CAS Swimming Report
The CAS Swimming Championship was a fantastic way to close out the Summer Sport season. Cranbrook’s CAS Swim Team of 30 students led by Captain Matthew Alexiou and Vice-Captain Tate Sirianni competed at Olympic Park on Thursday night at the 94th CAS Swimming Championship. There was strong support from Cranbrook School with the whole school completing the tradition of the student tunnel from Chapel Lawn to Hordern, with the band playing rocky in the background, the team was fired up by the school gathering round them to chant the school song led by Brookie Booster. The support didn’t finish there with years 8,10 & 11 and prefects all making their way out to SOPAC bringing their passion and energy to support our team from the stands.
The team noticed the support and we set the meet off to a great start qualifying for CIS in the 6 x 50m Freestyle relay. This was a brand-new event on the program, being held for this first time. Whilst this event doesn’t contribute towards points on the night, it is a qualifier for CIS, and also an event to showcase who has talent across all age groups with one swimmer from 12,13,14,15,16 & 17over competing a leg of the race. The event did not disappoint with the three swimming powerhouses Knox, Trinity and Cranbrook battled it out for the first ever title, with just over 1 second separating all 3 schools. Cranbrook finished in a strong 2nd place by only .3 of second behind Knox.
Our captains then led the way in the Freestyle sprint races with Tate Sirianni placing 2nd and Matthew Alexiou placing 3rd in their 50m Freestyle events. Continuing on the podium in 50m Freestyle, Vincent Tagg recently returned from shoulder surgery placed 3rd and Oliver Minning was 2nd in a personal best time of 24.44 swimming under the National qualifying time. The juniors continued our 50m Freestyle success with top 3 finishes from Aidan Park 3rd in a new personal best, Noah Kemp 2nd, Charlie Roberts 2nd in a new personal best, Aodhan Taylor 1st in a new personal best, and Oliver McGee 3rd. Oliver also broke the junior school 50m Freestyle record.
At the end of the 50m Freestyle races, we were sitting in 3rd on the point score with Trinity in front of us in 2nd and ahead of Barker in 4th. We then moved onto the 200m Individual Medley races, these were new races in the programme this year. 13-Year-old Thomas Penny swam up in the 15-16 years and placed 2ndin a new school record. Carter McGee and Maximus Mason also achieved school records in this event. Jack Wilkinson then placed 3rd in the Open 400m Freestyle as a 16-year-old. Both outstanding achievements.
We then moved onto the Butterfly races where Aidan Park, normally known for his Breaststroke performances, finished 3rd in the 50m in a new personal best time, Noah Kemp finished 2nd in the 50m breaking the school record, Charles Gassman placed 3rd in a new personal best after overcoming an ankle injury which had him in a boot the past month, Aodhan Taylor placed 1st in the 14 years then backed up only a few minutes later to win the 13 years, he also broke the school record. Oliver Mcgeealso finished on the podium coming 3rd in the 13 years as a 12-year-old.
Our great results continued in the 100m Freestyle events. Tate Sirianni, Noah Kemp and Carter McGee all placed 2nd in their age groups. Year 7 emerging champion Thomas Penny won the 100m Freestyle in a new personal best breaking the CAS and school records in a time of 57.02 seconds.
The 4 x 50m Medley relays were next, with 3 of our 6 teams finishing on the podium, 2 of which broke school records. Our Opens and 15 years placed 3rd, while the 13 years, featuring, Thomas Penny, Olive McGee, Aodhan Taylor and Charlie Roberts, won in a time of 2:04.50 breaking the school record by 11 seconds.
In the Backstroke, Tate Sirianni continued his form winning the 50m in a new school record time. Other podium finishes in the 50m included, Oliver Minning 3rd, Noah Kemp 2nd breaking the school record, Carter McGee 3rd, Ziggy Day 3rd in a new personal best time and Aodhan Taylor 2nd. Tate Sirianni then rounded out the Backstroke events placing 2nd in the 100m.
Breaststroke has become one of our best form strokes. Hugo Mertens was the first to secure a podium finish in the 50m events placing 3rd in a new personal best time as a 15 year old in the 16 years race. Jack Charles and Prestan Irawan also finished in 3rd after also competing in the opens, before Aidan Parkplaced 2nd in a new personal best time. Olive McGee also finished in 3rd and Thomas Penny won in a new school record. Prestan Irawan finished our Breaststroke success placing 3rd as a 15 year old in the opens 100m event.
We finished the individual races where Thomas Penny continued to assert his dominance winning the 200m Freestyle in a new CAS record time of 2:03.46. This boosted the mood leading into the freestyle relays with his win beating the inform and strong swimmers from Knox and Trinity. The relays proved that we have not only developed some great individual talents within the swim programme, but the depth and diversity of our swim team has also improved.
We finished the night with 4 x 50m Freestyle Relays, which was the backbone of our CAS swim training. We built our team culture on being able to stand up as a team and deliver in these races. The 13 years placed 2nd in a new school record time of 1:52.18 featuring Thomas Penny, Aodhan Taylor, Oliver McGee and Charlie Roberts.
Cranbrook swimmers set 15 new school records, and 2 new CAS records this season:
Tate Sirianni
– Opens 50m Backstroke 27.16
Maximus Mason
– Opens 200m Individual Medley 2:37.61
Noah Kemp
– 15 years 50m Butterfly 27.34
Cater McGee
– Junior 200m Individual Medley 2:29.26
Thomas Penny
– Intermediate 200m Individual Medley 2:19.09
– 13 years 100m Freestyle 57.02 + CAS record
– 13 years 50m Breaststroke 34.92
– Junior 200m Freestyle 2:03.46 + CAS record
– 13 years 50m Freestyle 26.78
– 13 years 50m Backstroke 29.96
Aodhan Taylor
– 13 years 50m Butterfly
Olive McGee
– 12 years 50m Freestyle
17 years 4 x 50m Freestyle relay
– Oliver Minning, Maximus Mason, Vincent Tagg and James Lee 1:42.40
15 years 4 x 50m Medley relay
– Noah Kemp, Aidan Park, Prestan Irawan and Harry Moylan 2:00.89
13 years 4 x 50m Medley relay
– Thomas Penny, Oliver McGee, Aodhan Taylor and Charlie Roberts 2:04.50
13 years 4 x 50m Freestyle relay
– Thomas Penny, Aodhan Taylor, Oliver McGee and Charlie Roberts 1:52.18
The Cranbrook CAS swim team finished 3rd place, with 441 points. This was 30 points better than 2024. We closed the gap to Trinity by 39 points and extended our gap from Barker by 70.5 points. Our final team results were:
Knox 569
Trinity 534
Cranbrook 441
Barker 371.5
Waverley 343
St Aloysius 322.5
All 30 students who represented the swim should be proud of their achievement and their positive contribution. Over half the team has been selected to represent CAS at the CIS Championship next term. Congratulations to our top 10 individual points scorers:
| Thomas Penny Yr 7 Thomas | 50 |
| Aodhan Taylor Yr 7 Cutler | 35 |
| Noah Kemp Yr 9 Rawson | 32 |
| Tate Sirianni Yr 12 Northcott | 30 |
| Oliver Minning Yr 12 Harvey | 27 |
| Carter McGee Yr 8 Hewan | 26 |
| Jack Wilkinson Yr 10 Cutler | 23 |
| Aidan Park Yr 9 Northcott | 22 |
| Matthew Alexiou Yr 12 Northcott | 21 |
| Prestan Irawan Yr 9 Cutler | 16 |
| Maximus Mason Yr 11 Woodward | 16 |
These results are a collective effort from Cranbrook School. I would like to thank the Heads of Sports and Heads of Music & Drama for supporting the students through the swim training season, often missing their team sports or group classes to swim with the CAS Swim team. I would also like to thank admissions and the House Masters for supporting swimmers into the school and allowing for adjustments in their education due to heavy training loads. Finally, these results couldn’t have been possible without the support and dedication of the coaching staff. Everyone throughout the school has made this a collective effort. This success will no doubt ignite the fire for an even bigger and better performance next year where we will continue to push chase down the Swimming powerhouses of Knox and Trinity who have dominated the sport for over 90 years.
Rebecca Wheatley
Head of Swimming
