16 April 2023 Abingdon Sport This term has seen great success in Cross Country participating in a number of iconic competitions including the gruelling 9.4km Knole Run (won by Johnny James in a time of 32:03); the Oxfordshire Championships (which saw Johnny James and Quinn Miell-Ingram finish 1st and 3rd respectively); the King Henry VIII Relays (in which Abingdon had to settle for 3rd place; and the B team 20th, beating the A teams of 15 other schools); and the Radley Relays (which saw all athletes run well, with the seniors and inters finishing 1st and the juniors, 6th). ‘The Beautiful Game’ It was fantastic to get a block of 11 fixtures against Dulwich on 14 January, particularly given the extreme weather conditions at the beginning of the year. The games were extremely competitive across the board with some fantastic goals scored from all teams. The seniors travelling away had mixed results with the 1sts and 3rds losing close fought matches and the 2nds winning in the tough conditions. In the U15s, the As were the only team to play and, despite good effort and a goal scored, lost. At home, the U14s and U16s had to deal with some strong wind and rain, however all were extremely competitive games. Swimming to Victory The swimming team had a successful day on 19 January in a friendly gala against Harrow. The seniors managed to break their 3rd relay record of the season - this time the medley. In addition, both Can Tugcetin and Ethan Richards-Knight had outstanding individual swims, breaking records in the 50 breast and 50 fly. Due to some absences in the intermediates, junior swimmers swam up an age group. They all swam extremely well and their narrow loss, against Harrow’s larger array of swimmers, proved their might in the pool. Then, on 10 March at the Bath and Otter, the team managed a 4th in the country in the 4 x 100 free relay, whilst breaking a decade old record and going up 2 places from the heats. The final was incredibly tense, with Chris Skelton and Joe Watkiss putting out some of the best swimming of their lives to set an unbreakable record, placed 2nd in the country and being the 1st swim team to ever receive a national medal. Well done. Having gone through to the 2nd round of the national competitions, Abingdon was competing against the top 8 schools in the country for a place in the national finals. Both the junior and senior teams enjoyed a closely fought tournament showing their strength in depth. At the end of a great afternoon of squash, however, the juniors eventually lost out to King Edward School; and the seniors to Wycliffe. Cross Country Squash
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