SWIMMERS from Warrington’s Priestley College made up half of the winning North West team at one of the country’s largest sporting events.
Five Priestley students were included in the swim team of 10 representing the region at the AoC National Championships in Tyne & Wear.
“Warrington is a strong town for swimming with great clubs, coaches and facilities, but it is still an incredible achievement to make up half the team,” said Priestley’s Head of Sport Nigel Howells.
“We work with local clubs to ensure we give our students the opportunities to compete at the highest levels possible and this is a great example of how that has worked.”
Siblings James and Catherine Ross, Adam Ravenscroft, Jacob Wass and Alicia Pierce had to qualify for the nationals through regional tournaments that took place in the autumn term.
As well as competing in their chosen sport, students compete for points for their region and the North West finished overall fourth across all sports out of 11 competing areas.
The standout performance was in the medley where three of the four swimmers were Priestley students and the team finished more than five seconds ahead of their nearest rival after several blistering swims.
“The great thing about the competition is you get to compete at a high level to challenge yourself, but all through you are earning points for the team,” said James, who is aiming to study at Loughborough University after Priestley.
The AoC National Championships is one of the largest annual sporting events in England, involving more than 1,800 college students and 200 staff.
Priestley’s Callum Blinkhorn also competed and secured a top 10 finish in the golf competition.
Principal Matthew Grant met all the students to congratulate them and said: “I know the whole team represented both Priestley and Warrington exceptionally well in the competition and did themselves, their college and town proud.”
