IAPS Swimming Qualifier
It was a super afternoon on Tuesday for the St Hugh's U11 Girls' Swim Team who travelled to Repton to compete in the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) Regional Qualifying round. This qualifier saw teams competing from Derby High Junior School, Fairfield Prep, Leicester Grammar, Nottingham High Junior School, Ranby House, The Elms and Witham Hall.
All IAPS swimming qualifiers are conducted under the Swim England regulations and technical rules and it is the largest attended event that IAPS organise. The finals are held at the London Aquatic Centre in June and qualification for this is achieved based on the time swam at the qualifiers. St Hugh's qualifies as a 'small school' which stipulates that you may have no more than 30 girls in Year 5/6 combined. The top 10 small schools nationally go through to the finals.
The 200m freestyle relay has to be made up of four Year 5 and four Year 6 girls and our squad consisted of Ailsa F (Captain), Charlotte T, Peyton B, Sophie T, Annabelle J, Megan B, Alicia T and Kitty W. A huge thank you to Millie B who trained with us in the lead up to the event as a reserve swimmer.
Our Director of Sport, Mrs Felton, reports on the day:
"Following a long journey to Repton, the team arrived full of excitement and anticipation. The girls have trained hard for this event and attended extra swim sessions to ensure we were as prepared as we could be. The biggest challenge for some of them was perhaps the change from our school pool to swimming in a standard 25m pool. While an additional eight metres doesn't sound too bad, at race pace it is actually quite significant when you are not used to it! However, every swimmer swam their heart out and I was so impressed with their performance on the day. It was over in a time of 2.37.55 which exceeded my expectations. We now have to wait until all the qualifiers are finished and IAPS release qualifying times from across the country. We have everything crossed for a trip to London.
Ailsa and Charlotte were also entered into an individual event with Ailsa competing in the U11 50m backstroke and Charlotte, the U11 50m Breaststroke. Both girls compete at club level so have a good amount of experience swimming competitively under ASA laws. They performed extremely well and did themselves and the school proud. Ailsa won her heat and achieved the second fastest time and likewise, Charlotte finished second in a straight final. Both girls also achieved a personal best. The afternoon finished with ice-cream and a lot of singing! Megan - I owe you an ice cream!
A huge thank you to Mrs Cardovillis for accompanying us to Repton and to Mr and Mrs Bussell for supporting us on the day. Well done team St Hugh's!"
