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Shortman and Thorpe pick up multi-regional gold in Gloucester

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe won multi-regional gold as they continued their preparation for December’s National Age Group Championships.

Competing at the South Regions competition at GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester, the City of Bristol duo scored 75.6000 for their routine to finish on 147.8738 overall.

The pair, who have been named in both the senior and junior England training squads for 2017, finished fifth with the same routine at July’s Comen Cup in Netanya, Israel.

Shortman and Thorpe also finished first and second in the 15-18 Yrs solo event in Gloucester. Shortman scored 75.1333 for her routine while Thorpe was the only other swimmer over 70 points on 72.4333.

Their teammate Greta Hampson completed a Bristol clean sweep of the podium with bronze on 69.4000.

The trio also combined with their Bristol teammates for gold in the Team event, scoring 70.4667 for their routine

Mimi Gray claims hat-trick in 13-15 Yrs

The other two age groups belonged to Reading Royals as Mimi Gray and Eleanor Blinkhorn laid markers down for nationals with golden hat-tricks.

Gray has completed the same treble on the national stage for the past two seasons, and is competing in the 13-15 Yrs age group for the first time this term.

After finishing first for figures, Gray scored 66.3000 for her Solo routine in Gloucester.

She teamed up with Alyssa Basinger as they led home a Reading clean sweep of the podium in the Duet event with 63.4000 for their routine.

An average figures score of 60.9017 left the Reading team with one hand on the trophy before the Team event had even begun, with Rushmoor next best on 55.3343.

And the Berkshire club confirmed their superiority with 64.0667 for their routine, finishing on 124.1584 ahead of City of Bristol (115.3158) and Rushmoor (114.4343).

Eleanor Blinkhorn stars in youngest age group

Blinkhorn impressed in the youngest age group, finishing on top in Figures (63.4000) with Reading’s Beatrice Crass (62.2977) and Bristol’s Zoe Dimond (60.1245) the only others to break 60 points.

Blinkhorn, who won NAG silver with her elder sister Isobel in 2015, secured the Solo crown with the highest scoring routine of the day, scoring 58.7333.

The combination of Blinkhorn and Crass were always going to be tough to beat in the Duet competition, after finishing first and second for figures for an average of 62.8489.

And while Rushmoor’s Abigail Garner and Alexandra Thickett received the highest routine score with 55.8000, the Reading pair’s 54.0667 was enough to see them top the podium on 116.9156 overall.

The Reading youngsters completed the hat-trick in the Team event, top-scoring with 57.4333 for their routine.

  • Click here to download full results from the ASA South Regions Age Group Synchronised Swimming Championships 2016.
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