Fourteen members of the Junior Boys swimming team participated in the ISA London West Regional Championship. A very early 6.30am departure from Braywick didn't subdue the boys on the bus too much, arriving at the Aldershot Garrison Sport Centre at 7.30am in high spirits. The boys had plenty of time to register, change and get ready for a warm up swim before having a great chance to dive off the starting blocks and swim in a 50 meter pool. A very intimidating situation if you are only used to the boys 12 meter school pool!

Mrs Karin Whiteley, swimming teacher wrote the following report:

In the individual races the boys won medals in five out of the eleven events we could compete in. There were silver medals for Aaran Hitchman (breaststroke), Gursahej Bakshi  (backstroke), Maxwell Moore (backstroke) and Spike Stalham  (freestyle). Samuel Sidders earned a bronze medal in the freestyle and Billy Ray just missed out on a medal in the butterfly with his 4th place.

The fun really started when it was time for the freestyle relays. Both the year 5 and year 4 relay teams left their opposition far far behind taking home a well deserved gold medal each.

The year 6 team had to work a little bit harder but regained a comfortable lead in the final leg of the race also earning a gold medal. But then disaster struck....As we left the building to travel back to school we were told that the year 6 relay team was disqualified and we had to hand back our medals! Needless to say the boys were very disappointed. However our boys still have a chance to be picked for the relay team representing London West at the Nationals in the Olympic pool in London.

Congratulations also to Maxwell who besides the 2 medals at the ISA gala he also won a 1st, two 2nds and a 3rd at his interclub gala at Windsor. Well done Maxwell!

Please see below the ISA Junior Swimming Results

Year 6 50m Breaststroke - Amelia Dixon 6th in Heat
Year 5 50m Breaststroke - Rhiannon Thomas 1st Overall (GOLD)
Year 4 50m Breaststroke - Erin Moorby 4th in Heat

Year 6 50m Backstroke - Eleanor Dries 2nd in Heat
Year 5 50m Backstroke - Ellie Gillman 6th in Heat
Year 4 50m Backstroke - Rose Hyde 5th in Heat

Year 6 50m Freestyle - Lola Constable 8th in Heat
Year 5 50m Freestyle - Rhiannon Thomas 1st Overall (GOLD)
Year 4 50m Freestyle - Daniella Dixon 6th in Heat

Year 6 200m Freestyle Relay - 7th Overall
Year 5 200m Freestyle Relay - 5th Overall
Year 4 200m Freestyle Relay - 7th Overall

This is known to be one of the toughest ISA competitions with the vast majority of swimmers competing at club level. Individual races took place first where a number of girls saw themselves achieve a personal best time alongside a group of very strong swimmers. The first event of the day was breaststroke. This saw Lucy Skipper (Year 7) achieve a bronze in the first race, followed by Eva Lancaster (Year 8) who came 5th in her heat. In the seniors race Annabelle Ruinet (Year 10) had a consistent swim seeing her finish 6th overall.

Backstrokers of Amelie Helm (Year 7), Millie Foxwell (Year 8) and Ariel Specktor (Year 9) all swam well, but Kally Mudge (Year 12) bought home CC’s second medal of the day winning a superb gold and holding off the challenge of another strong swimmer. Next up was butterfly. A strong swim was demonstrated by Heidi Golding (Year 8) and Ariel Specktor, but it was Kally Mudge again who bought home the gold for CC. Claires Court’s front crawl swimmers of Lucy Skipper, Heidi Golding and Annabelle Ruinet all had positive swims with Lucy finishing 4th overall and Annabelle finishing 5th overall.

The relay events in the afternoon saw lots of success for the CC girls. The Year 7 freestyle and medley relay team saw them secure a bronze medal in both events. Congratulations to; Amelie Helm, Lucy Skipper, Ophelia Pedley and Jessica Adams. The relays also saw success for the senior teams taking away two silver medals. The medley team secured silver against some strong opposition and the freestyle team also closed the gap on the competing schools to achieved another silver medal; congratulations to; Kally Mudge, Felicity Kingsey (Year 9), Cleo Sloggett (Year 11), Annabelle Ruinet and Ariel Specktor.

Miss Rebecca Guttridge commented:
"An extremely tiring day but a successful one indeed! Kally Mudge with her two gold and two silver medals stole the show, with Lucy Skipper winning three bronze medals. I am extremely proud of all the girls for swimming their hearts out. I am sure there will be more medal opportunities next year! A truly fantastic day and we look forward to hearing of how Kally Mudge performs as she progresses through to the National Finals towards the end of January."

Senior Girls Results:

L Skipper (Year 7) 1 x bronze (Breaststroke)

K Mudge (Year 12) 2 x gold (Backstroke & Fly) - now goes to ISA National Finals

Year 7 Freestyle relay team 1 x bronze (J Adams, L Skipper, O Pedley, A Helm)

Year 7 Medley relay team 1 x bronze (J Adams, L Skipper, O Pedley, A Helm)

Year 11-13 Freestyle relay team 1 x silver (K Mudge, A Ruinet, C Sloggett, F Kinsey)

Year 11-13 Medley relay team 1 x silver (K Mudge, A Ruinet, C Sloggett, A Specktor)

Senior Boys Results:

50m Breastroke, 51.42 (PB) - Tom Hepworth 5th

50 metre Backstroke, 42.52 secs - Tom Hepworth 3rd, Bronze Medal

50 metre Butterfly, 39.50 secs (PB)- Nathan Potter 3rd, Bronze Medal

50 metre Freestyle, 34.17secs (PB) - Nathan Potter 3rd, Bronze Medal