By earning points and achieving qualifying times through a series of regional swimming meets over the past two years, six of our elite RST swimmers were invited to participate in the 2022 installment of the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championship over the week of the 5-10th April.
Only the best swimmers in Thailand are welcome to participate in this prestigious meet and would need to qualify during preliminary heats each morning in order to make it through to the finals each afternoon. In any given age category, the swimmers would be vying for 8 spots out of approximately 160 swimmers if they were to have a chance at achieving a podium position in their event.
The age categories included a male and female group of: 10-11 years, 12-13 years, 14-15 years, 16-18 years as well as an over 19 category. This is significant as a number of our top swimmer will remain in the same age category in next year’s National Championship.
Every swimmer from RST was able to achieve personal best times for at least one of their events during the course of the week.
Our incredible swimmers did themselves – and our school – proud. Not only did we see Rugby School representation in many finals, but even took home medals in several events.
The following are each swimmers National ranking in their respective event.
Lilly (10 years old, competing in the 10-11 age category)
- 50m Butterfly: 22nd rank in Thailand and the 5th fastest swimmer of 10 years. (36.15)
- 100m Butterfly: 19th rank in Thailand and the 4th fastest swimmer of 10 years. (1.23.61)
Jada (13 years old, competing in the 12-13 age category)
- 50m Freestyle: 21st rank in Thailand (30.78)
- 100m Freestyle: 16th rank in Thailand (1.06.20)
Kaopun (15 years old, competing in the 14-15 age category)
- 50m Freestyle: 16th rank in Thailand (30.10)
Rebecca (16 years old, competing in the 16-17 age category)
- 50m Freestyle: 17th rank in Thailand and the 6th fastest swimmer of 16 years. (29.74)
Andrew (14 years old, competing in the 14-15 age category)
- 100m Freestyle: 12th Rank in Thailand and the 4th fastest swimmer of 14 years. (58.16)
- 50m Backstroke: 6th rank in Thailand and the 4th fastest swimmer of 14 years. (29.85)
- 100m Backstroke: 2nd rank in Thailand and 2nd fastest swimmer of 14 years. (1.03.40)
- 200m Backstroke: 4th rank in Thailand and the 3rd fastest swimmer of 14 years. (2.18.71)
- 50m Butterfly: 7th rank in Thailand and the 3rd fastest swimmer of 14 years. (27.76)
Georgia (14 years old, competing in the 14-15 age category)
- 50m Freestyle: 2nd rank in Thailand and the fastest swimmer of 14 years. (27.87)
- 100m Freestyle: 4th rank in Thailand and the 2nd fastest swimmer of 14 years. (1.00.40)
- 50m Backstroke: 3rd rank in Thailand and the fastest swimmer of 14 years. (32.18)
- 50m Butterfly: 4th rank in Thailand and the second fastest swimmer of 14 years. (29.69)
A huge congratulations to our amazing swimmers who have worked tirelessly to achieve these remarkable results. Another big thank you must go out to the parents of these swimmers who have given so much of their time to ensure our athletes are present for training sessions and competitions as well as all of the support and snacks along the way! Thank you also to Mr. Cairncross and Coach Tor for expertly guiding our swimmers through this event and to all the squad coaches who have played a role in getting our swimmers to the top.
Well done and congratulations to the RST swimming team and all involved in making this event a great success. We could not be more proud!