Ellesmere College swimmers help Shropshire make history

Shropshire swimmers made history at the annual National Inter-County Team Swimming Championships, coming 4th to win promotion to Division 1.

In the maelstrom of Sheffield's Ponds Forge, the national Inter-Counties looks more like swimming's version of Harry Potter's Quidditch World Championships! 1000 swimmers from 39 counties in various face paint, body paint and fancy dress, cheered their teams on at the top of their voices to make this unique event the highlight of the swimming season for many.

Cheshire's swimmers were this year's Division 2 champions with 461 points, and in some gutsy racing Shropshire's swimmers amassed 430 points to finish in 4th place behind Nottinghamshire (444 points) and Derbyshire (431 points) to secure their place at swimming's top table in 2019.

Shropshire swimmers have never finished higher than 10th place in Division 2 before, despite the championship running since 1974! In addition to promotion, the team also won the award for the Top County in the West Midlands by beating rivals: Worcester, Warwickshire and Staffordshire.

Shropshire's team captains, Ellesmere's Chris Hooper and Ellie Southward, helped Shropshire make history by leading a fantastic team that included 14 swimmers from the College.

Commenting on a famous achievement, County Coach Barnes said, "The team were magnificent and everyone really played their part. Established swimmers doing individual events tend to get the limelight, but the reason we did so well was because of those emerging swimmers, picked for one leg of a relay and cheerfully putting in an outstanding performance."

An historic performance saw:

• Ellesmere swimmers take four out of top five places in the individual scorer rankings - Charlie Hutchison (45 pts), Katie Hale (37.5 pts), George Smith (34.75 pts) and Adam Metcalf (27.5 pts)
• Six Ellesmere swimmers win seven individual events - Charlie Hutchison (2), George Smith, Adam Metcalf, Joel Thompson, Pia Murray and Gerda Vasiliauskeite
• Four swimmers set new Titans age group records - Charlie Hutchison, George Smith, Joel Thompson and Katie Hale

The 15 Titans in this year's county team were Charlie Hutchison (St. Patricks), Katie Hale (Lower School), George Smith (St. Patricks), Adam Metcalf (St. Cuthberts), Joel Thompson (St. Lukes), Pia Murray (St. Aidens), Oliver Covill (Lower School), Gerda Vasiliauskeite (St. Aidens), Ellie Southward (St. Oswald's), Henrietta D'Ammassa (St. Aidens), Anna Smail (St. Aidens), Alex Rosser-Barnett (St. Cuthberts), Chris Hooper (St Bede's) and Jake Hutchinson (Lower School).

16th October 2018  Back to News