HAC Promoted to Division 1!
Sunday 25th June saw the climax of M11 National Junior League 2017. Held at Southbury Road, Round 3 pitted us against some top clubs such as Hillingdon SC, Southend Aquatics, Enfield SS B and Bethnal Green Sharks. Our swimmers performed to a high standard; executing great skills and racing tough to secure second place behind a strong Hillingdon team at Round 3 and also second place overall and thereby a deserved promotion to Division 1 next year.
Our promotion journey began back in April 23rd at South Woodham Ferrers, where Hackney faced off against determined Enfield Swim Squad B and Bethnal Green Sharks. The results were a very narrow victory over Sharks by a mere 3 points and coming second to Enfield B by a slight 6 points – proving that every race and swimmer can make a difference! Overall this got HAC off to a flying start with 5 league points that are used to calculate overall points and placement in the table.
It was in Round 2 at Barnet Copthall on the 21st May that Hackney first faced the overall winners of Division 2, Hillingdon. Even with some of their swimmers away at Age Regional Championships, they secured first place and were the first team to challenge the power of our 10, 11 and 12 year old girls relay teams. Hackney Aquatics came second in Round 2 leading 3rd place Broomfield by over 50 points, and earning a further 5 league points in the process.
Throughout the three rounds Hackney swimmers showed great team spirit, both on the coach travelling to the venues and being the loudest cheering club, catching the eye of those in attendance. We also showed our ability to focus with correct race procedures of thorough land and pool warm ups which helped our swimmers to perform at their best.
With such a fantastic result nearing the end of the 2016/17 season, we can look to a bright future ahead as we continue to develop as a club across the board. A big thank you goes out to all of the volunteers who officiated at the competitions, those who helped with training and logistics as well as all those parents who attended and cheered us on!
Finally a big thank you to the swimmers and reserves who represented HAC in the M11 League team 2017:
Gaia Iacobelli, Milen Straiotto, Lena Westgate, Lara Pospisilova, Emma Arpesani, Llewellyn Porter, Asher Duckworth, Luke McCormick, Thomas Pakulis, Evan Chadbourne, Khalid Ahmed, Cressida Taggart, Isla Silva, Aranka Serfozo-Celik, Heidi Braybrooks, Mika Ogden, Leah Lipsey-Swarbrick, Sideliya Dincer, Marnie Evans, Sofie Pospisilova, Tilda Harrison, Chaimaa Boukdir, Gabriel Lawton-Hanlon, Sam Adams, Yasir Ahmed, James Sprange, William Rohrer, Dylan Jackson, Aaron Thomas-Epstein, Mateo Carmona, Freddie Giffin, Leo Diaz-Ruiz, Tess Peake, Melisa Ndreu, Maddie Worthington, Evelyn Pakule, Edie Cartmell, Alice Metcalf, Freya Duckworth, Lilah-Pearl Forde, Lorna Dumbleton, Ronni Phillimore, Ophelia Taggart, Jago Corner, Milo Endres, Bryan Piedra Ojeda, Ley Ito, Luke Pike Mullins, Karl Beaumont-Epstein
