IAPS On Saturday 7th June, after qualifying in a previous gala to be the top 20 teams in the country, nine Year 5 and 6 boys headed to the IAPS National Swimming Finals the London Aquatic Centre. On the way into the event, the Year 5 boys spotted Steve Borthwick (the Head Coach for England Rugby) and after having a quick chat, everyone got a photo with him. The Year 6 medley relay team (Dylan, Ethan, Ali and Marcus) started DC’s races at the event, securing 18th place overall. Next, it was the turn of the Year 5 freestyle team (Flynn, Nathan, Henry and Ayden), who after a false start by another swimmer, raced to an impressive 11th place overall. The Year 6 freestyle team (Marcus, Manni, Ethan and Ali) swam in the next race, securing a superb 10th place overall. In the individual events, Ali placed 16th in the 50m butterfly and Marcus delivered a notable swim, finishing 11th – just one place shy of qualifying for the final. An excellent afternoon of swimming by all the boys and thank you to all of the parents and siblings who came to support On Wednesday 11th June, following qualification at a previous gala held at Latymer, one Year 5 and six Year 6 boys travelled to JAGS for the LSSA Finals, having placed in the top 12 individual swimmers in the London region. The boys swam superbly, achieving many personal bests throughout the gala. A special mention goes to Ayden, who swam up a year group and impressively placed 7th - narrowly missing out on the final by less than 0.6 seconds. Congratulations also to Marcus, who earned 3rd place in both the 100m individual medley and the 50m freestyle, and to Manni, who secured 2nd place in the 25m freestyle. Other strong performances came from Ali (8th in the 100m individual medley and 6th in the 50m butterfly), Dylan (10th in the 50m backstroke), and Ethan and Albi, who placed 7th and 11th respectively in the 50m breaststroke. Excellent regional results for all involved! ESSA the boys! LSSA On Saturday, despite initially placing fourth in London and not qualifying for the ESSA Primary Schools’ Team Championships - as only the top three teams advance from the qualifiers to ensure fair regional representation - our boys were delighted to receive late invitations for both the medley and freestyle relays. Nathan (who was impressively swimming up a year), Marcus, Ali, Manni and Ethan, travelled up to Sheffield and back in a single day, even encountering a 1997 Old Alleynian
Swimming
on the train. He was in Raleigh and shared fond memories of his time at the College. In the medley relay, the team swam superbly, just missing out on the A final but qualifying as the fastest team in the B final. With a swimmer change - Nathan in the heats and Manni in the final - the boys secured victory in a thrilling B final. Special mention to Manni’s final leg in the relay (25m freestyle), which he swam in 15.11 seconds. In the freestyle relay, we placed third in the heat and special mention from this race goes to Ali K who broke 15 seconds for his 25m freestyle second leg of the relay. Despite the long day, spirits remained high as the boys proudly donned their gold ESSA swim caps on the way back to the station.
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