GALLERY: Diocesan Swimming Championships 2020

Diocesan primary school and high school swimmers were left with a bittersweet taste after some outstanding performances at Lambton Pool recently.

Despite solid all-round efforts, only one record was broken on the day at the Primary Diocesan Swimming Championships on 27 February. St Joseph’s Primary School, Gloucester, set a new mark in the small school relay event with a time of 3:01.7.

St Mary’s Primary School, Warners Bay, performed particularly well in relays, qualifying for three of the four relay events at the NSW Catholic Primary School Swimming Championships.

Landon Smith from St Paul’s Primary School, Gateshead, swum well to qualify for the multi-class freestyle events at the championships. Other swimmers had busy programs lined up for the NSW CPSS Championships, some qualifying for four or more events.

Unfortunately, the championships slated for Sydney Olympic Park were called off as a result of the coronavirus.

The Diocesan Secondary Swimming Championships were also held at Lambton Pool earlier this month.

Charlie Hawke from St Francis Xavier’s College, Hamilton, had an amazing meet qualifying in 11 events for the NSWCCC Championships. Charlie broke the record in both the 17+ 50m butterfly and 200IM. In the fly he swam a time of 26.09. In the 200IM he took exactly 1sec off the record with a time of 2:18:21.

Aaleyah Tolar from St Pius X High School, Adamstown, broke the record in the 12yrs 50m free with a time of 30:96. She qualified for five events. Grace Murray from SFX, Hamilton, qualified for an amazing 10 events and Percy Sinclair from San Clemente High School, Mayfield, qualified for nine events.

Other swimmers collecting medals in five or more events were Billy Moody from St Catherine’s, Singleton, Thomas Dever from St Pius X, Adamstown, Lola Russell from St Pius X, Adamstown, Chloe Scanlon from St Paul’s Catholic College, Booragul, Kane Edwards from St Mary’s Catholic College, Gateshead, William Gibson from St Clare’s High School, Taree, and Zoe Ingrey from St Paul’s, Booragul.

These talented swimmers would have represented the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in late March and early April, but all sport has been suspended for Term 1. They should be proud of what they achieved at diocesan level.

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