City of St Albans Swimming Club’s ‘A’ team won promotion after finishing second at the National Arena Swimming League London Region’s third and final round on Saturday.

CoStA’s swimmers pulled out all the stops in the second division final held at Harlow swimming pool, finishing just one point behind the winners Greenwich Royals. The team will now be promoted to the first division in next year’s Arena League galas.

On a night when the lead changed hands multiple times, CoStA dug deep and came agonisingly close to winning with some strong performances.

Individual firsts were achieved by Ben Muckleston in the Under-11 50m free and Oliver Perry in the Under-13 100m breast and fly.

The Under-15 boys accomplished a clean sweep with firsts by Robbie Lightowler in the back and free, Liam Curran in the 100m fly and Peter Hensman in the 100m breast. Individual firsts for the girls included Shannon Stott in the Under-13 100m fly, Lauren Winfield in the Under-15 100m back and Holly Winfield in the open 100m fly.

Relay firsts also went to the Under-13 boys 4 x 50m free relay of Elliot Wylie, Ross Ferrera, Ben Muckleston and Oliver Perry, followed up by a third in the medley relay. Meanwhile, the boys Under-15 team of Lightowler, Curran, Hensman and Zac Horne won every one of their relay races.

The Under-11 girls 4 x 50m relay of Grace Wylie, Lauren Stott, Ella Chown and Monica Ong kept the scoreboard ticking with third and second in the free and medley, as well as an individual second for Wylie in the 50m free. Ong came third in the 50m breast as did Stott in the 50m fly.

The Under-13 girls relay took two second places with the free team of Shannon Stott, Bea Barder, Heather Geers and Grace Horne and the medley team of Horne, Freya Bennett, Stott and Bea Barder.

Geers was runner-up in the 100m free and Stott was first in the fly. The Under-11 boys also helped boost CoStA’s points tally with a third place in the 4 x 50m free relay with a team of Muckleston, Tom Toland, Tom Cadenhead and Elliot Hitchen.