By Mrs Castro (Data Analyst and Swimming Coach)

On Tuesday 7th May, swimmers from Years 3, 4 and 5 travelled to Oundle School for the Laxton Junior School Annual Inter-School Swimming Gala where they were racing against swimmers from Bishop’s Stortford College, Grantham Preparatory, Stamford Junior School, Kimbolton Preparatory School and Laxton Junior School. There were individual and relay events, with medals for the top 3 in each event and an overall trophy for the winning school.

The girls all raced really well, winning seven medals in their 11 individual races including golds for Esmé Kelly in the U9 25m backstroke; Emma Morris in the U9 25m breaststroke and Imogen Murphy in the U9 25m freestyle. There were also bronze medals for Kitty Toland in the U10 25m breaststroke; Evelyn Brown in the U11 25m breaststroke; Izzy Morris in the U11 25m butterfly and Olivia Edmundson in the U10 25m freestyle.

In the relay events, the U9 team of Esmé Kelly, Grace Jackson, Imogen Murphy and Emma Morris won both their special medley relay and their freestyle relay by almost a length. The U10 freestyle team of Olivia Edmundson, Kitty Toland, Harriet Woolley and Darcey Steele claimed silver. The U11 team of Lottie Tillison, Evelyn Brown, Izzy Morris and Daisy Rees took bronze in their medley and freestyle relays.

Overall, the U11 and U10 teams finished 3rd, with the U9 team winning their category. This meant that Bedford Girls’ School finished 2nd overall in the gala, an incredibly close 4 points behind Bishop’s Stortford College! We were really pleased with how the team swam and look forward to more racing this term, including the ESSA National Finals in June.