IN the Worcester Winter League final, two Halesowen swimming teams travelled to Droitwich for the A and B finals on Sunday, April 13.

Both teams were depleted due to absences but all swimmers produced battling performances throughout.

Halesowen A performed solidly in the A final and gained fourth place overall. Halesowen B were in the B final earlier in the day and, like their A team counterparts, performed well throughout and ended the gala in an excellent third place.

In the A team double event, winners were Josh Bradley and James Cuthbert in the butterfly and breaststroke. Other individual winners were Zach Collins in the backstroke and Mark Laing and Jack Simpson in the freestyle.

The age 13 relay team proved to be unbeatable and won both medley and freestyle events with the team including Emma Bird, Kate Morrice, Lauren Hill and Jakob Baker.

The open team pulled off a great win in the final freestyle relay with the team including Eliza Bradley and Hannah Cuthbert

In the B team double event, the winner was Jacob Darby in the breaststroke and freestyle. Other individual event winners were Paige Robbins in the freestyle, Sian Carey, Sophie Parsons and Euan Vaughan-Hawkins in the backstroke, Luke Morris in the butterfly and Joe Smith in the breaststroke.

Junior swimmers from Halesowen Swimming Club were at home for the first round of the junior league on Saturday, April 5.

As expected, the competition was very tough in this division one gala with four of the top eight clubs from last year's league drawn together. It was clear from the start that City of Coventry and Leicester Sharks were setting a red hot pace to leave the other clubs battling for the lower places.

Halesowen found themselves in fifth spot for most of the night but, thinking they might have to settle for that place, the swimmers put in a great final flourish to grab fourth spot overall in the final three events of the evening.