Swimming ESSA

19 Nov 2022

All three of our Senior Swim Squads (Juniors, Inters and Seniors) qualified for the ESSA Secondary Teams National Final in January – a huge accomplishment in itself! The girls had weeks of build up to this big moment, working hard at every training session to ensure a sleek execution of strong starts, smooth takeovers and powerful finishes. The girls arrived at the London Olympic Pool in Stratford with sheer determination and excitement for the day ahead. After a calm familiarisation session in the morning, some down time, a parade for the team captains, the national anthem, refuel, rehydration, and some well prepped pre-pool, the girls were ready to race!

First up were the 4x50m freestyle heats where all three teams im-proved their qualifying times and rankings by a vast amount (it was going to be a good day, we thought!). The Junior and Senior girls made it to the final (top 10 in the country), with the Inters achieving 11th place, and missing out on the final by just milliseconds. However, they outperformed in comparison to their qualifying swim, showing sheer determination and bumping up an incredible twelve positions!

In the freestyle finals, the Juniors were fighting for the bronze medal position and up against their rival competition, Guildford High School. They executed all they could with precision and power, but unfortunately it wasn’t their day for a medal; the girls tried their absolute hardest and that is all we could ever ask of them! 4th place in the whole country truly is an astonishing achievement! The Seniors also raced with determination in their freestyle final, improving their ranking by seven positions and achieving 7th in the country. Huge congratulations, we are so proud of you girls.