LEDBURY and District youngsters travelled to the prestigious Stourbridge Crystal open meet in Wolverhampton.

Fewer than half of the applicants were accepted, resulting in only a small Ledbury squad, but they were determined to gain entry times for the county championships, which start in March.

Eve Watson, 12, showed focus for her six races, swimming a new best time in each, and all within the county qualifying standard.

Also demonstrating his recent improvement, 10-year-old Ben Collins gained a personal best in all four of his events.

William Hughes, another Ledbury member showing steady improvement due to consistency in his training programme, also completed all of his races in PBs.

The day got off to a fine start for the town with both Robert Wilson and Hughes swimming a strong 200-metre individual medley and securing bagging PBs.

Both boys swam in the 50m backstroke, along with team-mates William Kennedy, Malachi Cashmore, Oscar Curtis and Collins.

All six swimmers demonstrated good technique on both the start and turn and they were rewarded with new PBs.

Kennedy went on to improve his time in the longer 200m race.

Also in the backstroke, Lily Painter achieved a PB in the 100m contest.

She also swam well in her best event, the 200m breaststroke, to finish just outside of the medals in fourth position.

Lydia Freeman had a mixed day but was happy to equal her PB in the 100m freestyle within the county qualifying time.

The Ledbury and District head coach, Duncan Loraine, said: “I am pleased with the swimmers.

“Being so close to the Christmas break, they have only been back in full training for a couple of weeks and to swim to a PB is a real achievement.

“For those who missed their times, it serves as a useful benchmark for improvement, both in speed and technique, which of course we will address during training.”

For any details of trials at the Ledbury and District club, visit their club website at ladasc.co.uk.