Park View’s squads are class act in pool

SWIMMING

PARK View’s amazing record in the English Schools Swimming Association Secondary School Gala held at the stunning Olympic Pool in London continued this year.

Three boys’ teams from the Chester-le-Street school had qualified for the event by swimming superbly at the regional competition, two girls’ teams just missing out.

The junior squad of Thomas Maskell, Jacob Davison, Jamie McCormick and Luke Turnbull qualified for the 4 × 50m medley event in London and finished 16th in the country and as one of the best teams in the North of England.

It was a fantastic result considering there were two year seven swimmers in Park View’s team.

The intermediate boys’ team of Matthew Cairns, Morgan Swirles, Flynn McQueen, Josh Savage and Thomas Adamson qualified for both the feestyle and medley events and were delighted to make the final and finish fourth in the medley relay.

This was a sensational performance against many schools with private pools and competitive programmes.

This made the squad the fastest inter team the school has ever had and the quickest in the North of Park View swimmers Morgan Swirles, Thomas Adamson, Lewis Maxwell, Joshua Savage and Thomas Maskell were among those who performed well at the English Schools Swimming Association Secondary School Gala England. Finally, the senior boys’ squad of of James Davison, Aaron Beckford, Lewis Maxwell and Oliver Wallace could be hugely proud of their efforts in finishing 11th fastest in the medley relay and 13th fastest in the freestyle relay.

All swam very well against international standard athletes and returned with their heads held high as the best northern swimmers in the land and most successful senior team the school has ever had. The Park View boys train with Derwentside ASC, Chester-le-Street ASC, Hetton ASC and Durham City ASC.

Park View deputy head and proud coach Andy Finley said: “The performance of our swimmers on the national stage over the last few years has been nothing short of exceptional and 2018 was no different.

“Like so many of our students, all of our swimmers represented themselves, their school and their region with a tremendous amount of pride and it was great to be involved and part of their success again.

“The future of swimming at Park View looks bright and we cannot wait to continue to build on our achievements in the next few years.

“We have exciting plans for a Swimming Academy and Centre of excellence. I am a very proud teacher.”