BEAUMONT Diving Academy youngsters swept the board at the County springboard and highboard Diving Championships.

The Hatfield-based club’s divers dominated proceedings at the Hatfield Swim Centre and the Dacorum Sportspace facility at Hemel Hempstead.

In action in both the girl’s and ladies events was the ASA National Age Group Champion 16-year-old Phoenix Page.

Using the highest degree of difficulty list of any female competitor, Page won both the junior and senior springboard and highboard titles with comparative ease to add to the one metre title already gained earlier on in the year.

Giving a consistent performance on an easier list of dives was Molly Welton, the Dacorum Diving Club member, who gained the silver on both the springboard and highboard.

Finishing third in all the junior and senior springboard and highboard events was 11-year-old Annie Thomas, the up and coming rising star from the Beaumont club. She has just given up gymnastics in order to concentrate on her diving.

It was a similar story in the Synchronised Highboard championships with Page pairing up with Thomas to gain the senior title by over 50 points from Walton and Louise Popkin the Dacorum divers.

Newcomers Jaymie Younger and Alice Trent from Beaumont were awarded the bronze medals.

In the Junior Boys’ three metre Springboard 14-year-old Alex Carrier, using a forward three and a half somersault to good effect for the first time in competition, successfully retained his title gained in 2011 from his Beaumont team mate Ben Carman with Gil Segev of Dacorum third.

In the Men’s three metre springboard event it was a different story with the former English Schools Champion 21-year-old Ashley Franklin coming out of retirement to regain the title he last held in 2008 and 2009.

His triumph made it a clean sweep for Beaumont divers in this event with Alex Carrier and Ben Carman taking second and third spot on the podium.

The climax of the championships was however the blue riband event the final competition of the year which saw a complete reversal of form in both the Boys’ and Men’s highboard with 14-year-old Ben Carman gaining his first County titles taking both the boys’ and men’s events with emphatic ease.

He displayed a level of form and consistency that has always eluded him up to now. Second was the former title holder 14-year-old Dacorum diver Ben Page with third place in the juniors going to the 11- year-old Liam Morrell-Phillips.

Former men’s champion Ashley Franklin, and three times winner of the senior event, paid the penalty of lack of training and could only secure a bronze medal despite using a very high degree of difficulty list of dives.

Franklin and Carman then paired up to win the synchronised highboard event.

Former Great Britain Olympic diving coach and judge Derek Beaumont was on hand to witness the achievement of his divers. He said he was pleasantly surprised by the high standard of diving that now prevails in Hertfordshire.

Beaumont, a former winner of the Men’s Springboard trophy on 10 different occasions, took great pleasure in observing Franklin win the Westminster cup for the third time, Carman securing his first county titles and Page being victorious in gaining her seventh County title of the year.