YORK City Baths Club's Alistair Mitchell has claimed his first Yorkshire titles.

The nine-year-old, from Whitwell-on-the-Hill, near Malton, stormed to victory in the 200 metres backstroke at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. He has also won the county 50m backstroke.

He also finished fifth in the 200m breaststroke in what was the second gala in the Yorkshire Age Group Championships.

The victory came after he won bronze in the 200m freestyle in the first gala of the Championships at the Leeds International Pool.

It was the last time that the championships were held at the venue as a new pool near South Leeds Stadium is due to open in September.

The meeting at Leeds saw several new faces performing for York with Anna Ward, 10, leading the way with silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in a close finish to the 200m freestyle.

Jordan Foster, 11, swam a three-second personal best to claim bronze in the 200m freestyle. He also came fourth in the 200m IM and fifth in the 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle.

Ten-year-old Christian Carty had to fight hard in a close race to secure bronze in the 200m freestyle.

Matthew Dearlove, nine, was fourth in the 200m butterfly and eighth in the 200m IM.

James Wilby, 13, was fifth in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke. In the same age group, Andrew Burns finished fifth in the 200m freestyle, seventh in 100m breaststroke and eighth in the 100m butterfly before withdrawing due to illness.

Anna Atkinson-Smith, 12, made four finals, finishing sixth in the 200m backstroke, seventh in the 200m butterfly and eighth in the 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle.

Eighth-place finishes came from Kate Garnett in the 11 years 200m breaststroke, Jennifer Hodgson in the 12 years 200m butterfly, and Xavier Edmonds-Allen in the 13 years 200m freestyle.

At the second gala at Sheffield, Mitchell was the star of the show with his golden backstroke swim.

The youngster, who also swims for Derwent Devils in Ryedale, was the best overall swimmer in the under-9s category of the entire tournament.

Ward followed up her fine display at Leeds with silvers in the 400m freestyle and the 200m backstroke at Sheffield. She also finished eighth in the 200m breaststroke.

Jordan Foster, 11, showed signs of a return to form collecting silver in the 400m IM and finishing fifth in the 200m breaststroke.

Edmonds-Allen improved on his heat time by over one second to snatch silver in the final of the 100m freestyle.

Dearlove picked up his first Yorkshire medal taking silver in the 200m breaststroke.

Carty was second in the 200m backstroke after a close race which he led until the last length.

Atkinson-Smith improved on her personal best to take bronze in the 100m backstroke and was fifth in the 400m IM.

Nine-year-old Thomas Robinson was fourth in the 200m breaststroke.

Other York finalists at Sheffield were: Katie Mitchell (seventh, 11 years 400m freestyle), Jennifer Hodgson (seventh, 12 years 200m IM), Kate Garnett (eighth, 11 years 100m breaststroke), Ellen Suddes (eighth, nine years 200m breaststroke), Oliver Hicks (eighth, 11 years 200m breaststroke) and Sophie Edmonds-Allen (eighth, 13 years 100m breaststroke).

Personal best performances at Sheffield also came from Suzy Parrott, Charlotte Dearlove, Claire Owen, Laura Pitt, Alice Carty, Kayleigh Brown, Laura Briggs, Emma Tune, Joe Brennan, James Wilby, Tom Bartram, Simon Duston, Aaron Perry, Alex Perry, Ben Nicholson, Shauna Parkin, Molly Eaton, Angus Clark, Alice Greswold, Sally Hicks, Olivia Garnett, Megan Russell and David Recchia.

York swimmers performing pbs at Leeds included Jessica Issacs, Alice Greswold, Beth Falcus, Georgia Pipes, Megan Russell, David Recchia, Hannah Garnett, Laura Briggs, Oliver Hicks, Joseph Brennan, Rachel Holderness, Molly Eaton, Simon Duston, Kristian Newby, Aaron Perry, Tom Bartram, Charlotte Dearlove, Suzy Parrott, Claire Owen, Alice Carty, Laura Pitt, Thomas Robinson, Katie Mitchell, Shauna Parkin, Emma Tune and Sophie Edmonds-Allen.