News
Strongest ever performance from a St Bede's squad
07 August 2008
The quartet of St Bede’s swimmers who qualified for the ASA National Youth Swimming Championships certainly did their school proud with some exceptional swimming making this the strongest ever performance at this level from a St Bede’s squad.It was touch and go whether Harriet Lambourne (age 15) would make the Championships as she had been having treatment for a back injury. With three days to go she took the decision to swim and what a decision this proved to be. Hazza (as she is known to the team) swam an inspired 200m Butterfly in a personal best time of 2.21.96 to reach the final. In the final she lowered her time still further to finish in a superb 4th place in 2.20.26. The next day was the turn of the 100m Butterfly and again Hazza was in great form setting a personal best time of 1.04.37 along the way to reaching another final where she placed 8th.
Stephanie Ketley (15) had qualified for 7 events and swam well to claim a semi-final place in the 100m Freestyle in a personal best time of 1.00.37. In the 200m Backstroke, Stephanie made the final, again in a personal best time of 2.24.13, finishing in 10th place.
Michael Faber (16) also qualified for 7 events and although better known for his middle distance swimming it proved to be the sprints that would see him at his best. He swam a personal best of 54.06 in the heats of the 100m Freestyle and lowered this still further in the semi-final to touch in a time of 53.85 and only just miss a place in the final. In the 50m Freestyle Michael again swam a personal best time of 24.94 to make the semi-final where he swam exactly the same time to make the final. Although placing 10th in the final there was some consolation to be taken from the fact that it was an exceptionally fast race with the winner breaking the British record!
Anthony White (16) swimming at his first Nationals certainly surprised some other competitors as he swam two excellent races in the 400m Freestyle (4.18.04) and 200m Freestyle (1.59.72).
Head Coach Kevin Ayers commented, “Just to qualify for the Nationals is an achievement in itself but to make semi-finals and finals is something else. This performance has put St Bede’s firmly on the map and I congratulate the swimmers on a truly outstanding performance.”
