Eastbourne College is celebrating bringing home double gold after two teams secured victories at the national swimming championships for independent schools.
The school’s swimming squads were among teams from more than 80 independent schools across the UK competing at the Bath Cup and John Nalson Medley Schools Swimming event, held at the London Aquatics Centre, with 79 boys’ teams and 63 girls’ teams taking part.
The Eastbourne College boys’ freestyle relay team, which includes pupils Stanley Yeats (Year 9), Matthew Clark (Year 11), Nate Cahill (Y11) and Charlie Evans-Sheppard (Year 12) qualified fastest in their heat and came first in the final by an impressive four seconds.
The boys’ medley relay team – Stanley Yeats (Year 9), Mathew Clark (Year 11), Josh Yip (Year 12) and Jamie Foks (Year 12) – earned top seeding by 0.4 seconds in their heat, before a strong swim in the final to win the gold.
Jess Simmonds, head of swimming at Eastbourne College and former National swimmer, said: “This is such an achievement for the teams to gain this level of success in the biggest independent school swimming event of the year. I feel enormously proud.
“The hard work at school and at the Eastbourne Swimming Club has made a huge impact to the training programme we offer. This is an experience I know we will always remember, but now we have our sights fixed on the Individual National Schools competition in the summer.”
The College’s girls team also impressed, reaching the finals for their freestyle and individual medley races and finishing seventh in both. The team improved on their heat timings, displaying promising results for future events.
Mike Harrison, director of sport at Eastbourne College, said: “The boys’ double gold achievement is hugely impressive – it has been many years since a school has won both the medley and freestyle relays back-to-back.
“The girls’ results in the finals were well deserved after all the training that bookends each school day in the early morning and evening. I am looking forward to seeing what they can achieve in the coming months and years.”
These achievements build upon the College’s strong record of success in swimming. Year 9 pupil Hattie Stone recently became the Under 15 Junior Champion and Age Group winner at the County Swimming Championships in the 50m fly, 100m fly, 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and 100m free.
All pupils at Eastbourne College are encouraged to develop a love of swimming as a key life skill, benefitting from year-round access to a state-of-the-art six-lane pool and the school’s location on the East Sussex coast. Aspirational and performance swimmers from all year groups are encouraged to join squad training sessions while swimming is offered as an activity in Years 9 and 10 and a games option for Year 11 and sixth form pupils.
The school has formed a partnership with Eastbourne Swimming Club, where aspiring swimmers can receive training from elite coaches and compete at galas throughout the year. Many pupils compete at county and regional level, with one currently at men’s national standard.
For more information, please visit eastbourne-college.co.uk.
