AMELIA Maughan and Samantha Bush were Bournemouth Dolphins' golden girls at the competitive Portsmouth Northsea Easter Swimming Festival.

They each won two finals with Maughan becoming the fastest 11-year-old in the country thanks to her winning times of 28.63 in the 50m freestyle and 2:14.81 in the 200m freestyle.

She was also fourth in the 11-12yrs 200m individual medley in 2:38.91.

Dolphins' head coach Graham Bassi said: "I'm delighted with the progress Amelia has made in the last six months.

"She came to us with great speed but what is really pleasing is that the aerobic programme she has been put on is directly producing rewards.

"She can now swim up or down from the 200m and I think she is a great prospect for the future in this country."

Bassi made his comment on the day when two of his former charges at Lincoln Vulcans, Lizzie Simmonds and Kate Haywood, made up 50-per-cent of the British team which broke a European record to win the women's 4x100m medley relay at the European Championships in Eindhoven.

"I was really pleased to see Lizzie and Kate breaking the European record and I believe Amelia has the talent and potential to get to that level," he added.

"There is a long journey ahead but when they were 11, neither Lizzie nor Kate were producing the times that Amelia is producing now.

"She has the strength and power of Kate and if we can apply Lizzie's technical ability to Amelia, she is certainly as good a prospect."

Samantha Bush led a Dolphins one-two in the 11-12yrs 100m butterfly.

She took the gold in 1:15.14 with Tess Carter claiming silver in 1:15.43 and another team-mate, Danielle Thwaites, sixth in 1:23.40.

Bush also won the 400m freestyle in 4:46.87, an 11-second improvement on her previous best and just short of the national qualifying time, which she still has three or four months to achieve.

Carter added a bronze medal to her winnings with third place in the 200m butterfly in 2:50.25.

Thwaites also took bronze in the 11-12yrs 400m individual medley (6:04.86) with team-mate Rachel Hawkins close behind in fifth place in 6:08.81.

Other finalists included Sophie Cooke with fifth place in the 11-12yrs 100m breaststroke (1:33.12) and Anthony Bush with sixth in the 15 and over 100m freestyle (56.27).

Bassi said: "We now have four swimmers with a number one ranking in their top event, which shows our depth for the future.

"We are focusing on our junior development programme and we aim to challenge the rest of the country at this level."

EMILY'S MEDAL WIN

EMILY Shipley came home with a gold medal after Poole-based Wessex Diving Club took a small team to the Gavin Brown Love to Dive competition at Southampton.

She came first in the 14-18yrs highboard event with 129.65 points and fifth in the springboard with 136.50.

Fifth place also went to Ben Williams in the boys' 10-11yrs springboard.

The competition was held in memory of Southampton diver Gavin Brown, 22, who was tragically killed in a hit-and-run accident in April last year.

Medals were awarded for the top six divers in each category.

Wessex came fifth out of eight teams overall.

Other Wessex DC results, Boys - Springboard 10-11yrs: 16 Matthew Winfield 74.45. 12-13yrs: 12 Nick Winfield 89.00. Girls - Springboard 10-11yrs: 8 Ahrian Davies 113.90. 12-13yrs: 15 Sophie Landsborough 99.10.