St Xavier’s swimmers continue to shine with a squad of 10 contesting the NSW PSSA swimming championships, winning two medals and achieving top 10 placings.
Jacob Smith added more state medals to his growing collection, winning the 12-13 years 50m backstroke and bronze in the open 100m freestyle with a cracking time of 1:03.85 and a national All Schools qualifying time.
The rising young star missed a medal by a fingernail in the 12 years 50m freestyle, where he finished a fighting fourth, and was edged out of another medal in the 11-13 years 200 individual medley by less than a second.
The youngster was a finalist in the 12-13 years 50m fly, finishing sixth and the 11-13 years 200m freestyle relay, which placed sixth. Jacob also turned in a pleasing performance in the 12-13 years breaststroke.
Other team members to achieve top 10 results include Molly Ramien, Josh Spinks, Alexis Whitton, and Baxter Knapman – quite an achievement in fields of up to 40 swimmers.
Alexis Whitton was a finalist in the 11 years 50m backstroke finishing sixth overall, and just sneaking into the top 10 in freestyle.
Molly Ramien delivered a promising performance in the 8-10 years 200m medley grabbing fourth place, less than a second from medal contention, with fifth place in the 50m backstroke and seventh in fly.
She also returned promising results in the 10 years freestyle and 8-10 years breaststroke, finishing just out of the top 10.
Also picking up finalist ribbons was Josh Spinks, who swam strongly into sixth place in the 8-10 years 200m individual medley and seventh in fly, with top swims in the 10 years 50m freestyle, 8-10 years 50m backstroke and breaststroke.
Baxter Knapman continues to impress at every meet, with a pleasing performance in the 12-13 years 50m breaststroke.
The boys and girls relay teams were all finalists in their division against fast-and-furious competition with the girls’ team of Hannah Akinyemi, Josie Knapman, Alexis Campbell and Molly Ramien powering into fourth place in the 8-10 years age group.
In the 11-13 years age group, Baxter Knapman, Cooper Whitton, Ollie Lyle and Jacob Smith finished in a creditable sixth position against tough opposition.
Sacred Heart Boggabri and Mulllaley Public School competed in the Peter Dobson Relay Shield for small schools, both making the finals with Boggabri’s team of Evie Watt, Oscar Thomson, Xanthia Watson and Felicity Gough finishing eighth and Mullaley’s team of Charlie Rose, Jackson Firth, Toby Marin and Alexandra Haire coming in 10th.
