College squads head to Sheffield for 50m stretch

TWO Elizabeth College swimming teams have qualified for tomorrow's finals of the English Schools' National Relay competition in Sheffield. At the recent Guernsey heats at Beau Sejour, nine local schools took part, with teams of four swimming time trials in freestyle and individual medley events.

These were then submitted to regional and then national competitions to see how they compared with schools from all over England.

'Hundreds of schools enter and it is truly remarkable to see how the standard of swimming on this little island compares to other regions from all over the UK,' said the president of the Guernsey Amateur Swimming Association and the college's swim master, Brian Allen.

And it was college who had the most to celebrate.

Their junior side of David Hall, Joe Ogier, Luke Belton and George Moss qualified ninth in the freestyle and 10th in the individual medley for the national finals.

Unfortunately Moss has had to pull out of going to the finals through illness. Charles Holbrook Sanderson takes his place.

The college's intermediate team also qualified.

They placed 10th and 13th nationally as they turned in the fastest times in the local qualifiers.

The squad comprises Joshua Lewis, Stewart Hume, Jacob Cherry and James Jurkiewicz.

The finals are held in the Pond's Forge Olympic size pool.

'This will be a great experience for the swimmers being able to swim against the best in the UK and swimming in a 50m pool which in itself will be a new experience for some of the youngsters,' said Allen.

The top Guernsey secondary school in the island's qualifying round was again Les Beaucamps, whose junior team came 64 out of 400.

The Grammar also had a good result from their junior side, who came 56th nationally.

Ladies' College senior girls' team came 37th while the most exciting performance belonged to the Blanchelande intermediate girls' outfit who were 23rd in the nation.

They were an agonising 0.2 of a second and only three places away from qualifying.

'This result from such a small school is a wonderful achievement,' said Allen.

'Guernsey swimming is strong and constantly appearing at national events. Thanks need to go to the commitment and dedication of coaches and swimmers.'