Josh Spinks earned selection for the NSW All Schools swimming championships, as he was among 10 swimmers from St Mary’s College (Gunnedah) competing in the recent NSW Combined Catholic Colleges (NSWCCC) swimming championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC).
Josh will represent NSWCCC at the NSW All Schools swimming championships on May 21 and 22, also at SOPAC.
NSWCCC’s rivals will be NSW Combined High Schools (CHS) and NSW Combined Independent Schools (CIS), with a NSW All Schools team to be picked for the School Sport Australia (SSA) swimming championships in Melbourne during July.
With swimmers from the 11 dioceses across NSW taking part at the recent NSWCCC championships, competition was strong with multiple heats in most events.
Most students bettered their entry times, and achieved some personal best (PB) times.
Josh broke four Armidale Catholic Schools records, and finished with a silver medal in the junior boys 200m individual medley (IM) and a bronze medal in the junior boys 400m freestyle.
In the 14 years boys 100m freestyle, Josh’s time of 1:00.31 eclipsed the previous record time of 1:02.47.
In the junior boys category, Josh demolished three previous records despite not achieving a gold medal while placing fourth in the 200m freestyle.
Josh’s time of 4:39.32 in the 400m freestyle far exceeded the previous record of 4:56.37, and his time of 2:29.07 in the 200m IM was considerably better than the previous record of 2:42.00.
In the 200m freestyle, Josh finished the race with a time of 2:12.44 to demolish the previous record of 2:29.47.
Josh’s other placings in the 14 years boys category were fourth in the 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke; sixth in the 50m breaststroke, 50m backstroke and 100m butterfly; seventh in the 50m backstroke; eighth in the 50m butterfly.
Of the other St Mary’s swimmers, Cameron Sills was the most prolific with five top-10 placings.
In the 12-13 years boys, Cameron came sixth in the 100m butterfly; seventh in the 100m backstroke; eighth in the 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke; ninth in the 100m freestyle.
Tayla Thompson came sixth in the 12-13 years girls 100m backstroke and eighth in the junior girls 200m IM, while Riley Thompson placed ninth in the 15 years boys 100m breaststroke and 10th in the 100m backstroke.
In the 16 years girls, Tahnee Steele finished ninth in the 100m backstroke and 10th in the 50m backstroke.
Macey Dalessandro came eighth in the 12-13 years girls 50m breaststroke, and Cooper Whitton placed ninth in the 16 years boys 100m backstroke while Dana Campbell finished ninth in the 17 years and over girls 50m butterfly.
