2021 HKHS Swimming Carnival

(Photo - 2021 Age Champions)

The 51st Annual HKHS Swimming Carnival was held Monday 15 February under cloudy skies. Despite the threat of rain, students arrived in large numbers for the 8:45am start.

A small number of students started their day off with the 200m freestyle; a perfect event to help get the arms moving and dust off the cobwebs.

Shortly thereafter, the heats were called for the 50m freestyle events. Always a popular event, the students filled multiple heats for each age group with some very close finishes. The times for this event were then used by the House Patrons to form relay teams for the 4 x 50m event that would take place later in the carnival.

As we began moving through the program, the rain appeared in small patches; not deterring the students from racing, but definitely making conditions a little on the cold side. The students raced through backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke which quickly placed us ahead of schedule.

Students were given the opportunity to earn some extra house points by participating in our one-lap dash challenge. For every lap the students completed (running or swimming) they earned their house additional points. The house leader board fluctuated back and forth throughout the day with Corrumben taking an early lead. House Patrons Jones and Pratt rallied their Araluen students after a slow start, moving from forth to second midway through the day.

The afternoon saw students competing in the 100m freestyle, 200m medley and relay events. It was during the relay events that the depth of swimming talent within each house was on display. Not one house was able to dominate all of the relay events with each age group being won by a different house.

It wouldn’t be a HKHS swimming carnival without our annual ‘House dance-off’. Houses had pre-selected their song of choice and competing in the grandstand to win-over judge Mrs James. The choreography and synchronisation amongst the dancers was miles ahead of last year’s efforts with Corumben doing what was needed to win over the judge’s approval with their new dance ‘The Wobble’.

The carnival concluded with our pinnacle event, Year 12 vs HKHS staff relay. This event is steeped in history and despite the effort from previous year groups, the students have never been able to dethrone the teachers. Head Teacher Mr Wright led the charge for the teachers, swimming against up-and-coming challenger, Jack Hunter. Despite Jack’s youthfulness, the experienced teacher showed why he is in charge. The teachers were off to a healthy lead which was extended further by the second and third swimmers.

It was at this point that talented cricketer Mitchell Ryan did the swimming equivalent of a ‘no-ball’ by stepping over the line early and disqualifying his entire team. Due to the good nature of the staff team, the race continued despite this infringement. During the middle section of the race, the lead switched back and forth only with the penultimate swimmers was it clear the teachers had crept ahead. To anchor the Year 12 team was age-champion Tim Cuthbert. Unfortunately for Tim, he was up against highly competitive and self-proclaimed super star teacher Mr Mellish. Tim’s sportsmanship prevented him from jumping early consequently giving Mellish a healthy head start. Whether it was the full day of racing in Tim’s arms or the immense talent of Mr Mellish, the teachers stormed home to another victory, cementing themselves as one of the most successful sporting teams of all time.

We would like to congratulate students on their attitude and effort on the day and extended that to all students who were successful in progressing to the Zone Swimming Carnival.

HKHS Swimming Champions for 2021

U12 Lachlan Glasson & Samantha Green

U13 Dylan Wade & Melody Wagenaer

U14 Issac He & Haylie Green

U15 Cooper Hood & Sanika Nou

U16 Alexander McGavin & Georgia Muspratt

17+ Timothy Cuthbert & Jade Sweeney

Winning House was Corumben.