Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 151 September 2017 GreatScot_Internal_Sept_2017_FA | Page 54

Senior School
Sport
Special swims beat
special records
HEATH MACLEOD WITH GUY FARROW (’82)
This swimming season there were impressive
individual swims by two of Scotch College’s
senior boys, Dante Negri of Year 11 and Captain
of Swimming, Heath Macleod (Year 12), who each
broke an individual school record.
Back in 1982 the world record for the 100
metres breaststroke was 62.86 seconds, which
made the 67.22 swum by then Captain of
Swimming, Guy Farrow (‘82), a very sharp time.
It was such a strong swim that it actually took 35
years for this record to be broken. But this year
Heath Macleod swam a very impressive 64.35,
to be the first Scotch Collegian to swim under 65
seconds.
Guy Farrow, who now lives in Sydney, came
back to his old school to meet Heath and to look
at the new swimming records board that was
installed in 2015. Guy shared some stories with
Heath about his school swimming days and
his subsequent swimming in the USA National
Collegiate Athletic Association sports program for
the University of Hawaii. Guy still loves to spend
time in the pool and races in masters events, and
his swim times still rival many of Scotch’s current
boys’ records.
After the school swimming season, Heath
went on to compete at the Australian Age
52
“News of this record
was sent to Matt
Targett, who replied: …
He better be the one to
beat my
Commonwealth
record.”
Group Championships, where he bettered his
breaststroke time from the APS competition to
63.18 and was rewarded with selection in his
first Australian team. Heath will compete in the
Bahamas at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth
Games. This event will be the largest international
sporting event ever to be hosted in the Bahamas,
and the largest-ever edition of the Commonwealth
Youth Games, with up to 1300 athletes from
Commonwealth nations competing.
The surname Negri is prominent in Scotch
College swimming records, with older brother
Benno (‘16) having just finished swimming
in Europe at the Mare Nostrum swimming
competitions in Monaco, Spain and France.
However middle brother Dante ensured
that the ‘reign of Negri’ on the school records
board was not over yet. Matt Targett (‘03) won
a silver medal at the 2009 world swimming
championships, and is the current Commonwealth
record holder for the 50 metres butterfly. In 1996
Matt set a Scotch College record of 26.67 in the
under 17 event. Dante smashed that time with
25.94 at the All Schools Swimming competition
this year. News of this record was sent to Matt
Targett, who replied: ‘Who is this kid … Damn …
He better be the one to beat my Commonwealth
record’.
Dante also had a successful Australian Age
Group Championships, in which he was a member
of his club’s bronze medal winning team in the
sixteen and under 4x100m freestyle relay at the
Australian championships.
RYAN NOLAN – TIC SWIMMING
Great Scot Number 151 – September 2017