IT WAS third day lucky for Poole’s Jacob Peters as he battled to reach a final on his debut at the ASA National Age Group Championships.

The 12-year-old came 11th in the 100m backstroke on day one and 11th in the 100m freestyle on day two in Sheffield, missing the finals by the slimmest of margins – 0.05sec and 0.03sec respectively He finally cracked the top 10 on day three with third place in the heats of the 200m backstroke in a personal best time of 2:25.63.

The ranking raised hopes that an improved time in the 11-12yrs final might even win him a medal.

He duly delivered the time – a 12yrs club record 2:24.40 – but someone else improved more and Peters had to settle for fourth place.

It was still the highest placing by a Dorset swimmer in a championships that produced no medals for the county.

His 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle times of 1:09.08 and 1:01.52 were also 12yrs club records.

Peters – the busiest Dorset swimmer at Ponds Forge with six individual events and a relay – was also 12th in the 200m freestyle (2:14.78), 16th in the 200m butterfly (2:31.28) and 20th in the 100m fly (1:09.07).

He was also involved in the boys’ 11-14yrs 4x200m freestyle relay in which Poole came 34th in 8:49.83, a four-second improvement on the team’s previous best.

Split times were: Kiran Olenicz 2:10.62, Harry Kemp 2:12.47, Peters 2:14.40, Alex Price 2:12.34.

Bournemouth Collegiate School’s Zak Aitchison, 14, made the 100m breaststroke final for the fourth year running, placing seventh in the heats in 1:10.86 and ninth in the final in 1:10.94.

BCS team-mate Christian Tai also made a final thanks to a heat time of 2:30.05 in the 11-12yrs 200m butterfly.

But he could not maintain the form in the final, coming 10th in 2:34.29.

Tai was also 16th in the 200m freestyle (2:21.14), 17th in the 100m butterfly (1:08.46), 26th in the 200m individual medley (2:35.82) and 34th in the 200m backstroke (2:38.55).

Swim Bournemouth’s Kelvin Wong was also one place away from a final as he came 11th in the 11-12yrs 100m breaststroke.

Club-mate Matt Collins came 15th in the 13yrs 1500m freestyle in 18:06.76 while Ben Samuel was 17th in the 100m freestyle (1:02.39).

Seagulls’ Harriet Perfect twice made the top 20 on her nationals debut, placing 14th in the 200m backstroke in 2:26.31 and 18th in the 100m back in 1:09.28.

The best of team-mate and fellow debutant Zoe Gannaway’s four swims was her 16th place in the 11-12yrs 100m freestyle in 1:03.63.

She was also 20th, 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the 400m, 800m and 200m freestyle in times of 4:48.09, 9:54.47 and 2:17.76.

Seagulls’ Andrew Botros came 24th in the 14yrs 200m backstroke in 2:18.91, while his club-mate Eve Goldsack was 31st in the 14yrs 200m butterfly (2:33.46).

BCS youngster Stella Cookson came 16th in the 100m breaststroke in 1:20.39 and 23rd in the 200m breast in 2:56.17.

Team-mate Jack Arnell was 22nd and 23rd in the 200 and 100m backstroke in 2:32.24 and 1:10.88.

Poole’s Jasmine Holmes was 26th and 35th in the 14yrs 400 and 200m freestyle in 4:37.46 and 2:12.54.

Swim Bournemouth’s 14-year-old Lucy Brain also swam the 32 lengths 400m freestyle, only to hear the painful news that she had been disqualified for a false start.

Team-mate Jemma Green had better fortune. After qualifying for Sheffield by just 0.01sec, she improved her ranking by eight places to come 24th in the 13yrs age group in 4:39.77.

Green also anchored Bournemouth’s 4x100m medley team to 27th place out of 40, an improvement of nine places and four seconds on the ranking.

Splits were: Brain (back) 1:09.53, Katy Hebditch (breast) 1:18.58, Jessica Richens (fly) 1:09.19, Green (freestyle) 1:01.57.

Richens, meanwhile, was respectively 29th and 35th in the 13yrs 100 and 200m butterfly in 1:09.48 and 2:33.32.

Swim Bournemouth’s Izzy Pryce was 27th in the 12yrs 100m breaststroke in 1:22.70.

Swim Bournemouth head coach Emma Richards said: “We had seven individual swimmers at the age groups compared with none last year.

“There were lots of first time nerves as they stepped on to the big stage but it was a great learning curve for the future.

“Overall, I can be proud of how the swimmers showed excellent athlete attributes by following pre race protocols, nutritional plans and cooling down effectively.”