Swimming Success

Plymouth College Pupils Chosen for Commonwealth Games Training

For next year’s Commonwealth Games that will be held in Birmingham, Team England have announced the names of the 85 swimmers that have been selected as part of the training squad prior to final selection. We are incredibly proud to say that 2 of our current Plymouth College pupils and 2 Plymouth College OPMS have been nominated to be a part of this squad. A huge congratulations to Honey Osrin (Upper Sixth), Sophie Freeman (Lower Sixth), Laura Stephens OPM and Ben Proud OPM. We’re extremely proud of our pupils and coaches for this achievement and we cannot wait for 2022. Congratulations! stopped her from training incredibly hard and staying on track to compete in Tokyo. For Plymouth College pupils, Honey and Sophie, they also competed outstandingly! Honey achieved not only 4th place in the 50m Backstroke and 8th in the 50m Freestyle but also returned home with a 2nd place in the 100m Backstroke and 1st place in the 200m Backstroke! Sophie achieved 8th place in the 100m Butterfly final, 5th place in the 50m Butterfly final and 4th place in the 200m Butterfly, with an amazing time of 2’14”43! Even though training has been somewhat limited, they have done so well and have done us all proud here at Plymouth College! In addition, the following Plymouth College swimmers achieved an amazing 27 medals (9 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 11 bronze medals): Aviva Hollinsky (1 gold, 4 bronze), Freya Pearson (1 silver), Ellie Kennington (3 silver, 1 bronze), Ollie Dennis (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze), Johari Masinde (1 bronze) and Finn Broekhoven (1 gold, 1 silver from only 3 events). Well done to everyone who took part and particular thanks to the swimmers’ main Plymouth Leander coach, Richard Beard, for all his hard work and dedication to enabling the swimmers to be the best they can be.

Salvador Gordo

Manchester International Meet 2021 Plymouth College Swimmers Achieve Fantastic Results at Virtual Level X Competition

During this term, Plymouth College pupils, Honey Osrin and Sophie Freeman, and OPM Laura Stephens competed at the Manchester International Meet, hosted by the Manchester Aquatics Centre. The International Meet was revised with the announcement of the third lockdown and only swimmers on the government-approved Elite Athlete Return to Training lists were allowed to compete. Joining our Plymouth College girls were athletes such as Adam Peaty, Luke Greenbank and Paralympic athlete, Ellie Simmonds. All three swimmers returned with incredible results from their races! For OPM Laura, she brought back 1st place for the 200m Butterfly event with her 4th fastest time ever of 2’08”88! She also returned with a 6th place in the 50m Butterfly final and 3rd place for 100m Butterfly final over the course of the weekend. Before COVID, Laura was set to represent Team GB - but even with the Olympic Games being postponed, that hasn’t At the end of last term, a number of our pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9, took part in the first virtual national swimming competition, Level X, organised by Swim England to replace the usual swimming competitions during the COVID period. Swimmers across the country took part in officially timed events during their training sessions. The times were then ranked nationally and final Leaderboards created for the top 10 swimmers in each event. Our Plymouth College swimmers achieved a fantastic total of 70 top ten Level X national rankings in their respective age groups. Congratulations to Dixie Turner-Moore (Year 7), Aviva Hollinsky (Year 8), Ellie Kennington (Year 9), Freya Pearson (Year 8), Ollie Dennis (Year 9), Finn Broekhoven (Year 10), Johari Masinde (Year 9), George Hayward (Year 9), Matthew Hamilton (Year 8), James Blackwell (Year 8) and Sudki Al Khatib (Year 10). Over the Christmas break, Upper Sixth pupil, Salvador, participated at Open Jamor Swimming Meet 2020 in Lisbon Portugal and achieved a new Angolan Junior National record, swimming 100m Butterfly with the time 57”11! As well as success on home soil, he competed in the Federation Swimming Cup competition in Penza, Russia later on this term, in which he represented Plymouth College and Plymouth Leander superbly! Over the course of the weekend, Salvador was able to not only smash his personal best time in the 50m Butterfly by securing a new record of 26”02, but also performed incredibly in the 100m Butterfly and broke the National Angolan Juniors record with a time of 56”81! A huge congratulations on a phenomenal achievement!