BRIDGWATER Swimming Club have been in action in the fourth and final league round of the Cotswold Series. 

The club went into the final gala as favourites for the win and with home advantage but knew they faced top opposition from Bristol Henleaze.

Bridgwater had a difficult start, dropping points in key events, and were made to wait until event six before taking the first win as Max Head won the 11/u 25m Freestyle.

Isla Bennie and Josh Richards followed this up shortly afterwards taking wins in the girls and boys 15/u 50m backstroke..

At the end of the first period, the points were Bristol 21, Bridgwater 19 and Cwmbran 16.

During the second period, Bridgwater really got into their stride, winning five of the next 10 races and second in the other five.

Race winners included Rich Hill (open butterfly), the 11/u boys medley relay team (Oliver Jones, Austin Ranson, Max Head, & Will Robins), the 13/u boys freestyle relay (Josh Richards, Oskar Borowski, Jack Clarke, & Oliver Rowe), Jazz Forsey (15/u Breaststroke) and Alex Towells (open backstroke). 

The points after the second period were Bridgwater 44, Bristol Henleaze 40, and Cwmbran 30m and the club then went on a run of five successive event wins.

Winners included Oskar Borwoski (13/u Freestyle), the girls 15/u medley relay team (Katie Derbyshire, Jazz Forsey, Lily Ward-Pugh-Jones, & Isobel Brown), the boys 15/u medley team (Ben Towells, Josh Richards, Michal Kucia, & Ben Jordan), the girls open medley relay team (Ellena Criddle, Jodie Prescott, Lily Ward-Pugh-Jones, & Vienna Bennett) and the boys open medley relay team (Leon Crawley, Greg Kyd, Rich Hill, Alex Towells). 

The fourth period saw the club drop points but, despite this, they won a significant number of events. 

Wins came from Victoria Rybinska (13/u butterfly), Michal Kucia (15/u freestyle), Jodie Prescott (open breaststroke), the girls 13/u medley relay team (Isla Bennie, Jodie Prescott, Victoria Rynbinska, & Katie Derbyshire), the boys 13/u medley relay team (Oskar Borowski, Josh Richards, Oliver Rowe, & Jack Clarke). 

This left Bridgwater still leading the gala but Bristol Henleaze had closed the gap making the final 13 events a nail-biting affair, but Bridgwater added another five wins. 

These came from Alex Towells (open freestyle), Oskar Borowski (13/u backstroke), the boys 15/u freestyle relay team (Michal Kucia, Josh Richards, Ben Jordan, & Ben Towells), the girls open freestyle relay team (Isla Bennie, Lily Ward-Pugh-Jones, Vienna Bennett, & Ellena Criddle), the boys open freestyle relay team (Rich Hill, Leon Crawley, Alex Towells, & Greg Kyd).

The final points were Bridgwater 116, Bristol Henleaze 111, and Cwmbran 81, which should see the club qualify for the championship final for the first time in over five years.