Abingdonian 2018

37 www.abingdon.org.uk Lent Term school well with a lot of promising talent to look out for in future years. Abingdon Sprints Abingdon welcomed eight strong swimming schools to the fifth annual Abingdon Sprints Gala. On what was an extremely fast paced afternoon of swimming the youthful Abingdon squad more than held their own against competition including Harrow, Bromsgrove, Cheltenham and Marlborough. There were a number of highlights including first year Can Tugcetin winning the U14 50m breaststroke - a fine effort for an U12 swimmer who is eligible for this event for another two years. U15 swimmer Nicholas Skelton also won the U16 100m individual medley in a time of 1 minute 1.01 seconds. The U16 4x50m freestyle consisting of Daniel McNamara, Nicholas Skelton, Scott Yap and Josh Roche also finished first in a time of 1 minute 46 seconds. This is a great achievement with all four boys still eligible for this event next year. Overall the Abingdon team finished second in the U16 and U18 age groups, and third in the U14 age groups. A number of new Abingdon records were set including: U16 50m butterfly: Scott Yap - 28:43 seconds U16 100m individual medley: Nicholas Skelton - 1:01:20 U16 4x50m freestyle relay: Daniel McNamara, Scott Yap, Nicholas Skelton, Josh Roche - 1:45:98 Bath & Otter Cup The U18 swimming squad travelled to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Pool to compete in the prestigious Bath and Otter Cup. In the morning session, the boys swam exceptionally, finishing ninth in the country in the Bath Cup 4x100m freestyle relay in a time of 4 minutes 4 seconds. The afternoon session moved onto the medley events, and having qualified through their heat for the final in tenth position, the boys went one better in the final, finishing ninth in the country in the 4x50m Otter Cup medley relay in a time of 1 minute 58 seconds. This is the best overall performance by Abingdon School at this event. Tom Donnelly