Boston A retained the Anglian Swimming League title at the Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham.

Boston finished on equal points with St Ives which was good enough for them to keep the title that they won last year, writes Michael MacLeod.

Boston A started the evening with a two-point league lead over St Ives – although the latter held a superior gala points advantage that would prove crucial if the teams finished level on league points.

The night started slowly for Boston A with several low-placed finishes in the first 10 races leaving them trailing St Ives by 11 points and West Norfolk by 21.

But a turning point came in race 12 where Natasha Berg stormed to victory in the girls' under-13s, 200m individual medley.

Natasha's victory re-ignited the team's competitive spirit, initially through the girls as Alys Cadle (under-13 100m backstroke), Toni Keal (open 50m butterfly) and Rebecca Craven (under-15 100m freestyle) all produced high-placed finishes.

This eventually spurred the boys into action as Harry Dean-Allen (under-13 100m backstroke) and Sam Reed (50m freestyle) scored well to cut the points deficit to just three points behind St Ives and 13 behind West Norfolk after 20 races.

The team then produced their best performances of the evening with Natasha picking up her second win of the night in the under-13s 100m butterfly and Luke Jones winning the boys' under-13s 100m butterfly.

Two second place finishes by Matthew Coleman (open 50m breaststroke) and Toni Keal (under-15s 100m backstroke) meant the team took the lead for the first time in the gala with three races remaining.

However, this was a lead they could not quite hold on to outright as St Ives won two of the remaining three races leaving them equal on points at the end of the gala.

This result replicated last year's final and was good enough for Boston A to retain their title and be crowned champions for 2009.

Boston B were also in the same final. Starting the evening in eighth place, the team found their competitors in too good a form.

Kimberley Van Haren produced the team's only win on the night in the girls open 100m individual medley.

Kimberley was ably supported by both Michael Keal and Bethany Holderness who both finished second in the boys' and girls' under-13s freestyle events respectively.

This result left the team in eighth place both on the night and in the final league table.