Sport

Third Place Overall At The ISA Swimming Gala And Stephanie Qualifies For The Nationals

It was fantastic to head off to our first ISA event in nearly two years, when we took 18 students to the Midlands ISA Swimming Gala, on Thursday 4 November. 20 schools competed with over 300 students swimming. The excitement, anticipation and nerves on the bus on the way to Walsall were palpable and quite overwhelming.

After a short warm up, explanation and demonstration of the starting procedures the Year 4 breaststrokers were the first up. Leela made her way to poolside as our first Crescent competitor, in her first ever gala, and took to the water in the first race of the day.  Due to the number of competitors the children swam in heats and final overall positions were calculated on their heat times.

Leela made a great start swimming smoothly to finish in 3rd place in her heat and 5th overall in the Year 4 girls Breaststroke.  Next up was Sam B, who had a confident start to finish 3rd in his heat and 8th place overall.  It was then on to the Year 5 swimmers with Grace C and Charlie swimming fantastically to finish in 6th and 8th place respectively overall.  Sophie and Rohan stepped up for the Year 6 breaststroke race with Sophie diving in to make a fantastic start pulling away from her opponents quickly to finish her heat in 1st place and taking the Bronze medal by finishing in 3rd place overall.  Rohan put in a strong swim to finish 3rd in his heat and 10th overall.

The next event was the backstroke with Roisin taking to the water for the Year 4 girls. A powerful start saw her take the lead ploughing her way through the water confidently to win the heat and claiming a Silver medal by finishing in 2nd place overall, she missed out on Gold by just 0.05 seconds. Next up was Alex for the Year 4 boys gliding through the water to finish in 6th place overall. The Year 5 races followed with Grace finishing in 7th place and Sam in 4th overall  Katherine stepped up for Year 6 girls and powered through the water winning her heat and finishing in 3rd place for a Bronze medal overall. Casper made his length look effortless finishing in 4th place overall.

We then moved on to the Year 6 butterfly races with our swimming captains Stephanie and Caspar taking part. Stephanie had a great start with an elegant dive before fluidly and gracefully making her way through the water in a tightly contested heat to touch in 1st place, earning herself a Silver medal for her 2nd place overall.  It was then Casper's turn, he also had an impressive start, from a racing dive, and he put in a commanding performance to win a Bronze medal in 3rd place overall.

After a short lunch break it was time for our freestyle races with Maisie stepping up for the Year 4 girls with an energetic performance to finish 2nd in her heat and 10th overall.  Timi took to the water for the boys with a capable performance, despite his goggle malfunction, to finish in 10th place overall.  It was then Chloe and Alex’s turn for the Year 5s with Chloe finishing 11th overall and Alex in 12th overall.  Stephanie put up a dominant performance to comfortably win her heat but her time was just pipped at the post so she finished with a Silver medal for 2nd place overall.  Faris dived in for the Year 6 boys swimming strongly to take 9th place overall.

The final event of the day was a 25m freestyle qualifying race to ascertain the fastest swimmers for the Midlands relay team, this was open to those who had not competed in the individual freestyle race. Sophie, Casper and Katherine took part for Year 6, Sam for Year 5 and Roisin for the Year 4.

It was a fantastic day and all the students were a pleasure to be with, showing maturity, compassion and commitment, actively encouraging, motivating and supporting each other throughout the day, with every student being the best version of themselves. I was incredibly proud of the team whose magnificent efforts helped Crescent School finish in 3rd place overall, a super achievement for the school. Every swimmer was incredible, and we were extremely impressed by them all.  A special congratulations go to Stephanie who has qualified for the National Finals that will be held at the London Aquatics Centre on Sunday 28 November.   

Mrs McCollin, Mrs Ashton and Mrs Calder