Framlingham College Prep School recently took six swimmers to the National IAPS Swimming finals held at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley. They were accompanied by coaches Elaine Cogdell and Marc Rush.
The boys’ sessions were in the morning and Will Lamprell swam in the U12 50m Freestyle individual event. Will qualified in February, at St. Faith’s in Cambridge, with a blistering 30.33 (which ultimately qualified him in fourth position nationally). Hard work and dedication took him to the final this Saturday and on the day Will swam a fantastic 31.20 which gained him 9th place overall. A tremendous achievement for Will who only started training in September 2016.
In the afternoon, our U13 girls (Hattie Reader (captain), Lily Reader, Ruby Sheepshanks, Georgie Gardens and Freya Faulkner) all competing. First up was our medley team Freya (back), Hattie (breast), Lily (fly), Ruby (free) – who qualified in 12th place in February. The girls put together a great relay taking five seconds off their PB to finish in 9th place overall. The girls took to the pool again, this time Georgie swapping in for Freya in the 4 x 25m Freestyle relay. Again, the girls had qualified in 12th place. An amazing 59.45 seconds later and the girls had taken six seconds off their PB finishing in 8th place. Hattie then took to the pool in the U13 50M breaststroke individual race, swimming a solid 41.99 just off her seed time in a very strong final, taking 13th place nationally. A wonderful finale to an amazing school swimming career, which started in Reception.
However… the highlight of the day, particularly for the girls, was meeting, and having photos taken with, Michael Jamieson, who won silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games in the 200m breaststroke. They even held the medal.
All in all a superb day in the pool. Thank you to all our swimmers for all your hard work, thank you parents for getting them to sessions and for some very early starts. Thanks to all our coaches especially Head Coach Audrey Tovey and to Mrs Norton who became our swimming champion this year. Lots of promising youngsters from Year 3 upwards coming through the ranks, so very exciting times ahead for swimming at FCPS!