HOURS of training are starting to pay dividends for City of Southampton swimmers Charlotte Slater and Nicholas Edwards.

Competing in the 12-year age group at the Southern County Age Group Championships at Crystal Palace, Slater swam a national qualifying time in the 400m individual medley (5min 40.91sec).

She has now collected seven qualifying times for next month's national age group championships in Sheffield.

Slater was fourth in the 200m butterfly heats but missed out on the gold medal in the final by just 0.5 seconds, although she shattered her personal best by ten seconds.

Charlotte also improved on two more of her previous national qualifying times by achieving them at the Crystal Palace long course pool.

These were in the 800m freestyle (10.16.35) and 200m freestyle (2.23.24). She also qualified to swim in two other finals and was ninth overall in her age group.

A pupil at St. Anne's Convent School, Slater trains for 16 hours each week, including three early-morning sessions after which she goes straight to school. She also trains most evenings and has two weekend sessions.

In all, she covers an amazing 45,000 metres per week - the equivalent of 1,800 lengths of the pool.

Edwards, 13, achieved pbs in all of his eight events. In the 1,500m freestyle (19.01.57) he managed an amazing 26-second improvement, while in the 200m backstroke (2.35.78) he improved his pb by ten seconds.

The 200m freestyle (2.15.99) saw an improvement of four seconds and the 400m freestyle (4.42.90) of six seconds.

He was 15th overall in his age group.

Edwards, a Year 9 pupil at Bellemoor School, is about to embark on his GCSE courses in 11 subjects but still spends 12-13 hours per week in the pool. He also plays basketball for the school.

Divers from all over Britain will congregate at the Quays in Southampton this weekend for the ASA National Age Groups Championships, the most significant competition for under-19s in the UK.

Fifteen members of the Southampton Diving Academy will be competing during the four days of events and there are high hopes of some medals.

"The way the squad have been diving so far this year gives me confidence that they should come away with some excellent results," said director of coaching Lindsey Fraser.

"It is also an opportunity for some of them to qualify to represent Great Britain in the future."

Spectators are encouraged and admission is free. Events begin at 10am on Saturday, June 28 and continue until Tuesday, July 1.