News

After a year away, the Swim England National Winter Championships returned to Sheffield’s Ponds Forge in December 2021.  The 2021 event was the largest Winter Championships in recent history, with more than 1,600 swimmers competing across the three days.  Six local BSSC members and two overseas BSSC members qualified for a total of 28 events.   

With just two age categories (Open and 16 Yrs/Under), competition was fierce but the whole squad had a successful return to National level competition with many personal best times and good progression.  William Godsell was 9^th in the 16 Yrs/Under 50m Breaststroke final and our youngest two competitors, Kirsty Neill and Toby Godsell, racing in their first National competition achieved PBs and multiple top eight finishes for their age group. 

BSSC members: Alex Catton, Callum Davis, Kirsty Neill, Millie Fields, Niamh James, Sami Zemzami

BSSC Overseas: Toby Godsell, William Godsell

Late 2021, five swimmers from the Hertfordshire and Essex High School competed at the Secondary Schools National Team Relay Championships at the London Aquatics Centre.  This event is the longest running championship series organised by the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) and is open to secondary school aged swimmers from across England.  

The H&E swimmers had qualified for the National event a month earlier at the East & South East Division championships, coming 2^nd in the 4x50m Medley relay and 3^rd in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay.

In a National competition dominated by the top English specialist swimming boarding schools, the swimmers, who are also all members of BSSC, gave excellent performances with the 4x50m freestyle team finishing 18^th and the 4x50m medley team reaching the national final where they came 9^th overall in a time of 2:14.81.  It was a highly competitive final with only two hundredth of a second separating 7^th to 9^th places. 

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Divisional Intermediate Team members: Ella Greatbatch, Ellen Millar-Bond, Emma Fields, Kirsty Neill, Miriam Moukdad.

National Intermediate Team members: Catherine Clune, Ella Greatbatch, Ellen Millar-Bond, Emma Fields, Miriam Moukdad.