Divers from Southampton Diving Academy brought back a clutch of medals from the 2013 National Age Group Championships.

The country-wide event brought together all the top divers at this level to compete for national titles. A large Southampton contingent of 22 divers travelled to Ponds Forge, Sheffield and returned with 11 medals overall, and Chris Farrow was also awarded the top coach trophy. The first day of competition saw most of the team pair up for the synchro event.

Southampton won two golds and a silver in the boys’ events. In the boys’ 8-13 years 1m springboard, two SDA pairings battled for gold until the very last dive. Brandon Foster and Angus Kerr won with only a 0.04 point margin ahead of Theo Barnes and Rhys Crookes.

In the boys’ 14-18 years 3m springboard, the SDA pair of Thomas Graham and Scott Palmer won gold on the last dive after a close battle with a pairing from West Wiltshire.

After his initial gold win, 12-year-old Foster went on win four medals in total. Diving in the boys’ 12/13 years, he could only be matched by one other diver in the platform event where he executed a fantastic inward two and half somersaults for the first time in competition to earn 51.50 points and the silver medal.

That put a 24-point gap between himself and the third placed William Osborne.

Foster also took bronze in the 3m springboard event and the 1m springboard, just nudging Robbie Brodie into fourth place.

Graham won bronze in both the boys’ 14/15 years 1m springboard and platform.

Angus Kerr won his second medal in the boys’ 10/11 years 5m platform event, demonstrating incredible consistency throughout this very competitive event. In the girls’ 12/13 years platform, Lucy Hawkins won bronze after performing an excellent inward two and half somersaults from 7.5m in the last round.

That scored almost 50 points and lifted her from seventh place to bronze position.