Last Sunday the 75th anniversary of the English Schools Swimming Association saw a South West team of 21 divers compete at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. The team aged between 9 and 17 represented 15 different schools in the region.
With only 3 points separating the primary school girls; Phoebe-Mae Evans from Oreston Community Academy finished in 8th position, Lyra Johnson from Yealmpstone Farm was 9th and Ivy-May Davey from Chaddlewood Primary finished 11th. Bobby Cole from Hyde Park Junior was 9th and Theo Wills from Eggbuckland Primary was 12th, with both boys gaining valuable experience in their first competitive year.
The junior boys did incredibly well with all of them finishing in the top half of their group. Harry Westbury from Hele’s School bagged a confident silver podium position. Charlie Clinick from Eggbuckland Community College was 6th closely followed by Seth Greentree from Devonport High in 8th position. The junior girls had their work cut out in the biggest group of 22 competitors. Teagan Mousley from Plymstock School improved on her personal best 1m score to finish 5th. Plymouth College pupil Isla Applin was in the lead after 3 dives but had to settle for 6th and Alice Jones from Plymouth High was 16th. Harry and Isla were both on form in the mixed 1m synchro to win the silver medal in a large group of pairings. Teammates Bobby and Ivy-May finished 12th.
The only girl in the intermediate group was Poppy Jones, another pupil from Plymouth High. Improving on her previous 3m score by 55.3 points to finish 6th out of 15 was remarkable. Will Heath in this group and also from Plymouth College just missed out on a medal in 5th. Oscar Westbury used this competition to execute some new dives ahead of the national competition next year and finished a commendable 8th position for Devonport High. Louie McCue from Eggbuckland Community College had a restart to one of his dives which cost him dearly. Despite this he still finished a very respectable 10th out of 19.
In the senior group Archie Waines who attends Lipson Community College produced a consistent round of dives. Ollie Heath was not so consistent but both boys executed a superb 5152B dive to propel Archie into the silver medal position and Ollie a pupil from Plymouth College into 5th. Noah Underwood the youngest of the senior boys from Stoke Damerel Community College put in a valiant effort to finish 7th. Lexi Davies from Marine Academy Plymouth dived honourably to finish 6th out of a pack of 19. Finishing in 12th and delivering the highest scoring 203B in her section was Rose McCabe from Plymouth High. Scarlett Colbourne had a glorious competition to win the silver senior medal for City College Plymouth. Not to let the opportunity of a further medal go by, Scarlett went on to win a bronze with Will in the mixed 3m synchro. Lexi and Noah claimed the 7th spot.
All divers contributed towards the South West placing third out of the eight regions – a triumph for this talented squad of divers, the South West and Plymouth Diving. An achievement made possible by the schools that supported the divers and Pilkinton Estates, along with the hard work of coaches and volunteers. Coaches and judges on the day were Fito Gutierrez, Tommy Davis and Joel Trenchard supported by Team Managers Kirsty Greentree and Anna McCabe.
