IT'S OFFICIAL - Southampton Diving Academy is the tops.

Thanks to the efforts of Olympic star Peter Waterfield, the SDA scooped the title of 'top senior club in the country' at the British Championships in Sheffield.

As reported in the Daily Echo on Monday, Waterfield, pictured right, collected three golds and a silver in his first competition since winning silver at the Athens Games last summer.

But it was by no means a one-man effort in South Yorkshire.

A fourth gold was taken by Gary Hunt, 20, in partnership with Gareth Jones from Plymouth in the senior platform synchronised diving event.

The pair have now been invited to represent GB in the European Champion of Champions Cup in Stockholm in April.

The Southampton team performed well in the synchronised events, with 13-year-old pair Ellie Steel and Emily Alderman taking silver in both junior and senior categories on platform and silver in the junior and fourth in senior events on 3m.

Gary Hunt and Tom Owens, 19, took bronze in the senior 3m category and Max Brick, 12, and Chris Farrow, 13, bronze in the seniors and silver in the juniors from the platform.

Dayne Mulford, 16, and Patrick O'Reilly, 16, also took a bronze in the junior 3m event.

Charly Tomkys, 19, had a very successful meet, beating several internationals to finish fourth on the 1m board and eighth on 3m.

Ciaran O'Reilly, 16, newly returned from Florida in his first competition representing Great Britain, also dived well to take fifth in the junior 1m event in a very competitive field.

As a team, the group took top position in the senior medals table with Leeds and Plymouth second and third.

In the junior medals table the absence of any golds kept the team in seventh position - though only Leeds bettered them in the total number of medals (11). Southampton and Plymouth both won eight.

l Gary Hunt, Charly Tomkys and Tom Owens all made scores which qualified them to continue to be funded under the talented athlete sponsorship scheme during 2005.

Max Brick has now been invited to join the junior Olympic programme in a pre-Olympic training camp in the Olympic pool in China next month.

Waterfield will lead the British team in the first Fina Grand Prix event of the year in Rostock, Germany, also next month.

Included in the Rostock team will be Tomkys, Hunt and Owens, who will all be taking part in synchro events.

Full results:

Senior championships

1m: Robert Appleby, 18th; Max Brick, 15th; Christian Brooker (guest), 4th; Jack Clewlow, 19th; Chris Farrow, 21st; Gary Hunt, 8th; Ciaran O'Reilly, 13th; Patrick O'Reilly, 20th; Tom Owens, 14th; Peter Waterfield, gold; Emily Alderman, 19th; Anna Bennett-Britton, 18th; Ellie Steel, 16th; Charly Tomkys, 4th.

3m: Max Brick, 15th; Christian Brooker (guest), 5th; Jack Clewlow, 18th; Chris Mears, 16th; Tom Owens, 6th; Peter Waterfield, silver; Charly Tomkys, 8th.

Platform: Chris Farrow, 8th; Gary Hunt, 4th; Chris Mears, 11th; Tom Owens, 6th; Peter Waterfield, gold; Emily Alderman, 12th; Ellie Steel, 13th.

3m synchro: Peter Waterfield (Southampton) & Tony Ally (Sheffield), gold; Gary Hunt (Southampton) & Tom Owens (Southampton), bronze; Dayne Mulford (Southampton) & Patrick O'Reilly (Southampton), 7th; Ellie Steel (Southampton) & Emily Alderman (Southampton), 4th

Platform synchro: Ellie Steel (Southampton) & Emily Alderman (Southampton), silver; Gary Hunt (Southampton) & Gareth Jones (Plymouth), gold; Max Brick (Southampton) & Chris Farrow (Southampton), bronze

Junior championships:

1m: Ellie Steel, 9th; Anna Bennett-Britton, 11th; Emily Alderman, 12th; Ciaran O'Reilly, 5th; Max Brick, 6th; Jack Clewlow, 8th; Chris Farrow, 10th; Patrick O'Reilly, 9th.

3m: Max Brick 7th; Jack Clewlow, 9th; Chris Mears, 8th.

Platform: Ellie Steel, 10th; Emily Alderman, 9th; Chris Farrow, 4th; Chris Mears, 7th

3m synchro: Dayne Mulford (Southampton) & Patrick O'Reilly (Southampton), Ellie Steel (Southampton) & Emily Alderman (Southampton), silver

Platform synchro: Ellie Steel (Southampton) & Emily Alderman (Southampton), silver; Max Brick (Southampton) & Chris Farrow (Southampton), silver