AquaEagles hoping they have the legs for this weekend’s swim meet

January is an exciting time at the Puxi Campus Aquatic Center. Last week the Eagles hosted the China Cup and this weekend APAC schools are gathered to battle it out for swimming supremacy. 

The two day China Cup event saw ISB, HKIS and SAS Pudong visit for a warm up to the APAC championships starting on Thursday, January 28. The four teams had a great time both in and out of the pool. The home stays provided swimmers a chance to make new friends and get to know their competition on a more personal level. The races themselves proved to be incredibly competitive with 48% of the China Cup records falling and more than a few races coming down to a couple 100s of a second. 

At the end of the day, the ISB Dragons had a clean sweep of things, taking first place in the boys, girls and overall categories, with SAS Puxi and Pudong campuses coming in third and fourth respectively. The Puxi campus boys took third in their category, being edged out by HKIS by a mere 30 points. While the Pudong campus girls took home the third place trophy, also losing out HKIS who squeezed out second place. 

Some individual highlights from the weekend included a jaw-dropping 23-point performance from Pudong’s Amy Parsons who came first overall for the girls.  Lydia Oldham also swam well and captured 12 points to finish tied for 8th overall. 

On the boys side freshman G Ping Lee battled it out with his two-team mates Andrew McClintock and Raymond Song to finish third overall in a very talented boys side. Andrew and Raymond finished tied for fourth. 

The last race of the day, the 4×100meter free relay, featured these three boys along with Chase Preston who were seeking to exact revenge on the ISB boys who Friday out-touched them by two 100ths of a second in the 4×50meter relay. Just over three minutes later revenge was theirs! McClintock, the last swimmer on the team, cruised home to over a body length win to cap off the day’s events.  

Even during the highest points of competition, wins were met with high fives and hugs across lane ropes. Close second place finishes and even the occasional ties evoked smiles and a jovial “nice race, I’ll get you at APAC”! Proving that this meet is all about fostering friendships and camaraderie, not just collecting medals.  

–Corry DAY, Swim Coach, Puxi Campus
EAGLE photo by Jerry Koontz