Swimming Report
Shore School Swim Team headed out to Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC) for the final carnival of the season, GPS 5.
The year groups in attendance were strong in numbers and loud in support. On behalf of the team thank you for your enthusiasm across the course of the evening; it certainly lifted the swimmers in the pool.
After a stellar performance in 2024—breaking an eight-year trophy drought and walking away with two premierships—it was a tough ask expecting the 2025 team to improve on this. But this is exactly what we did.
To walk away with three out of a possible four trophies is an incredible achievement. With wins in the Intermediate, Open Relay and Senior categories, Shore truly dominated the GPS swimming season this year.
Juniors: 4th Place
Our Juniors faced fierce competition from The Scots College (Scots), St Josephs College (Joeys) and Sydney Grammar School (SGS), with each schools sharing points and making the competition for the final points score a genuine four-way battle.
As the evening progressed we saw some standout performance from our swimmers, including Daniel Jin who walked away with three wins in the 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 50m Butterfly. Brody Semmens competed in six U13 events and finished on the podium on all six occasions. Stirling Armstrong put in a huge swim to qualify for the GPS team in the 50m Backstroke, and Jack Nelson achieved a huge personal best in the 50m Breaststroke.
In the end, Shore placed 4th in the points score. There were very few points separating 1st (Scots) and 4th position, so we will rebuild and look to challenge again next year.
Intermediate: 1st Place
After the first few GPS carnivals, Newington College (Newington) had the lead in the Intermediate division with their dominant swimmer taking centre stage over the longer distance events. However we knew as the season went on and the focus shifted to the 50m and 100m distances as well as depth, we would start to challenge them. Heading into GPS 5 we were in first place but only marginally ahead of Newington.
The evening got underway incredibly well with 50m Freestyle Division wins from both Alex Freischmidt and Noah McLaren, backed up by Archie Lawry (2nd) and William Bestic (1st) in their Freestyle Championships. The stage was set and confidence was high.
As the evening progressed, we watched the point score updates with bated breath, and Shore gradually built its lead into a convincing win. Standout swims included:
- 16s 4x50m Medley Relay – Jonty Jagger (Backstroke), Sam Chan (Breaststroke), William (Butterfly) and Noah (Freestyle) combined for a time of 1:51.42 and a new GPS record.
- 15s and 16s 50m Backstroke Division wins from Joshua Svensson and Jonty.
- 50m Butterfly — Jonty and Archie achieved huge personal bests with a 26.87 and a 28.51 respectively to both win their Division races. William—backing up after a 50m Backstroke race just five minutes prior, swam incredibly well to take first place in the Championship.
The final event of the evening for the Intermediates was the 4x50m Freestyle Relays, and although they held an unassailable lead by this point the boys did not let up. The 15s team of Alex, Dash Vonwiller, Joshua and Archie combined for a 1:47.37, just touching out SGS who were less than 0.3 seconds behind in 2nd place. Immediately following this the 16s team of William, Jonty, Hugo Stewart and Noah combined for a 1:39.88 and a new GPS record, well clear of second place Newington (1:43.33). For context, 1:39.88 is an average of 24.97 per swimmer and is incredibly fast.
In the end, Shore won with a total of 580 points, 60 clear of Newington on 520, and 163 clear of SGS in 3rd on 417. It was an amazing effort by a team full of incredible swimmers – well done boys.
Open Relay: 1st
Since the inception of the Open Relay in 2010, Shore has never won this trophy. After Shore locked away wins in each of the four opening races in this category, we had an unassailable lead as we headed into GPS 5.
The open relay is five events where each school fields its best team, regardless of age. The relays are the 4x100m Medley, 4x100m Freestyle, 4x50m Medley, 4x50m Freestyle and the All Ages 6x50m Freestyle relay.
Over the season Shore broke the GPS record in three of these events which is truly remarkable.
The boys who competed in these relays are William Bestic, Ethan Cook, Ethan Ng, Noah McLaren, Jonty Jagger, James Bestic, and in the All Ages relay we brought in Juniors Daniel Jin, Brody Semmens and Byron Bradley.
Congratulations to these boys for their incredible efforts throughout the season. It was stunning swimming and Shore now has its first ever Open Relay Premiership.
Seniors: 1st
Shore last won the Seniors in 2010 – 15 years ago! Heading into GPS 5 we were only fourteen points ahead of a talented Saint Ignatius College Riverview (Riverview) team who put up a huge fight and challenged us all the way, with talented Scots swimmers also looking to take as many points off Riverview and Shore as they could.
We achieved some good results early on, however really stamped our authority on the Senior Premiership when it came to the Breaststroke. James Bestic was 2nd in his Division event, and in the Championship 50m Breaststroke events Harry Pollitt and Ethan Cook both came away with 1st placings.
In the 4x50m Medley relays our 17s and 18s both came away with wins and—to our surprise—a GPS record in the 18s with the team of Paul Russell, Ethan Cook, Daniel Becker and James achieving a time of 1:52.64. Well done boys!
Throughout the remainder of the evening we recorded a top three placing in every event—putting our capabilities and our depth on display—and it was a sensational way to finish out the season.
At the conclusion of the evening, Shore was presented with all three trophies. It was a brilliant reward for all the efforts and hard work put in over many years. Congratulations boys—without a doubt Shore’s best year ever!
Mr Tom O’Keeffe
Head of Swimming
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