Making a splash: 2023 Swimming Carnival results

Students from Aquinas and Horten houses have made history, winning the 53^rd annual Secondary Swimming Carnival.

For the first time since the houses were combined for the Secondary sporting carnivals, Aquinas/Horten claimed the swimming victory ahead of Denifle/Jarrett, who had won the previous five years.

The last victory for Aquinas was in 2013, while for Horten, it was their first win in swimming since 1989.

*_{Ben Zeuner, Matthew Brown, Harrison Smith and Harrison Zeuner broke the U16 4x50m freestyle record. Hugh Caton broke the U16 50m freestyle record.}*

The first record of the day fell in the 50m freestyle, with Year 10 student Hugh Caton (Burke) breaking the U16 record. His time of 25.59 bettered the previous mark of 25.89, set in 2010. Hugh and his brother Noah (BPS’21) now hold every Secondary freestyle record.

The team of Matthew Brown, Harrison Zeuner, Harrison Smith and Ben Zeuner, representing Denifle/Jarrett, also broke the U16 4×50 freestyle relay in a time of 2:05.35, improving on the previous mark of 2:05.55, set by Burke/Lacordaire in 2019.

_{Old scholar Luke Curtis (BPS’08), with Principal David Ruggiero, presents the Swimming Carnival Trophy to the winning House Captains and Vice Captains (from left) Adrian D’Angelo, Massimo Gazzola, Michael Ward and Dominic Canil.}

In keeping with tradition, a Blackfriars old scholar was invited to present the winning House with the Swimming Carnival trophy. This year, it was Luke Curtis (BPS’08), who is currently the Head Coach of Norwood Swimming Club.

Fittingly, Luke was in Horten House during his time at Blackfriars and two of our Age Champions, Hugh Caton (U16) and Antony Barresi (U15), train under Luke at Norwood Swimming Club.

Final scores

Aquinas/Horten – 1193
Denifle/Jarrett – 1063
Burke/Lacordaire – 970
De Vitoria/Lagrange – 736

Age champions/runners-up

Open

Brian Vien (Lacordaire)
Michael Ward (Horten)
Ben Baker (Aquinas)

U16

Hugh Caton (Burke)
Matthew Brown (Denifle)
Harry Wall (Horten)

U15

Antony Barresi (Denifle)
Nathan Bishop (Denifle)
Benjamin Ward (Horten)

U14

Anthony Phuy (Denifle)
Aedan Ryan (Aquinas)
Alexander Frith (Aquinas)

U13

Alexander Ward (Horten)
Henry Kemp (Lacordaire)
Lachlan Sutton (Denifle)

Congratulations, also, to Denifle/Jarret, taking out the Junior water polo competition, and Aquinas/Horten, who won the Senior contest.

The swimming action continues with a team of Secondary boys contesting the SSSSA A-grade competition at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre on Tuesday 28 February. Our younger boys hit the water at Adelaide Aquatic Centre on Friday 10 March for the annual Primary Swimming Carnival.