Erwan le Pechoux, Stuart Swinburn and Ben Shires with their prizes from the knockout races.
From the Convenor of Swimming, Stephanie Boyce
The swimming season started strongly with the St Aloysius’ Invitational at North Sydney Pool last Friday night, despite inclement weather and the obligatory Year 12 student missing the turn off and ending up at Frenchs Forest. The night began with a rousing speech from Captains Eric Cordato and Erwan Le Pechoux, and then the races were underway.
A big shoutout goes to all the boys who stepped up to compete in additional races at the last minute. On the night we had a few boys pull out of races due to illness or injury, so a big thank you goes to Alfie Killigrew, Ronan Braham, Hamish Donkin, Baxter Flynn, William Woodward, Peter Cassimatis, Daniel Lambert and Jonathon Schacht for saying yes to a number of races that they weren’t expecting to be thrown into.
Special mention goes to a significant number of boys for gaining first place in their events:
- Luke McLellan 13yrs Div A 50 Freestyle
- Lucas Young 13yrs Div B 50 Freestyle
- Erwan Le Pechoux Opens 400 Freestyle
- Stuart Swinburn 16yrs Div A 50 Backstroke
- 15/16yrs Medley Relay Team – Stuart Swinburn, Peter Cassimatis, William Woodward, Robbie Beal
- Erwan Le Pechoux 18yrs Div A 50 Butterfly
- Stuart Swinburn 16yrs Div A 50 Butterfly
- Stuart Swinburn 15/16yrs 100 Freestyle
- Peter Cassimatis 15yrs Div A 50 Breaststroke
- Henry Standfield 15yrs Div B 50 Breaststroke
- 15/16yrs Freestyle Relay Team – Peter Cassimatis, Coen Finati, Robbie Beal, Stuart Swinburn
- 13/14yrs Freestyle Relay Team – Thomas Clothier, Luke McLellan, Lucas Young, Ben Shires
All the boys swam well, but two standout performances from the night deserve special attention. Congratulations to Stuart Swinburn, who set a new carnival record in the 16yrs 50 Backstroke, and also to Andrew Badger, who showed up at the carnival despite being sick all week, and managed to win his 50 Backstroke time trial and achieve a 3 second personal best as well.
Towards the end of the carnival the rain started to set in, just in time for the knockout events. These races required boys to swim several 50 Freestyle sprints, with the slowest 3 competitors being taken out each time, until the last two boys raced for victory and a $25 voucher. Waverley won all three of the knockout events, with Erwan Le Pechoux in the Seniors, Stuart Swinburn for Intermediate and Ben Shires in the Junior event. In some cases the Waverley boys were several metres ahead of their closest competitors.
If any other boys would like to join in with this integral part of Waverley Sport, the swim team have time trials this Friday 4 November at the College Pool. Warm up begins at 5:30pm and everyone is welcome to come along and swim a few races.
Waves to Win!
The Swim Team
