NSW All Schools Swimming Report
Cranbrook was proudly represented by seven students at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships, held on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 May at Sydney Olympic Park. This event brought together the top swimmers from the Independent, Catholic, and Public school systems to compete for a place on the NSW team for the upcoming School Sport Australia Championships.
Cranbrook’s swimmers delivered a phenomenal performance, with all seven students finishing the meet with medals. Five were selected to represent NSW at the national championships:
Thomas Penny (Year 7), Aodhan Taylor (Year 7), Noah Kemp (Year 9), Aidan Park (Year 9), and Tate Sirianni (Year 12).
Year 12 students Oliver Minning and Matthew Alexiou also secured medals as part of the Open Medley Relay team.
Cranbrook concluded the championships with:
• 12 Gold medals
• 5 Silver medals
• 4 Bronze medals
• 3 CIS records
• 5 new school records
• 5 NSW Team selections
Individual and Team Highlights
The meet began with a tightly contested Men’s Open Medley Relay, where Tate Sirianni, Aidan Park, Matthew Alexiou, and Oliver Minning earned bronze in a race that saw just one second separating the top three teams – Knox, Trinity, and Cranbrook. These 3 teams dominated with 4th place 5 seconds behind.
Thomas Penny began his campaign with a statement swim in the 13 Years 100m Freestyle. After a narrow loss at CIS to a local Scots rival, Thomas knew his areas of improvement and refined them in the lead up to the meet using biomechanical analysis at the AFC, which paid off with an All Schools record-breaking 54.96 – half a second faster than his previous CIS best. He went on to dominate, winning nine gold medals, including 5 of those events being the 14&U age group:
• 50m, 100m & 200m Backstroke
• 100m, 200m & 400m Freestyle
• 100m & 200m Butterfly
• 200m Individual Medley
He set All Schools records in the 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle, narrowly missing records in several others, which he is no doubt on track to break next year when he is 14 years old. Thomas also collected silver in the 400m IM, 4th in 100m Breaststroke, and 5th in 50m Freestyle—qualifying for an extraordinary 10 individual events at School Sport Australia.
Aodhan Taylor delivered an impressive performance with gold in the 50m Butterfly, breaking the All Schools record. He also took bronze in the 100m Butterfly in a personal best time and placed 6th in the 50m Freestyle.
Aidan Park broke the 30-second barrier for the first time in the 50m Breaststroke with a 29.98—breaking the Cranbrook school record set by Junior World Champion Nicholas Stoupas in 2023 and finishing third in a race separated by just 0.10 seconds. Notably, all top three swimmers went under the previous All Schools record showing extraordinary depth and talent in Aidans age group. Aidan went on to place 2nd and claim a silver in the 100m Breaststroke with a 1:06.99, edging out the second-place swimmer from the 50m event.
Noah Kemp started with a massive 1.5-second PB in the 100m Backstroke, clocking 1:00.96 to claim silver and book his spot on the NSW team. He followed up with silver in the 50m Backstroke, bronze in the 50m Butterfly, and a 4th-place finish in the 100m Butterfly.
Tate Sirianni despite a disrupted training block due to illness and still carrying some fatigue, he showed his class by claiming gold in the 200m Backstroke with a dominant win. He also earned silver medals in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke, securing his place on the NSW team in three events. Tate finished 4th in the 50m Backstroke.
This marks Cranbrook’s most successful NSW All Schools Championships to date, with every athlete returning home with a medal and every individual competitor earning selection to the NSW team for the School Sport Australia Championships, to be held in Brisbane from 26–31 July.
The Cranbrook students have set school records in 22 events this season. Some of these records being broken multiple times in a season. For example, the 13 years old 50m Freestyle record has been broken 6 times, 3 times by Aodhan Taylor and 3 times by Thomas Penny. Of the 57 swimming records maintained by Cranbrook, 43 have been broken since the opening of the AFC. Just 14 records remain from before the facility’s opening, and in many of those cases, our current students are already swimming faster than the existing times. These remaining records are expected to fall as our athletes progress into the appropriate age groups.
Cranbrook Aquatic Swim Club had another 8 students represent their schools at the Championships. All 8 gained medals and 3 were selected on the NSW team for School Sport Australia.
Daniel Arnamnart
Head of Aquatics