Success at the ESSA Regional Qualifiers
The U11 swim team were back in action on Friday for the ESSA Regional Qualifying round hosted by Repton School. The squad was made up of Captain, Annabelle J, Alicia, Charlie, William and Charlotte. We competed as part of the small schools category where you must have no more than 60 pupils in Year 5/6 combined. We swam in two events, the 4x25m Medley relay and 4 x25m Freestyle relay.
We kicked off with the Medley relay which saw Charlie swim the first backstroke leg. It was a great start though it was clear early on that we had some competition. With an efficient changeover, Annabelle took us into the lead on her breaststroke leg. With Charlotte on the blocks as our third swimmer, competition was tight but it was great to see her swim a confident leg as our youngest team member. Our final swimmer was Alicia who gave it her all, swimming confidently and we were delighted to win our race. With two heats for this event, we had to wait for the results and we were pleased to finish a very close second place to the winners Barlborough Hall.
Our second swim was the 4x25m Freestyle relay which saw William C join Annabelle, Charlie and Charlotte. It was Charlie who took to the blocks first and with a super start, St Hugh’s took the lead. Our second swimmer was William who performed well, limiting his breathing in the red zones. Annabelle swam our third leg which meant we benefited from her strong dive start, opening the gap between first and second place. The final leg saw Charlotte hold off Barlborough Hall who put out their strongest swimmer in the final leg. We were delighted to win this race but with two heats again, we had to wait to find out the overall positions.
It was great to hear that St Hugh’s placed top two in both events, winning the freestyle and coming a very close second to Barlborough Hall in the medley relay. We look forward to training for the ESSA National Finals at Ponds Forge in June! A fabulous achievement and it will be great to return to this competition again.
Results:
- Medley - 2nd Place
- Freestyle - 1st Place
Mrs Felton, Director of Sport
