insideKENT Magazine Issue 63 - June 2017 | Page 176

EDUCATION
KENT COLLEGE PEMBURY CELEBRATES
STUDENTS’ SPORTING SUCCESS
GOLD AT INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATION OF PREP
SCHOOLS (IAPS) SWIMMING GALA
Izzie Mercer, Year 6 pupil at Kent College, won gold at the IAPS Swimming Gala and
set a new competition record time for her age group. Held in Crawley on the 6th
May 2017, the event is the largest annual Prep School Swimming Gala in the UK, with
1,500 swimmers from 200 schools entering the qualifying galas. Izzie came first in
the Girls Under-11, 25-Metre Butterfly race, swimming with a time of 14.23 seconds
in the final.
The competition enables participants to represent their school and the finalists have
the opportunity to compete against the fastest 16 individuals in the country.
Izzie Mercer
ANNABEL GUYE JOHNSON
TO REPRESENT BRITAIN AT WORLD JUNIOR
SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gymnastics BSGA, L-R Caroline Gente, Constance Arnell, Jemima Cynk,
Francesca Arnell, Evie Ginbey, Matilda Secker
CHAMPIONS AT BRITISH SCHOOL
GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION (BSGA)
NATIONAL FINALS
Annabel Guye Johnson
Lower sixth form student, Annabel Guye Johnson, has been selected
for the British swimming team, which is competing at the World
Junior Championships 2017 in Indianapolis, U.S. The competition
will take place 23rd – 28th August and is one of the few opportunities
that British junior swimmers have to compete with nations such as
the U.S., Australia, China and Japan. Annabel will be one of the 21-
strong squad, comprising girls aged between 14 and 17 and boys
aged between 15 and 18. Led by British Swimming Head of Elite
Development, Tim Jones, Annabel and the team will gain valuable
competition experience at an international level and could set them
up to follow in the footsteps of the competition’s previous participants
such as celebrated Canadian Olympian Penny Oleksiak, who picked
up four medals at Rio 2016.
On 7th May 2017, the Acrobatic Gymnastics Under-11s Group from
Kent College was crowned British Champions 2017, having
demonstrated outstanding performances in their Acrobatic Group.
The Kent College squad included: Francesca Arnell, Constance Arnell,
Matilda Secker, Jemima Cynk, Caroline Gente and Evie Ginbey, and
scored a prestigious 8.7 points. Teammates Francesca Arnell and
Evie Ginbey also achieved fourth place with a remarkable score of
9.0 points in the Under-11 Girls Pairs competition.
This year’s BSGA National Acro & Tumbling competition was held
in Stoke-on-Trent and enabled the team to challenge the best
gymnasts from across the country; competition is tough and the
standards across all categories have increased over the years and the
results are always close. The Kent College Under-14s Acrobatic Group
was placed 6th, the team: Poppy Morrison, Natalia Cynk, Olivia
Secker, Phoebe Hollands, Annabel Lloyd and Harriet Fuller, achieved
8.30 points. The school’s individual tumblers also succeeded at the
competition. Scarlett Howard-Stapaj was placed 8th and Violet Manser
achieved 11th place in the Under-11 Girls final and Olivia
Hossenboccus was awarded 10th place in the Over-14s category.
MS. JULIE LODRICK, HEADMISTRESS AT KENT COLLEGE, COMMENTS:
“WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF EACH OF THE GIRLS’ ACHIEVEMENTS.
COMPETING AND WINNING AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL IS TESTAMENT
TO THE HARD WORK THAT THEY HAVE DEDICATED TO THEIR INDIVIDUAL SPORTING DISCIPLINES. WE DO ALL WE CAN TO SUPPORT THE
GIRLS’ PERSONAL TRAINING NEEDS SO THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO PERFORM AT A NATIONAL LEVEL.”
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