Kelly College swim team represented the Western area in the “B” final of the National Speedo league competition at Ponds Forge swimming pool in Sheffield at the end of April and finished in a very creditable fourth place. Supported by a vocal group of parents and superbly choreographed cheer leaders, the team battled against larger city squads such as Guildford, Liverpool and Sheffield in the Olympic sized national pool.

A special mention goes to those swimmers who were asked to fill the gaps left by departed team members and had a baptism of fire by appearing for the first time in the competition in the national final. First years Simone Linney and Olivia Eadie swam their hearts out for the team as did Liam Yeo and Lawrence Oxborough and none of these swimmers had taken part in this year’s qualifying rounds. Old Kelleian, Samantha Calcutt, gave up her weekend off from Loughborough University to help out her old swim team.

13 year old, Sophie Howe was a winner in the girls 100m butterfly by the closest of margins, edging out her nearest rival by 0.07 seconds and the margin was equally close for the men’s open 6x50m freestyle relay team. Luke Wakefield, Jonathan Wills, Thomas Howe, Jack Cockerton, David Kelly and Matthew Slator had to settle for third place after leading on leg 2 thanks to a tremendous swim by Jon.

The Ladies open relay swimmers. Flora Duffy, Sophie Stanford, Laura Sprague, Samantha Calcutt, Jakie Wellman and Amanda Sanderson, looked like they were on their way to victory with a great team swim, which earned them second place. This was the fourth relay for girls captain Amanda who also swam in four individual events three of which were in the open age group including the opening event 200m IM.

Matthew Henry also had a busy morning , claiming second spot in the 15U backstroke, 6^th in the open event and swimming in three team relays. His fellow relay member 15year old Thomas Howe finished second in the 15U freestyle and third in the butterfly as well as taking part in three relays. Second place also went to James Macfarlane in a National Qualifying time for the 100m freestyle, an achievement repeated by Megan Mackenzie as she claimed third in the girls 100m freestyle. Megan also finished third in her backstroke race.

In the Ladies open medley event, Amanda, Jakie, Sam and Sophie Stanford fought all the way with the City of Sheffield team but had to settle for second place. Third places went to Sophie Calpin in the 15U breaststroke and to the 13U medley relay team of Megan, Sophie Howe, Laura Sprague and Rebecca Fletcher.

In the open breaststroke, Jack Cockerton and Holly Yeo both finished fourth in their respective races and both the boys and girls 15U Medley teams, 13U freestyle team and Men’s open medley team finished in the same place. Fourth spot also went to Cameron Carpenter-Warren in the 10-11 50m freestyle and Joshua Lake in the 15U breaststroke.

Other team members: 10-11 years Oliver Lake, Mark Brend, Charlie Bayliss, Charlotte Pickard, Rachel Ware. 13U Michael Wallis 15U Brikitta Batten and Benjamin Clarke

Well done to all the swimmers, supporters and support staff, we all look forward to next years competition.