U9 Swimming Gala

Thank you to Harriet T and George C (Year 4 pupils) for the write up of the afternoon's event:

On Monday 26th February, the U9 St Hugh’s Swimming Team swam against Ranby House in an invitational gala hosted by us. We were all very excited about this and we have been working hard in Junior Swim Squad.

WIth just two schools, we had two lanes each so lots of pupils got the chance to swim! In lane one and three was Ranby and lane two and four was St Hugh’s. We also had an extra race with just St Hugh’s swimmers to give some of our less experienced and younger swimmers the chance to race in their first gala. 

Before Ranby arrived, our Year 6 Swimming Captain, Charlotte J, helped us get ready and did a land based warm up with us all. Once Ranby arrived, we started with a warm up where we swam 50 metres to get ourselves ready for our races. The first event was backstroke. Hollie and Harriet competed in this event. Harriet came 1st and Hollie came 2nd! 

The U9 boys then had their backstroke race. George and Beau represented St Hugh’s in this event. It was another great swim, with George finishing 1st and Beau 2nd. 

Next it was Breaststroke for the girls. Annabelle swam in lane two and Verity in lane four. When Mrs Felton blew the whistle, both swimmers started well. Annabelle won the race and Verity finished 2nd place - it was a close race. 

Then it was the U9 boys breaststroke race with Beau and Gio competing for St Hugh’s. It was good to see the St Hugh’s swimmers remembering how to finish legally so there were no disqualifications. We came 3rd and 4th in this race. 

Front crawl was the last individual event and it was Harriet and Hollie who swam. Harriet won her second race and Hollie did very well to come 3rd as shs is only Year 3.  

Now it was the last boys individual race, with George and Harvey racing. It went in a flash and George touched the wall first with Harvey not far behind in 2nd place! A good effort as another Year 3 swimmer. 

After the individual events, we swam in team relays. Everyone got to swim in a relay and we even did them twice as we had some spare time. There was a medley relay which means mixed stroke and a freestyle relay where we all swam front crawl because it is the fastest stroke. 

St Hugh’s definitely came out as the stronger school. There were some great races, with some being very close and others being a clear win for St Hugh’s. 

Well done to all swimmers and also to Emilia, Cecily, Ralph, Niya and Harry who all raced in intra-school races. Next year, they will be competing as U9s so it was good practice for them. 

Thank you to the staff for organising this event. It was lots of fun and we loved racing in front of our parents and Ranby.