58th National Schools Swimming Championships

In the recent National School Swimming Championships that commenced on the 16th of April and concluded on the 20th of April, our swimmers emerged victorious and made Anglo-Chinese Junior College proud by bringing home the Silver trophy for the girls and the Bronze for the boys. It was truly a spectacular sight to witness our college values such as courage, tenacity and passion were displayed by our swimmers.

There were many high points at this year’s amazing event. Samuel Tang performed brilliantly, shattering the record for the 100m Men’s Freestyle event and bagging the Gold for the Men’s 200m Freestyle event. Brandon Tan also did ACJC proud by bringing home the Gold medals in both the Men’s 100m Breaststroke and Men’s 200m Breaststroke events. Isaac Pang performed very well by coming in 3rd for the Men’s 100m Backstroke and 2nd for the Men’s 200m Backstroke events. In a tight and difficult challenge, Tristan Chua bagged two 4th place titles in both the Men’s 100m and 200m Butterfly events.

The Girls Team performed equally well. Chan Zi Yi simply crushed her opponents and took the Gold medal for the Women’s 400m Freestyle event and the Silver for the Women’s 200m Freestyle event. Genevieve Lye was unstoppable and she bagged the Gold medals for the Women’s 800m Freestyle and Women’s 100m Backstroke event. Jaymi Ching went beyond her personal best to win the Bronze medal for the Women’s 200m Medley. Joey Chieng and Joanne Chieng braved the daunting Women’s 200m Butterfly and came in at 6th and 7th positions respectively.

For the exciting relay races our Girl’sTeam consisting of Rayna Buckle, Chan Zi Yi, Geneveive Lye and Annie Siow came in 4th and it was a satisfying win for the girls. The Boy’s Relay team fared better. Samuel Tang, Brandon Tan, Isaac Pang and Ryan Yeoh swam a really exciting and challenging race, and finished with well-deserved Bronze medal.

The last few months leading up to the Championships were challenging to our spirit and bodies. Our swimmers put in an extra portion of their strength everyday so as to stay focused, and train despite the physical and mental exhaustion they were faced with. This championship has brought our team closer together as we encouraged and cheered each other on beyond physical boundaries.

This season ends on a victorious note, for us all; for all the swimmers who won medals, for swimmers who completed their daunting races, for swimmers competing in their non-master strokes and even for swimmers who took the courage to simply stand on the starting block for the very first time determined to compete and do well for ACJC. This season was indeed extra special and fruitful for the ACJC Swimming Team.

And of course, behind every victory, there will always be a team of people behind the scenes who helped us come this far. To our friends and supporters, a big Thank You for being there for us. To our Principal, our Vice-Principals, our Swim Team teachers and our coaches, we thank you with humility and gratitude for guiding and encouraging us.

The next season will be equally hard for us as we shift gears and move towards striving to do well academically. However, we know that with the values we have learnt from swimming and strong bonds that we have formed throughout the course of the year, we will yet again come together to challenge each other to achieve the best that we can.

Written by
Sharanya Ravi Chandran
2SB5
Welfare Head