Culford Swimmers’ Success at the ESSA National Team Championships

  • 8 years ago
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Culford School Girls SwimmingTwo teams of Culford swimmers headed to London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the ESSA 58th National Team Championships. The senior girls’ team managed to make the final in this top competition. The Nationals are a step up from the qualifying Regional rounds as the swimmers have to compete in a long course 50m pool against the best school teams from around the country.

The intermediate boys’ team of Taylor Bowen (14), Jack Bowyer (13), Jacob Clarke (14) and Charlie Whyte (14) were on great form, starting with the Intermediate Boys’ 4x50m Medley relay. Charlie got the team off to a strong start on the Backstroke leg, with Taylor Bowen (Breaststroke) and Jack Bowyer (Butterfly) putting in great splits, the team finally brought home by Jake Clarke (Freestyle). The team finished in 12th position, 0.9 seconds off making the final, but a great improvement of 4 seconds on their entry times.

The boys then competed in the 4x50m Freestyle relay, putting in another strong performance, all swimmers putting in performances under 29 seconds. They just missed out on the final by 1.5 seconds finishing in 14th place.

The first event for the Senior Girls was the 4x50m Freestyle relay, with a strong team consisting of Hannah Brecknell (15), Annabel Heywood (15), Lana Mo (16) and Olivia Nicolai (15). The girls swam a great time, managing to match their entry time from the short course pool and finishing a respectable 16th place, only 2 seconds outside reaching the final.

However, it was in the 4x50m Medley that the girls excelled. They put in an excellent heat swim to see them through to the top ten in the final. Hannah swam on the Backstroke leg, along with Olivia Nicolai (Breaststroke), Lana Mo (Butterfly) and Annabel Heywood (Freestyle). They just missed out on improving their best time from the heat, finishing in 9th place overall, which was an impressive achievement.

Culford swimming coach Dan Pilbrow said: “It was a great set of results from both teams, and a thoroughly enjoyable event.”

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