Team Westmere competed at the Interschool Swimming Champs on 11th May, at the National Aquatic Centre, Mairangi Bay. Westmere had a very successful day with all 25 of our athletes trying their absolute best across all their events. The standard of competition was amazing with some incredible swimmers from across Central Auckland battling each other all day in some very close races. Several records were broken by swimmers from Bayfield, Ponsonby and Marist. We are incredibly proud of the effort our students put in and the sportsmanship and encouragement they showed towards each other and the other schools.

Making a final at this level of competition is a major achievement (a very cut-throat process) and Westmere were well represented across all events. We had some stand out performances, notably from Jasper Stevenson who picked up placings in multiple events, plus Mia Macauley for winning the backstroke and Genevieve Dickey winning the breaststroke.Other placegetters were Kahurangi Cotterill, Rita Price and Amelia Beyer.

Finalists across the age-groups were:

• Jasper Stevenson 3rd 35m Backstroke, 3rd 25m Freestyle, 3rd 50m Freestyle
  
• Genevieve Dickey 1st 25m Breaststroke
  
• Mia Macauley 1st 25m Backstroke, 5th 50m Freestyle
  
• Kahurangi Cotterill 2nd 25m Breaststroke, 5th 25m Freestyle
  
• Rita Price 3rd 25m Breaststroke
  
• Amelia Beyer 3rd 50m Freestyle
  
• Gabriel Christensen 4th 25m Backstroke, 7th 25m Freestyle
  
• Jamie Cottrell 4th 25m Freestyle
  
• Zella Price 4th 25m Breaststroke
  
• Isla Smith 7th 25m Freestyle
  
• Bella Russell 7th 25m Backstroke
  
• Hawaiki Morrison 7th 25m Breaststroke
  
• Meg McKinnon 8th 100m Medley
  

I still can’t believe both Jamie Cottrell and Zella Price missed a podium spot by less than the tip of a fingernail!

Our relay team of Jamie, Jasper, Isla and Kahu had an epic battle with Ponsonby that came right down to the final touch at the wall to secure 3rd place overall.

A big thank you to our huge contingent of vocal supporters and child-transporters. You were absolutely fantastic and it was great to see a few grandparents in the stands too.