Published on: 28 March 2013

Christ Church’s five-year reign as swimming champion came to an end last week but not before giving 2013 champion school Hale (1038 points) a serious run for its money. Christ Church (950) finished second in the PSA Swimming Carnival, held at Challenge Stadium, with Wesley (891) third, followed by Trinity, Scotch, Aquinas and Guildford.

Teacher in Charge of Aquatics Luke Farmer said the whole school community was extremely proud of the swimmers for their dedicated preparation in the lead up to the event and their performance on the night. “We have built a strong swimming culture at Christ Church over the past six years and that can’t be lost in one season,” he said. “There are many positives from the night with several boys producing season’s bests when it counted most. We again demonstrated our swimming depth placing first or second in 14 of the 24 relays.”

Mr Farmer thanked coaching staff, age group managers, parents and the 2013 leadership group including Swimming Captain Jack Richardson and vice-captains Henry Pennell and Elijah Anderson.

After the School’s five-year dominance in the pool, Mr Famer said the boys should be prepared to train even harder next year “as we will be the hunters in 2014”.

Christ Church swimmers who performed well on the night included:

Under 13
Special mention: N Quinlivan
Best Team Man: A Brown
Best PSA Swim on the night: A Sudlow (Div 1 Backstroke, 37.71, third place)

Under 14
Special mention: B Barker
Best Team Man: B Cunningham 
Best PSA Swim on the night: T Butler (Div 1 Free Relay, second leg, 29.42)

Under 15
Special Mention: S Collins
Best Team Man: N Throssell 
Best PSA Swim on the night: T Pennell (two first places in Div 1 and a second place)

Under 16A
Special Mention: J Ming
Best Team Man: O Stockwell
Best PSA Swim on the night: J Hopkins (third in Div 1 Free and second Div 1 Back)

Under 16B
Special Mention: L Webster
Best Team Man: A Walsh
Best PSA Swim on the night: J Hoey (third Div 1 Free and second Div 1 Back)

Open
Special Mention: E Anderson
Best Team Man: J Richardson
Best PSA Swim on the night: L Mitchell (swam up two age groups, Div 1 100m Back, second)

Van Hazel Team Trophy (best Christ Church relay team on the night): 
Under 16B Div 1 Freestyle Relay Team
A Walsh
J Archer
J Hoey
H St George
(1:47.66 – first place)

Jack Mah Cup (best Div 1 competitor in Free, Back and Butterfly on the night):
T Pennell (Div 1 Freestyle, 27.28, first place. Div 1 Butterfly, 29.21, second place)

McCarthy Family Trophy (most improved swimmer over the PSA season): 
C Hawkesford (Under 14). Improved his butterfly time from 43.72 seconds in 2012 to 35.87 and swam in the Div 1 event at the Inters.

Records:
L Mitchell beat his older brother Alex’s Under 16, 50m Backstroke record of 29.78 (2010) in 29.48.

Photos courtesy of Mrs Anna Rowe, Harry Barrett and Rohan Golestani