Our students were fortunate to be able to compete in a modified ACC Interschool Swimming competition which was organised according to Year Groups. Swimming Co-ordinator and Coach, Mr Bob Marshall provides a wrap-up of the events and details of our students’ accomplishments.
When the ACC Division Meets were cancelled due to COVID restrictions and the replacement meet (the School Sport WA South West High Schools competition) followed suit shortly after, it seemed there would be no opportunity for the our swimmers to represent their School in 2022. After the loss of The Port to Pub event for some of the School’s Open Water swimmers, the squad and particularly the coaches were feeling a little down!
Following some consultation with senior staff, it was decided to follow the opportunity offered by the ACC, whereby students could compete in a series of Age Group Meets in Perth, designed to meet the strict protocols laid down by the Health and Education Departments.
Each Year Group would compete over six individual days. With the help of volunteer parents, we managed to organise entries for all Year Groups except Year 12, as that meet was scheduled for the same day as our Interhouse Carnival. Candidates were contacted and swimming coaches nominated them for their Age Group Meet.
The School could only nominate a swimmer in the events where they met the qualifying times and then competitors were chosen from the top 50 fastest times (or 30 in 100m Freestyle and Butterfly), which led to very tight seeding times – often only milliseconds between placings and the ability to earn points for the School. It meant the students who were selected to attend, were swimming against the fastest nominated swimmer from across all ACC Schools.
We were School successful in having 27 students selected to compete at five different meets over two weeks. They proved our School slogan of “Every Opportunity” to be so true.
Our swimmers finished with three ACC Records, five gold medals, one silver medal and 33 personal best times, which is an incredible testament to the quality of the top flight swimmers at our School.
In no particular order of merit, the following students excelled in their Year Groups:
Tana Hathway – five top 10 placings from five events – fourth place in Champion Girl Under 14.
Ruby Eastaugh – three top 10 placings including Gold Medal in 50m Breaststroke Under 14 Girls.
Jaz Currie – two top 10 placings Under 13 Boys.
Dustin Gee – two top 10 placings Under 16 Boys.
Scarlett Riddle – Gold Medal 50m Breaststroke Under 16 Girls.
Lily O’Meara – two top 10 placings including Silver Medal in 50m Butterfly Under 16 Girls.
Indi Perry-Vaughan – one top 10 placing in Under 17 Girls.
Darryl Hazelden – one top 10 placing in Under 17 Boys.
Bel Dabic – three Gold Medals in Multi Class 50m Freestyle, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke Under 15 Girls S19, setting three new ACC record times for the class.
Mention must also be made of the Mixed Relay teams in Under 14 and Under 16 Age Groups – both qualified in tenth place in top 10 teams in the state and manage to improve in the event to eighth and seventh respectively!
Finally, for our School to finish fourteenth in the Accumulated Points tally is exceptional! When you take into account our School’s cohort size compared to those schools on the list, our swimmers are performing at an outstanding level! Congratulations to all who competed and thank you to the parents who helped make this possible.
See the link below for full details of results:
https://www.accsport.asn.au/carnivals/swimming/results/2022
Mr Bob Marshall :: Swimming Co-ordinator and Coach
