Swimming success for St Pats

LOCAL swimmers from St Patrick’s College Ballarat have won the division two competition at the Associated Catholic Colleges swimming championships.

The event took place late last week at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park and for the first time, the school finished in first place in the under 12 to under 18 age groups.

“It’s a big competition with about 20 catholic schools,” swimming coordinator Louise Macquire said .

“When you enter the competition, you are in division two and you need to win that division to enter

division one.”

The group broke the open medley record and year 11 student Ed Meddings had a record breaking 50 metre breaststroke swim.

“It was actually my first time participating because I am

pretty new to the school, so it was definitely really nice to do the competition,” Meddings said.

“It was a 30-year-old record, so it was nice to go after the race and try my best.”

Despite Meddings breaking the record, the time is still one second off his personal best time.

Team captain Jack Bennetts said the day had a great atmosphere with the students getting to interact with Melbourne schools.

“It was a great environment to be in and around other Melbourne schools with large teams,” he said.

“Seeing how much they got around it we could use as

inspiration for how we get around our boys.

“It means quite a lot to represent the school at quite a high-level competition and it made the win more special.”

Following the win, Ed Meddings, Blake Scott, Miller Stott, Jack Lanyon and Tom Urquhart are heading to the Gold Coast this month to take part in nationals against the best swimmers in Australia.