SPORT NEWS - SWIMMING

KINGSTON DIVISION SWIMMING REPORT - 21 MARCH

This year’s Kingston Division Swimming Sports took place once again at Oakleigh pool on Thursday 21 March. For the first time in decades, our school came up short and was beaten by a heartbreaking 6.5 points, conceding victory to Beaumaris Secondary College. Despite the unexpected loss, there were a multitude of outstanding performances by our athletes in both the racing and diving competitions. 

Lani Hammam (Year 12) returned from injury taking out the 50m breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle and claiming the esteemed title of 18-20 Girls age group champion.

Zachary Gordon (Year 12) also dominated the 18-20 Boys division, placing first in the 50m and 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, and Oscar Xu (Year 7) followed close behind in the 12-13 Boys division, winning the 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke. Well done to these impressive athletes!!

Other outstanding individual performances came from Timothy Roche (Year 11) and Jerome Soen (Year 12), both winning the 50m breaststroke for their respective age groups, as well as Lily Baldwin (Year 12) winning her 50m backstroke. 

The McKinnon team spirit was on show, winning six out of a possible twelve relays. Our college took out the 200m Medley relay for both the 17-20 and 12-14 Boys divisions, the 200m Freestyle relays for the 12-13, 14 and 18-20 Boys division and finally the 200m Freestyle relay in the 18-20 Girls division.

Thank you to all the participants on the day who contributed to our success, some of whom selflessly swam out of their age group to help the team. 

We look forward to the Southern Metro finals coming up soon with the winners going on to the State Finals.

SMR SWIMMING SPORTS – THURSDAY 25 MARCH

The SMR Swimming Sports were held on Thursday 25 March at the Oakleigh Pool with McKinnon being represented by five individual swimmers and six relay teams who all had victories at the Kingston Division.

The star of the day for our school was certainly Zachary Gordon (Year 12) who won 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, and 50m freestyle. Zach was also second in the 50m backstroke and medley relay.

Zach was also part of the 17-20 Boys Freestyle Relay team which also included Tim Roche (Year 11), Daniel Sidur (Year 11) and Jerome Soen (Year 12). 

We look forward to watching Zach crown his fantastic swimming career at McKinnon in his three individual events and freestyle relay at the State Swimming Finals in April. 

The other big winners out of the SMR were our 12-13 Boys who won the 4x50m freestyle relay. The team consisted of Will Sam (Year 8), Josh Chan (Year 8), Ruma Lee (Year 8) and Elliot Mulholland Pyle (Year 7), with Oscar Xu (Year 7) also helping us reach this stage but was unfortunately absent on the day.

We also had some other great results with the following swimmers narrowly missing state final representation.

• Tim Roche (Year 11) 3rd in the 50m breaststroke;
• Lani Hammam (Year 12) 4th in 50m breaststroke;
• Jerome Soen (Year 12) 3rd in 50m breaststroke;
• Lily Baldwin (Year 12) 2nd 50m backstroke.

Well done to Lani Hammam and Lily Baldwin in particular who have now completed their outstanding swimming careers at McKinnon. Both girls have represented the school all the way from Years 7 - 12 and have done so with style and class.

Finally, thanks to Liam Adlington, Jordan Butera and Bianca Sguario for their assistance with the team.

STATE SWIMMING 

Victoria’s elite swimmers assembled at MSAC on Friday 19 April to compete in the state championships. McKinnon was represented by Zach Gordon (Year 12) in three individual events in which he had two 4ths and a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly.

The highlights of the day was our Boys 12-13 Freestyle Relay team consisting of Joshua Chan (Year 8), Ruma Lee (Year 8), Oscar Xu (Year 7) and Will Sam (Year 8) who won a bronze medal for 3rd in the state.

The very last event of the day was the 18-20 Boys Freestyle Relay and our team consisting of Zach Gordon (Year 12), Daniel Sidur (Year 11), Tim Roche (Year 11) and Jerome Soen (Year 12) swam their hearts out and managed to become state champions in the outstanding time of 1 minute 45 seconds.

Zach Gordon anchored the team and managed to hold off a very strong challenge from Drouin Secondary College in what was the crowning glory of a magnificent swimming career at McKinnon where he represented the school in numerous events and finally, he is a state gold medalist.

Greg Hoskin

Swimming Coach