Tigers' head coach pays tribute to opposite no.

REGENT TIGERS' head coach Paul du Feu has praised his Guernsey counterpart, Alison Frankland, after the 24th AIB Tigers' Open Swim Meet over the weekend. Les Quennevais' pool saw more than 250 competitors from eight different clubs, including teams from the likes of Fareham Nomads and Basingstoke Bluefins, battle it out over three days.

Du Feu's squad came away as top dogs, winning 69 medals, 25 of which were gold.

Frankland's Beau Sejour Barracudas were hot on their heels in second place with 63 medals that included 23 gold.

'Alison does such a fantastic job,' said du Feu.

'There is always quality talent in the club, with the likes of Helen Watts and Ian Powell in the past. That's not luck and there now are a lot of good kids coming through.

'They are lucky to have Alison.'

The star of the show was Frankland protege Jeremy Osborne who took home nine gold medals in the 14-15 age group.

The 15-year-old surprised everyone by winning the blue riband event, the men's 100m freestyle finishing ahead of Jersey's elite Simon Le Coulliard and Alexis Militis with a lifetime best of 52.96 sec.

This time was also a new gala record and the young Barracuda swimmer set five further records: 50m free (24.7), 200m free (1-57.6), 50m breaststroke (32.2), 50m butterfly (27.6) and 200m individual medley (2-21.8).

Du Feu believes the real test for Osborne is when he goes to compete on the national scene at Pond's Forge, Sheffield, in the near future.

'He is by far the best of his age in the Channel Islands,' said du Feu.

'He's a big, strong lad and it will be interesting to see how he develops in the seniors. He's got the gift of being big and he is showing great potential.

'If you have got a really good swimmer, like Jeremy, they are bound to shine at this level. When he turns up to Sheffield will be the time to judge how good he is.'

Fellow Barracudas Thomas Hollingsworth and Jonathan Le Noury also had fruitful meet, with 17-year-old Hollingsworth turning on the style to win four gold medals.

His time of 27.35 in the 50m backstroke was a new record and distance freestyle specialist Le Noury claimed both the 200m and 5400m titles in this discipline.

Joshua Lewis also enjoyed a fantastic weekend and won the best boy award in the 12 years' section, despite being at the bottom of the age group.

Further gold medals for the Barracudas came from Lauren Hearse, Victoria Parfit, Luke Belton and Alexander Beaton.

Guernsey Swimming Club also had a successful weekend, finishing in seventh place with six golds among their 31 medals.

Thirteen-year-old Matthew Butt was their main man as the world-class age-group swimmer set a new record in the 200m fly with 2-25.73. He was also involved in undoubtedly the race of the weekend when he won the 200 IM from Portsmouth Northsea's Joshua Fowler.

The Sarnian was ahead after the butterfly leg, but Fowler came back during the backstroke and found himself in the lead during the last freestyle leg.

But the young GSC star got his head down during the closing stages and managed to pip the Hampshire county swimmer at the final touch to win by 0.034-of- a-second.

Luke Winberg, 10, walked away as the best male swimmer in the under-11 age group after collecting two golds, three silvers and two bronzes.

Ben Lowndes had a successful time in the senior category while 16 year-old Jo Laine did as well as she picked up one silver and three bronzes.

GSC's coach Jo Winberg was delighted with her young charges.

'I'm very happy,' she said.

'We've had a very successful weekend. Out of 227 swims we have had 153 personal bests.'

n THE meet concluded with a 'skins' competition in which the fastest juniors and senior boys and girls competed in knockout swims over 50 metres throughout all strokes.

It was the Barracudas duo of Hollingsworth and Osborne who proved to be the strongest in the seniors in which Hollingsworth's closing 50m butterfly gave him the edge.