The St Mary’s aquatics team made huge waves during the National Aquatics Festival 2020 hosted at St Stithians College on 14 and 15 February. The annual festival includes girls schools from all over South Africa which compete in the three aquatics codes: swimming, water polo and diving.

Our swimmers took to the water early on Valentine’s Day and swam well as a team. The swimmers produced some excellent times on the morning and were extremely competitive throughout the gala.

St Mary’s won a total of 17 medals from the 28 events swum. Our senior swimmer, Emma Franck, took part in the very exciting “Dash for Cash” 50m sprint race and placed first.

Water polo placed fifth overall with an 8-2 win over St Mary’s, Kloof. The water polo team fell short in the quarter-final against Durban Girls’ College losing 6-4 in a closely played match. The water polo team had a good tournament overall and has shown their potential against some top 10-rated schools in the country.

It was the St Mary’s divers who came in tops with their overall score of 97,00 that placed them first and won them the title of the National Aquatics Diving Winners 2020. Of 28 divers per event, all St Mary’s divers placed within the top eight. In the U15 event, Zalika Methula placed third. In the U16 event, Tannah Proudfoot placed third and, in the Open event, Kerry-Leigh Morrison placed third.

The St Mary’s aquatics team look forward to working hard throughout the year to continue to succeed and, hopefully, win the whole event next year. The National Aquatics Festival 2021 will be hosted by St Mary’s, Kloof, and we look forward to being part of such a prestigious girls’ school event next year.

Kelsey Thomson
Head of Aquatics