CIS Swimming 2025
Cranbrook sent a team of 12 students to the CIS Swimming Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday, 5 May, and Tuesday, 6 May.
Over two days of strong racing, our students delivered an extraordinary set of performances, breaking 10 School Records, 3 CIS Records, and achieving 11 Gold, 2 Silver, and 4 Bronze medals—our best CIS result ever. This resulted in 7 students qualifying for All Schools.
Day 1
The first session took place on Monday evening, beginning with the 50m Freestyle. Cranbrook started strong with Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) and Thomas Penny (Year 7) representing us in the first event, the Men’s 12–13 Years 50m Freestyle. Both students swam personal best times, each finishing under the school record by nearly a second, with Aodhan placing 2nd in 26.53 and Thomas placing 3rd in 26.59.
Noah Kemp (Year 9) was next up in the Men’s 15 Years 50m Freestyle, placing 7th in 25.38, narrowly missing the school record. Oliver Minning (Year 12) closed out the 50m Freestyle events, finishing 6th in the 17 Years age group with a time of 25.01.
Our medley relays followed, beginning with the 12–14 Years Medley Relay team: Thomas Penny (Backstroke), Carter McGee (Year 8 – Breaststroke), Aodhan Taylor (Butterfly), and Charlie Roberts (Year 7 – Freestyle). The team raced well to finish 6th, positioning themselves strongly for 2026, with three of the four swimmers aged only 13 in a field dominated by 14-year-olds.
In the Open Medley Relay, Tate Sirianni (Year 12 – Backstroke), Aidan Park (Year 9 – Breaststroke), Matthew Alexiou (Butterfly), and Oliver Minning (Freestyle) delivered an outstanding performance. Tate led off with a 27.38, putting the team in 1st. Aidan, stepping up from the 15 Years age group to race in the opens, split a 30.50 to hold the lead. Matt swam a strong butterfly leg, followed by Oliver, who split a full second faster than his individual 50m Freestyle to secure 3rd place in 1:48.73—smashing the school record by 4.26 seconds.
Thomas Penny, in his third race of the night, won the 12–14 Years 200m Individual Medley by over four body lengths in 2:18.49, improving his own CAS-set school record by 0.91 seconds.
The 12–14 Years 4x50m Freestyle Relay saw Aodhan Taylor lead off, touching first. Carter McGee and Charlie Roberts followed with strong second and third legs, and Thomas Penny anchored with a blistering 25.5 split. The team finished 4th, narrowly missing All Schools selection—another dominant effort from a team of 13-year-olds racing up an age group.
We ended Day 1 with the All Age 6x50m Relay: Felix Freiman Yr 7 (12), making his representative debut after a late change in the 12 years age group, Thomas Penny (13), Carter McGee (14), Noah Kemp (15), Jack Charles (16), and Matthew Alexiou (17). Despite two late Cranbrook withdrawals in the 12 and 16 age brackets, and unable to race a full strength team, they finished 5th.
Day 2
Back at Olympic Park early Tuesday morning, the day started with the 200m Breaststroke. Jack Charles, returning from two weeks of illness and unable to train leading into the event, finished a respectable 5th.
In the 50m Butterfly, Aodhan Taylor (Year 7) claimed gold and broke the CIS and school records with a time of 26.81, bettering the previous CIS mark by over half a second. Due to combined age groups at CIS in the 100m races, Aodhan was unable to swim his preferred 100m Butterfly, but his personal best earned All Schools selection for this event.
Noah Kemp also competed in the 50m Butterfly, winning bronze and qualifying for All Schools with a new school record of 26.80—missing 2nd place by just 0.01. Swim Captain Matthew Alexiou also raced in the 50m Butterfly, in his final individual school race, placed 4th in 26.40.
Noah Kemp then swam the 100m Freestyle, finishing 4th in a near personal best of 54.85, and went on to win gold in the 50m Backstroke, breaking the school record with a time of 28.99.
Thomas Penny had an intense Day 2 schedule, racing seven individual events—more than any other competitor at CIS. Tom competed in a tough age category, having to race the 14 & Under students in the 100m and 200m races (to be separated for All Schools). Thomas started the day with the 200m Freestyle in a School Record time of 2.00.42, Tom showed his skill and raced well above his year by controlling the 1st 100m of the race before storming off in the 2nd 100m putting more than 4 body lengths on 2nd place. Tom went on to win another Gold in the 100m Backstroke in a 1:04.16, winning by 2 body lengths.
Later in the day Tom had a hard-fought battle in the 100m Freestyle, finishing in 2nd place to a Scots student, with both students swimming under the CIS record time. This didn’t hold Tom back, next race he went head-to-head with the same Scots students but claimed gold in this race, the 50m Backstroke in a new CIS and School Record time of 29.75. Completing the trio of golds Tom went on to win Gold in the 200m backstroke, claiming victory in the 50,100 & 200m Backstroke events. Tom finished the meet with 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals, as well as 2 CIS Records.
Tom wasn’t the only Cranbrook student to win a trio of Golds in the Backstroke. Tate Sirianni, the Vice-Captain also won Gold in the 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke events. Tate was battling illness leading into the meet but still managed to break the CIS and school record in the 100m Backstroke in a time of 57.75. Tate also broke the School record in the 50m Backstroke and missed the 200m CIS record by .03 of second, which is held by Cranbrook swimming coach Scott Swinburn. Tate also claimed silver in the Opens 100m Freestyle.
Also in the 100m Freestyle, Carter McGee placed a respectable 5th place in 58.85—his first time under 59 seconds.
Ollie Minning raced his 2nd individual race of the meet and finished in 6th place with a personal best time of 28.84, which equalled the school record before Tate Sirianni broke it the next heat.
Aidan Park swam a blistering 50m Breaststroke in 30.16 to win gold, defeating the Knox swimmer for the first time. He narrowly missed the school and CIS records—set by Nicholas Stoupas in 2023—by just 0.10. Although Aidan didn’t swim his preferred 100m Breaststroke at CIS due to age groupings, he qualified for All Schools based on his personal best.
Overall this marked Cranbrook’s best ever performance at the CIS Swimming Championships with 7 students qualified for the All Schools championships on the 22nd and 23rd of May. Additionally, 10 more Cranbrook Aquatic Swim Club students represented their schools at CIS. Among them, 2 broke CIS records and 6 progressed to All Schools.
Daniel Arnamnart
Head of Aquatics