CITY of Oxford's 16-year-old Oliver Worthington carried on where he left off last week with more outstanding swims in the second weekend of the 1998 Midland District ASA Age Group Championships at Coventry.

Worthington added two golds and one silver to his medal tally, with two placings in other events, to give him top overall position in his age group.

The two golds came in the 100m backstroke where his time of 1.02.52 was just outside his best, but his golden time in the 100m butterfly of 1.00.20 was a best-ever long course performance.

The silver medal came in the 400m individual medley with a time of 4.52.09 just outside his best. It is in this event where expectations are high for the gold medal at the National Age Group Championships in August.

His weekend concluded with a workmanlike 2.05.12 fourth place in the 200m freestyle. City of Oxford's girls also turned in some good displays, with 16-year-old Laura Smith leading the way with a bronze in the 100m backstroke final in 1.09.49.

Also going through to the final in the 15 age group was Bicester's Katie Smith, who qualified with the third best time but in the final could only manage 1.11.81 which earned her sixth place.

Becca Lewis, 18, another Bicester swimmer competing for City of Oxford, was eighth in the 100m butterfly final, while 14-year-old Katie Scott was also eighth in her 400m freestyle.

The weekend also saw excellent swims from City's Lucy Higton, Lauren Ottley, Clementine Harris and Zoe Beattie, whose brother Andrew was unable to compete due to injury.

Not swimming at the weekend were Neil van den Broek, David Denny, Peter Williams and Richard Karpa who from Thursday will swim at Ponds Forge, Sheffield in the National Long Course Championships which incorporate the trials for the Commonwealth Games.

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