House Swimming and Diving

Sunny skies and mild conditions once again greeted the SMS Senior School girls on Friday February 2 at Oakleigh Recreation Centre for our annual House Swimming and Diving Carnival.

Racing began with the Open 100m freestyle, which was impressively won by Sienna Chandler (Year 11) of Cunningham House.

The Carnival then got into full swing, with the remainder of year levels competing against their own ages in events including the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly.

The other open event for the day was the 50m Open Butterfly; Sarah Arnett from year 11 won the race in a very close finish from Sienna Chandler and Phoebe Sinclair.

Inter-House Diving also formed part of the day’s program, with competition proving to be very close all afternoon. All of the girls involved were asked to bravely complete a range of pre-determined dives from the 1m springboard. Campbell eventually won the Diving Points Aggregate trophy from Gipson, with Cunningham coming in third.

As the afternoon progressed and the beginning of the relays signaled the climax of the carnival, it was noted by all that the total of points for each House was extremely close. The House Captains: Susie Bates and Alina Ermolaeva of Cunningham, Brooke Stanton and Siahny Fraser of Campbell and Jemmah Nathanielsz and Nazia Ayubsha of Gipson all realized the importance of the situation and implored their girls to efforts of heroism to get their House into first position.  In the end it was Campbell House who came out on top, winning the Swimming Aggregate Points trophy from Cunningham and Gipson in third.

Other awards on the day were as follows:

• Consistent endeavor  – Tara Matheson (Cunningham)
• School Swimming overall points Champion – Erin Handley (Campbell)
• House Spirit  – Gipson
• Year 7 champion – Caitlyn Van Es
• Year 8 Champion – Claudia Eibl
• Year 9 Champion – Mikaela Battin
• Year 10 Champion – Romanie Morgan
• Year 11 Champion – Sarah Arnett
• Year 12 Champion – Erin Handley

A special thankyou to Mrs Briohny Bates (mother of Diving Captain Susie Bates) for coming to support the girls and help present many of the trophies at the end of the days competition.

Our next House event is the Cross-country Carnival on Wednesday the 28 March where the girls will compete against each other and the clock on a 3km circuit around the school.

Mr Gerard Bourke
House Coordinator