College Swimmers make a big splash

Published on isbi School News dated Thursday 27th of September 2018

During the summer holidays, swimmers from Bishop’s Stortford College swam their way to success at the British Summer Championships and at the English Summer National Championships. Olympian, Elinah Philip made the finals in both the 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle events for Women aged 17/18 years, at the British Summer Championships to which only the top 1% of swimmers are invited to attend. She was placed 7th and 5th respectively in each final against some of the best swimmers in the country. At the English Summer National Swimming Championships, a six day event held in Sheffield, only the top 20 English swimmers in each age group are invited to attend. College pupils, Nick Botha, Alex Catton and Bryn Couser were all invited to compete. Nick swam in both the 400m Individual Medley, finishing 12th, and the 200m Breaststroke where he was ranked 9th after the heats in which the fastest swimmer has qualified in a time of 2:31. Nick went on to swim a brilliant race in the final with a new personal best time of 2:29:95 to take the gold medal. Alex Catton swam in the 50m Backstroke, where he made 13th place and in the 100m Backstroke where he finished 18th. Bryn Couser, who joins Bishop’s Stortford College Sixth Form this week swam in the 100m Breaststroke qualified for the final where he finished in 5th place. Head of Swimming, Deborah Huggett said, “It’s been a tremendous summer for our swimmers who despite facing external examinations, also kept up their training to compete at this very high level. I am incredibly proud of them all.” Mehdi El Mansar, who joined the College this term, is also an outstanding swimmer having competed for Morocco in the Junior Arab Championships held in Cairo last November. Mehdi swam in 6 events for 12-13 year old boys where his results were as follows: 50m Backstroke (4th), 100m Backstroke (Bronze), 200m Backstroke (4th), 200m Individual Medley (Bronze), 400m Medley Relay (4th) and 400m Freestyle Relay (4th). Bryn Couser and Nick Botha have also been invited to join the Swim England Beacon Programme which is a regional scheme designed to develop and nurture the most talented young swimmers in England. Bryn will also be studying, alongside his A Levels, for the Loughborough University Diploma of Sporting Excellence.