After 12 long years of trying, Spring Hill Public School finally brought the Peter Dobson Schools Relay gong home from Thursday’s NSW Primary School Sports Association Swimming Championships, at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.
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It smashed the state record in doing so too, by almost two seconds.
Spring Hill’s 4x50 metre relay team of Joseph Stewart, Liam McDonald, Jordan Cox and Finley Gutherson clocked 2.18.77 in the preliminary stage to eclipse the previous record of 2.20, set in 2009.
The quartet didn’t need to swim that fast in the final, clocking 2.19 flat to edge out silver medallists St John’s Trangie (2.19.31).
“It was a really close race, they were our toughest competitor,” McDonald said.
Mrs Mac always always said the gold was the cake and any record would be the icing.
- Liam McDonald
“We’re really pleased with it. We had high hopes going in because we finished fourth last year.
“Mrs Mac (Spring Hill principal Ann Marie McAnulty) always said the gold was the cake and any record would be the icing.”
Gutherson led the Spring Hill team out before Cox and McDonald maintained the pace through the second and third legs, with Stewart anchoring the team, just edging out his St John’s counterpart to touch the wall first.
Incredibly, St John’s also eclipsed the former record in the final however with Spring Hill even quicker, the strong swim wasn’t enough to claim that mark or the gold.
Burren Junction – a little under 100km east of Walgett – claimed the bronze medal, clocking 2.31.22, more than 10 seconds behind the gold and silver medal-winning teams.