Making waves: Blackfriars’ 52nd annual Secondary Swimming Carnival

The competition was strong and the enthusiasm high as our students took to the pool for the 52^nd annual Secondary Swimming Carnival.

Pushed back from its usual Term 1 spot, due to covid restrictions, the boys dived head first into the competition, on Wednesday, 24 August, at Adelaide Aquatic Centre.

Denifle/Jarrett was aiming to make it five wins in a row and, after the opening 50m breaststroke event, had taken a narrow lead over Aquinas/Horten.

The first record of the day fell soon after, in the U15 50m freestyle, with Year 9 student Hugh Caton (Burke) recording a time of 25.75 and breaking the record set by his brother, Noah, in 2019.

Year 8 student Antony Barresi (Denifle) claimed a further two records on the day – the U14 50m butterfly (30.87) and U14 50m backstroke (33.72), the latter bettering the mark set way back in 2009.

In keeping with tradition, a Blackfriars old scholar was invited to present the winning House with the Swimming Carnival trophy.

This year it was Lucas Ciacciarelli (BPS’12), who still holds five Blackfriars swimming records.

Perhaps fittingly, Dr Ciacciarelli, who was in Denifle during his time at Blackfriars, ended the day by presenting the trophy to five-in-a-row winners Denifle/Jarrett.

Final scores

• Denifle/Jarrett – 1054
• Aquinas/Horten – 1038
• Burke/Lacordaire – 815
• De Vitoria/Lagrange – 599

Age champions/runners-up

U13

• 1st – Alexander Ward (Horten)/Anthony Phuy (Denifle)
• 3rd – Kian Leonard (De Vitoria)

U14

• 1st – Antony Barresi (Denifle)
• 2nd – Benjamin Ward (Horten)
• 3rd – Nathan Bishop (Denifle)

U15

• 1st – Hugh Caton (Burke)
• 2nd – Matthew Brown (Denifle)
• 3rd – Cohen Traeger (Horten)

U16

• 1st – Brian Vien (Lacordaire)
• 2nd – Michael Ward (Horten)
• 3rd – Benjamin Baker (Aquinas)

Open

• 1st – Jack Slaven (Aquinas)
• 2nd – Ben Taylor (Lagrange)
• 3rd – Declan Hillman (Burke)

Congratulations, also, to Horten/Aquinas, taking out the Middle and Senior House water polo competitions.

We look forward to returning to Adelaide Aquatic Centre, and our regular February timeslot, in 2023 for the 53^rd edition of our Secondary Swimming Carnival.