Upper Hume Swimming

Big day recently in Wodonga at the Upper Hume Swimming Carnival, as a huge contingent of 41 W.H.S swimmers competed against the best from the other 7 schools in our region - Galen, Cathedral, Wodonga Senior, Wodonga Middle Years, Victory Lutheran College, Grace Christian College, and Catholic College Wodonga.

We finished 4th in overall standings at the Wodonga Waves Complex, with 13 of our swimmers qualifying for the next stage, which is Hume Region on Friday 15th March.

Individually, Year 10 dynamo Merlin Tzaros won Gold in the 400m Freestyle, making him our only swimmer to qualify for Hume Region in an individual event, and he also placed 3rd in his 100m Freestyle.

Others to place in individual events were Year 9 girls Lucy Armstrong (50m Butterfly) and Milly O'Kane (50m Breaststroke) as well Year 10 Jada Ryan (100m Butterfly), who all finished 3rd.

Year 7 boys Angus Fraser (​50m Backstroke) and Hanesh Govinda Samy (50m Freestyle), plus Year 8 Mike Sheppard (50m Butterfly) all managed 4th, as did Year 9 Lillian Hooper who did it twice (50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke).

In the 4x100m Freestyle Relays, three of our teams have qualified for Hume Region. Those were the 15 Years Girls team (Lucy Armstrong, Lillian Hooper, Jada Ryan and Casey Sheppard) who won by a clear body length, and both our Year 7 Boys (Angus Fraser, Hanesh Govinda Samy, Nicholas Jones and Austin Whitehead) and Year 7 Girls (Paige-Lee Dummett, Darcy Fox, Ellie Hutchieson and Georgia Kelly), who both got 2nd place.

Two other Relay teams came 3rd, narrowly missing out on qualifying. Those were the 17 Girls (Ava Byrne, Stevie Driscoll, Milly O'Kane and Imogen Robinson) and the 17 Boys (Alec Armstrong, Jye Laxton, Emilio Miliankos-King and Lachie Pensak).

For our 11 Year 7s, it was a Milestone Day as they got their 1st taste of Upper Hume competition. There are some outstanding characters in that year level, and we'll see these names feature regularly over the next 6 years that they are with us. Not only did Year 7s dominate the points at our own Swim Carnival on Tuesday, but they today made up 8 of the 13 W.H.S students to qualify for ​Hume Region.

Another thing of note was our number of swimmers. Our tally of 41 swimmers dwarfed, for example, that of one of the other Wangaratta schools with twice our numbers, who could only get 14 swimmers to compete today. We love the enthusiasm of our students and their willingness to compete. Thanks kids. We'll keep providing every opportunity to you and we'll pack out every bus we can.

Overall it was an epic day with a great vibe and sense of camaraderie among the large contingent of 51 total students that came. On the bus on the way up there were feel-good singalongs, the John Willliamson classic "Home Among The Gumtrees" and the always-popular "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift the most vigorous, and on the way home Aroha Waddell, whose positive energy and enthusiasm was infectious all day, was the star of the show singing along to songs with her peers cheering her on. 

Thanks to all the kids who were part of it today. Especially our racers, but also to the many helpers that contributed, some of whom filled in for racers who couldn't make the day.

Special thanks again to Newmo, who volunteered her own time again to be on hand to lend her expertise to the kids.

We look forward to reporting on the Hume Region Swimming in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, we have 40 Girls from Years 7 to 10 playing Super 8 Cricket on Monday who have been training in the Sport Centre in preparation.

• Jud Mullins - Sport Coordinator