Boys IAPS National Prep Schools Final

22nd May, 2004

The boys team from Kelly College travelled to Millfield last weekend looking to see if they could match the performance of the girls team in the National Finals of the Independent Schools swimming competition.

The best performance of the day was by 12 year old Adam John who had qualified in the 50m backstroke. In the heats he beat the event record by 3 hundredths of a second to earn himself “pole position” for the final and , with a fantastic swim in the final, he beat his own heat time and the record by a further quarter of a second to claim the gold medal.

Team mate Gregg Shrosbree also claimed a medal, this time a bronze, in the 50m breaststroke for the 13 year age group. Lawrence Oxborough (12) just missed out on the medals finishing fifth in the 25m butterfly and the remaining finalists all finished 7th: Liam Yeo (12year breaststroke), Michael Wallis (13 year freestyle) and Mark Brend (10year backstroke).

In the relays, the 12 year boys - Adam, Liam, Lawrence and Tom Wiley -  improved their 8^th place ranking in the medley by finishing 2^nd and looked on course to repeat this placing in the freestyle relay but an unfortunate slip by Adam during the change over lost them some time and they had to settle for fourth place. Adam’s recovery from the missed dive deserved a medal for sheer determination.

In the final race of the day , the mixed 6 x 25 m relay, the team of Adam, Gregg, Michael, Mark, Christopher Swash and Alex Shepperd battled hard to claim the bronze medal in the face of tough competition and all of them were relieved to see the record set by last years Kelly swimmers remain in tact.

The 12 year boys finished in third place overall. Well done to everyone!

Download Results (pdf)