The National Swimming Finals held on Saturday at the Aquatic Centre in London proved to be a very long but successful day for the CPS qualifiers, with places awarded for seven events this year.
The competition opened in the morning for the girls’ events and the team were thrilled to share their warm up with the one and only “Mr Tom Daley” practicing his diving technique in the next door pool.
The girls’ team this year was led by their captain, Isla Armitage; the U13 girls’ team came 16th in the medley relay, finishing two seconds faster than their qualifying time.
More personal best times were taken in the individual girls’ events. Siena Reilly came 8th in the U11 girls individual 50m backstroke, Isla Armitage came 13th in the U13 backstroke with a time of 38.56, and finally Sasha Pilling came 14th in the U13 25m butterfly, with a new personal best time of 15.49.
This year the U12 boys’ relay team were slightly rocked with the news that their fastest freestyler, Jamie Tappin, was pulling out with an injury before the final. However, on the day this did not stop them shaving off time on both of their qualifying times, settling at 19th place in the medley relay and 20th in the freestyle relay.
Finally Ted Scott showed his swimming prowess against many of the top UK swimming schools by coming 17th in the U12 individual butterfly with a time of 16.57.
Many congratulations and well done to all the team for a great set of results.
Lisa Waller
