Ellesmere’s College Titans Go For Gold in London

Fresh from their exploits at this year’s Nationals, Hettie D’Ammassa (Y10), Emily Farr (Y10), Evie Floate (Y10) and Katie Hale (Y9) helped make a stunning return to the English Schools Swimming Association’s (ESSA) Annual Secondary School Team Relay Championships for the Ellesmere College Titans. 

The fastest female team in the West Midlands, the girls received a coveted invite to compete at this year’s National Finals in both the 200m Medley Relay and 200m Freestyle Relay events.

Ellesmere College Titans is more usually focused on national and international competition, with the squad earning 5th place in the 2019 British Summer Championships medal table at the end of last season.  As this season gets underway, four of the squad’s junior swimmers, Emily, Evie, Hettie and Katie took time off their normal training regime to try their luck in this year’s ESSA Championships.

56 secondary school teams from Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire Warwickshire and Worcestershire competed in the regional qualifying events, which were all about beating the clock to see who could set the fastest times.  The Ellesmere girls chose to set their times at Newcastle-Under-Lyme School and were as fierce in their competition as they were friendly in their participation. 

Touching ahead of the Newcastle ‘A’ Team in the both the medley and the freestyle relays, the Ellesmere girls also posted faster times than any of their regional counterparts who were competing at similar qualifying events elsewhere.  This included teams from Kings High, Edgbaston and Rugby who were all jostling for ‘Top 3’ honours in the region.

To earn an invite to the National Finals, a team needs to post a Top 30 time in either relay event from amongst the c2300 teams competing across England.  The Ellesmere girls were therefore thrilled to learn that both of their regional qualifying times were good enough to earn them an invite to the National Finals.  The finals traditionally take place in London’s iconic Queen Elizabeth Olympic swimming venue in the Olympic Park. 

Additionally, the girls also learned that they are seeded as the fastest qualifiers in the individual medley and the third fastest qualifiers in the freestyle relay for their age group.  Proud to represent their school, county and region, they know that they have a lot of work to do if they are to stand a chance of making the podium in November.

Good luck girls!

Image (L to R): Evie, Katie, Hettie, Emily.

21st October 2019  Back to News