a one-two finish courtesy of talented pair, Lois Fell-Cowen and Sadie Strafford.

Fell-Cowen topped the table with 216.30 points after her fantastic set of six dives and fellow teammate, Strafford, picked up her second silver medal of the National Age Group Championships after scoring 209.25 in her individual platform competition.

Plymouth Diving Club’s Lexi Davies won bronze with an overall score of 200.75 and guest diver from Edinburgh Diving Club, Jess Wilson, was awarded a commemorative bronze medal.

Goodwin gets gold

Dive London took home their second gold of the championships and their second gold of the day in the Open Group A 1m event.

Max Goodwin finished on top of the pile with an impressive score of 274.10 across his eight dives.

It was Southend again who found themselves within the medal positions, as Tommy Hadjicostas won silver (266.40).

Taking their first medal of the competition was Albatros Diving Club after Finlay Stratford finished in third to earn bronze with a total of 253.05.

Guest diver, Matthew Marshall of Edinburgh Diving Club, was awarded a commemorative silver medal.

Synchro success

The final event of day two saw Southend’s Kaycie Illingworth team up with Amersham’s Ruby Harris in the Female Group C/D 1m Synchro.

The pair narrowly fought off competition from City of Leeds duo, Daisy Costello and Flo Hall, who were less than two points behind in the final standings.

As a result, the gold medals were awarded to Illingworth and Harris (141.78) and silver medals were presented to Costello and Hall (140.37).

Completing the podium was Star Diving Club’s Sophia Harris and Florence Brindley, who scored 134.94 points.

Commemorative gold medals were also given to Ella Duthie and Isla Berry of Aberdeen Diving Club.

Story written by Gabby Laurent

Pictures: Will Johnston Photography