HANNAH Petts finished off an excellent year as she took a silver medal at the National Youth Swimming Championships at Ponds Forge, in Sheffield.

Petts was one of several York City Baths Club members to reach finals at the meet, which was the last event of the age group and youth swimming season.

The cream of young British swimmers took part, and Petts showed her class by finishing second in the 13-year-old girls' 200-metre breaststroke.

An excellent all-round swimmer, Petts has started to specialise in the breaststroke and this paid off as she also came ninth in the 100m race, finishing 15th overall in the 13-year-old British Age Group Category Awards.

Sophie Calpin also showed York's strength in the breaststroke events by finishing fifth in the 200m and sixth in the 100m.

Sophie Glasby, competing for the first time at this level, kept her nerve and qualified for two 11-year-old finals, finishing fifth in the 200m backstroke and eighth in the 100m backstroke.

In the 4x100m 13-year-old team medley, the York girls - Rachel Eastaugh (backstroke), Calpin (breaststroke), Petts (butterfly) and Michelle Moffatt (freestyle) - qualified for the final in tenth place. Eastaugh led off and hit a personal best time in the heat and again in the final when the team improved their position to finish seventh.

Other personal bests in the meet came from Moffatt and 14-year-old Alice Sunderland, while Chris Burns, in the 13 years category, gave a creditable performance battling against illness.

Updated: 08:24 Wednesday, August 25, 2004