A RECORD held in the pool for a quarter of a century has been broken by a St John Fisher College student, who went on to bag five medals at the recent Queensland Schools Swimming Championships.
Principal Catherine Galvin said Year 9 student, Olivia Watson, broke the record for the 14 years 50m backstroke at the March Catholic Secondary Schoolgirls’ Sports Association swimming carnival, which had stood for 25 years.
“Olivia was the only member from the medium-size schools carnival selected in the CaSSSA honours team,” Ms Galvin said.
“Olivia went on to represent the Metropolitan North Region at the Queensland School Sport State Swimming Championships, taking out gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke, silver in the 50m backstroke and medley relay, and bronze in the freestyle relay.
“Olivia also broke the CaSSSA 50m backstroke last year and, in 2020, she broke the record for all four strokes.
“Following Nationals, which were held in Adelaide over Easter, Olivia is ranked 6th in Australia for backstroke in her age group and number 1 in Queensland School Swimming.
“We are so proud of Olivia for these tremendous results and the SJFC Community congratulate her on these incredible achievements.”
Ms Galvin said St John Fisher College has a proud tradition of sporting success and was often represented at the highest level.
“Set in 15 hectares of greenspace, which include an athletics oval, cricket pitch and AFL field, our college grounds provide the perfect setting for students to play sport,” she said.
“Keeping active is an important part of education and we endeavour to give every student an opportunity to be a team member in their chosen sport.
“Just last month year 11 student and cricket champ, Mankiran Kaur was selected in the Metropolitan North Team for cricket and participated in the 16 – 19 years Queensland Schools State Championships, bringing home a silver medal.
“Other St John FIsher students who have recently been selected to represent Met North at a State Championships in their respective sports include, Kaiyah Gordon (Netball), Kiana Henare (Netball), Mahlia Henare (Netball), Tia Molo (Netball), Yazmine Smith (Netball) and Kiara Gorman (Rugby League).
“At St John Fisher our sporting success is just another example of how we encourage our students to gain a holistic education, to thrive in their interests, and in doing so, achieve excellence.”
