The National County Team Championships took place last weekend at Ponds Forge, Sheffield with seven Dolphin swimmers competing as part of the Wiltshire County Team. Mel Agius, Tilly Gray, Elizabeth Beckett, Sam Berry, Liam Herbert, James Clark and Liam Tubb all donned the blue colours for the weekend and swam alongside their County team-mates in the 31 race short course competition.
Having moved up to Division 1 this year, Wiltshire did well to finish in 16th place overall and retain their top division spot next year. The competition was won by Lancashire, who have now taken the title for the past seven years running, with Northumberland and Durham finishing a close second.
There were three top 3 finishes in individual events for Wiltshire – Trowbridge’s Charlotte Barnes (1st in 16/17 yrs 100m breaststroke), Tigershark’s Sophie Hawkins (3rd in 14/15 yrs 100m freestyle) and Dolphin’s Tilly Gray (3rd in 16/17 yrs 100m butterfly). Other top 10 Dolphin finishers were Liam Herbert (9th in 14/15 yrs 100m backstroke) and Sam Berry (9th in 12/13yrs 100m butterfly). The girls 14/15 and 16/17 yrs medley relays both finished in a creditable 7th place.
Final points:
| Place | Team | Points |
| 1 | Lancashire | 480 |
| 2 | N & Durham | 476 |
| 3 | Middlesex | 473 |
| 4 | Yorkshire | 466 |
| 5 | Cheshire | 358 |
| 6 | Surrey | 356 |
| 7 | Scot East | 352 |
| 8 | Suffolk | 337 |
| 9 | Somerset | 326 |
| 10 | Berks&SBucks | 315 |
| 11 | Derbyshire | 310 |
| 12 | Herts | 300 |
| 13 | Sussex | 294 |
| 14 | Kent | 293 |
| 15 | South Wales | 288 |
| 16 | Wiltshire | 263 |
| 17 | Hampshire | 236 |
| 18 | Staffs | 204 |
| 19 | Leics | 195 |
| 20 | Warwicks | 191 |
Full results are avilable here.
