CARNEGIE Swimming Club starlet Ellie Turner scooped top honours as both she and her team-mates enjoyed glittering success in the East District Age Group Championships.

The third and final round of the competition took place over the weekend at Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool and, after securing 10 gold medals, two silver and two bronze over the three meets, talented Turner was presented with the ‘Best Girl’ trophy in the 15 years age group.

Her performances were part of a string of outstanding efforts from Carnegie swimmers, which began on Friday night as Turner and Morven Lister both qualified for the 15 years age group 200 metres individual medley final.

After making it through in second place, Turner improved in the final to take her first gold of the weekend in 2:23.53, while Lister also swam strongly to hold on to her qualifying position of fifth.

Joanna Rae reached the final of the same event in the 17 years and over category and, in a strong field, finished seventh.

On day two, Turner was joined in the 15 years 50m breaststroke final by Freya Bisht, who finished seventh, as the former collected a bronze medal.

Thomas McElwee, competing in the 11-12 years 100m breaststroke, swam an excellent heat to qualify for his first district long course final before putting in another good performance to place seventh.

Finlay Hay made the 14 years 100m backstroke final, finishing eighth, before Turner and Lister then showcased their dominance of the stroke in the girls’ 15 years event.

They completed a Carnegie one-two, with Turner taking gold in 1:05.55 and Lister picking up silver in a new PB of 1:07.78, before both qualified for the 50m butterfly final.

Turner claimed a silver medal in 29.88 as Lister finished fifth in 30.37, with both times recorded new bests for the in-form pair.

Medals, however, just eluded the two girls in the 100m freestyle, finishing fourth and seventh respectively, but there was a first long course district final – and PB – for Hebe Weavers.

Racing in the 13 years age group 50m butterfly, she finished eighth in her heat before improving to finish fifth in an excellent time of 32.82, which was followed by Jessica McKee finishing sixth in the 16 years final and then eighth in the 100m freestyle.

Relays at the end of day two allowed some of the club’s younger swimmers the chance to compete in a 50m pool for the first time and, in the 4x50m medley, the 13-14 years boys’ team of Matthew Dewar, Jonathon Paton, Finlay Hay and Oliver Price finished in a credible eighth place.

Imogen Paton, Ellen Balfour, Alyx Innes and Weavers competed strongly to finish ninth for the girls while 17-and-overs Eilidh Collyer, Brooke Gillies, Rae and masters swimmer and coach, Janet McLean, finished fourth.

There was a fifth place for McElwee, Ollie Weavers, Harris Wishart and Dylan Calder in the boys’ 11-12 years 4x50m freestyle, while the girls’ team of Erica Watt, Gemma Brown, Tara Montgomery and Lucy Atherton also enjoyed an excellent race, finishing seventh.

However, the 15-16 years girls’ team of Turner, Lister, Bisht and McKee produced the best relay performance as they took home bronze in 1:54.90 behind Warrender and Heart of Midlothian.

There was no let-up for the Carnegie swimmers on Sunday as Turner qualified for the 15 years 100m breaststroke final but she missed out agonisingly on another medal by 0.5 seconds by finishing fourth.

In the 17-and-overs, Rae made her second final of the weekend, finishing sixth, before Turner and Lister again proved unstoppable in backstroke.

Competing this time over 50m, their times of 31.05 and 31.59 respectively brought home another gold and silver double for Carnegie as McKee was unlucky to miss out on a podium in the 16 years age group, finishing fourth while team-mate Levi Wilson placed seventh.

A fourth gold medal of the meet came the way of Turner in the 100m butterfly after she posted an excellent PB of 1:05.18, while Lister followed close behind, picking up an excellent bronze in 1:06.86.

Bisht then enjoyed her best performance of the weekend in the 50m freestyle, finishing sixth in the 15 years final as Turner had to settle for seventh, before McKee reached her fourth 16 years final over the three days, touching home in fifth.

The 11-12 years girls and boys then competed in the 4x50m medley relay, with the girls – Erica Watt, Tara Montgomery, Megan Hay and Lucy Atherton – finishing ninth, while the boys’ team of Dylan Calder, Thomas McElwee, Harris Wishart and Ollie Weavers enjoyed another fantastic fifth-place finish In the 15-16 years group, McKee, Turner, Lister and Bisht couldn’t repeat their freestyle relay result, this time coming home in fifth, while the girls’ 13-14 years team (Hebe Weavers, Ellen Balfour, Abbie Hughes and Alyx Innes), and the boys’ team (Oliver Price, Finlay Hay, Ross Pitblado and Matthew Dewar) finished eighth and seventh respectively in the freestyle relays.

The oldest age group (17-and-over) saw the final relay events take place and the girls’ team of Rae, Collyer and McLean once more finished fourth, while the boys – anchored by swimmer-turned-coach Stefan Hogan and also consisting of Gregor Chalmers, Jonathon Kane and Ollie Carter – also finished one place outside the medals.