Visakha and St. Peter’s claim National Schools Swimming titles
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St. Peter’s College team
St. Peter’s College and Visakha Vidyalaya emerged victorious at the three-day National All-Island Schools Swimming Games, held at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool. In the boys’ category, it was an interesting finish between rivals St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s. Eventually St. Peter’s became champions finishing well ahead with 92 points, while St. Joseph’s gathered 76 points. St. Peter’s won eight gold, 10 silver and five bronze medals.
Panduka Rason (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), Chris Pavithra (2 gold, 1 silver), Matthew Cooray (1 silver, 1 bronze), Pruthuvi Poornima (1 silver, 1 bronze), Vihanga Caldera (1 gold, 2 silver), Kaveesha Perera (1 silver), Qaid Farook (2 gold, 1 bronze) and A.I.M. Haathim (1 gold, 2 silver) performed exceptionally helping St. Peter’s topped the leaderboard.
The Under-14 relay team comprising A.I.M. Haathim, Qaid Farook, Nathan Toussant and Jovash Pietersz won a gold and a silver in the medley and freestyle relays while their Under-16 Relay team comprised Kaveesha Perera, Umar Farook, Ean Jake and Vihanga Caldera also clinched medley gold and silver in the freestyle.
Visakha Vidyalaya team
Chris Pavithra, Pruthuvi Poornima, Mathew Cooray and Asith Seyan grabbed the bronze medal in the Under-18 medley relay. The Peterite swimming captain Panduka Rason also established a record in the boys’ Under-20 freestyle clocking 55.78 seconds.
The Visakhians, who were runners-up at the Western Province Meet, behind Ladies’ College, made amends with Olympian Ganga Seneviratne leading the way to win the championship. The backstroker established two new records, 31.60 seconds and 1.07.52 seconds in the Girls’ Under-20 50m and 100m races. Apart from Ganga, Seneshi Herath and their U20 relay established three records. Visakhians grabbed 11 gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
| History for Holy Family Convent | |
 Holy Family Convent team Holy Family Convent (HFC) Bambalapitiya not only made a special splash in the waters but also went onto script history registering their best performance so far of finishing fourth, collecting a count of 11 medals and producing a national swimming record holder for the first time in their history. Their tally comprised six gold, two silver and three bronze medals. The Familians, coached by Shehaan Dias, hailed their performance, a transformation of only one bronze to 11 medals. “HFC in the last eight years had won only a bronze, also under me. In the recent past they’ve picked up. So for them to come in a team championship fourth overall, to be able to highlight themselves with six gold medals along with two records, is quite a big achievement for me. Especially, at All-Island level, is a huge achievement for a school that didn’t have swimming as a main sport in their calendar,” Dias said. “This year, they have really picked up to the top five positions. They were always beyond 15th overall. Now, they are fourth. History-wise, the first gold and the most number of golds, because they never had won this big at All-Island level,” disclosed Dias, the coach of HFC for over three years. The Familians, in a fabulous show leaped to such an extent, they also established two national records, previously unheard of, making it all a history. Of the 11 medals, budding swimmer Jessie Senevirathne alone bagged two golds, all of them records too, and leading by example. “To me, Jessie with her age, her performance has been in the pipeline for one and a half years. We’ve seen her potential. We’ve seen what she can achieve. We’ve already been told there are things we should look forward to. She’s still 15, there’s a long way to go,” Dias backed her. Apart from Jessie, Eliza Fernando also won two golds and silver, competing in the U-20 category. Ashirwada Chandrarathne also won a bronze medal adding to the school’s rich medal tally this time. HFC’s U-16 relay team comprised of Jessie Senevirathne, Nethali Outschoorn, Anshula Fernando and Brioni Pereira won gold in the 4x50m relay and also bronze in the 4x50m medley relay—a rare achievement in schools history. It was a memorable meet for Dias, too, as two other schools he coaches, St. Peter’s College and Visakha Vidyalaya, were adjudged as overall champions. |
| RECORDS | |
| Records: 1: Boys U-20 400m Freestyle: I Abeygunawardena (Wycherly International – 4.23.95m) 2: Boys U-20 50m Breaststroke: Amaan Hamidon (Wesley – 31.07s) 3: Girls U-18 200m Individual Medley: Hiruki de Silva (Gateway Colombo – 2.39.11m) 4: Boys U-20 200m Individual Medley: L.S.L. Samarasinghe (Trinity College – 2.22.30m) 5: Girls U-16 100m Butterfly: Kashika Vishalini (Lyceum Wattala – 1.10.93m) 6: Girls U-18 100 Butterfly: Nabashi Perera (Sirimavo Bandaranaika – 1.08.41m) 7: Girls U-14 50m Freestyle: Vandani Fernando (Kalutara BV – 30.10s) 8: Girls U-16 50m Freestyle: Jessie Senevirathna (Holy Family Convent – 28.89s) 9: Boys U-20 50m Freestyle: Kaveesha Gimhan (Ananda – 24.95s) 10: Boys U-20 200m Backstroke: Adithya Perera (Lyceum Wattala – 2.27.47m) 11: Boys U-20 1500m Freestyle: I. Abeygunawardena (Wycherly International – 17.59.05m) 12: Girls U-14 50m Backstroke: Vandani Fernando (Kalutara BV – 34.12s) 13: Boys U-14 50m Backstroke: Mihith Ekneligoda (Ananda – 31.39s) 14: Girls U-20 50m Backstroke: Ganga Senevirathna (Visakha – 31.60s) 15: Girls U-18 100m Freestyle: Hiruki de Silva (Gateway Colombo – 1.01.39m) 16: Boys U-20 100m Freestyle: Panduka Rason (St. Peter’s – 55.78s) 17: Boys U-20 100m Breaststroke: Amaan Hamidon (Wesley – 1.10.40m) 18: Boys U-16 4x50m Medley Relay: St. Joseph’s (1.59.53m) 19: Girls U-20 4x50m Medley Relay: Visakha Vidyalaya (2.22.29m) 20: Boys U-18 200m Freestyle: 21: Girls U-20 200m Freestyle: Seneshi Herath (Visakha – 2.28.83m) 22: Boys U-20 200m Freestyle: I. Abeygunawardena (Wycherly International – 2.00.38m) 23: Girls U-20m 100m Backstroke: Ganga Senevirathna (Visakha – 1.07.52m) 24: Boys U-20 200m Breaststroke: Sevin Chathmin (St. Joseph’s – 2.37.53m) 25: Girls U-16 50m Butterfly: Jessie Senevirathna (Holy Family Convent – 31.00s) 26: Girls U-18 50m Butterfly: Nabashi Oerera (Sirimavo Bandaranaika – 30.51s) 27: Girls U-20 4x50m Freestyle Relay: Visakha Vidyalaya (2.04.24m) Team Standings Girls’ 1: Visakha Vidyalaya – 76 2: Lyceum Wattala – 68 3: Ladies’ College – 54 4: Holy Family Convent – 39 5: Lyceum Gampaha – 35 6: St. Bridget’s Convent – 33 7: Anula Vidyalaya – 27 7: Hillwood, Kandy – 27 9: Mahamaya, Kandy – 23 10: Sirimmavo Bandaranaike – 22 Boys’ 1: St. Peter’s – 92 2: St Joseph’s – 76 3: Ananda – 73 4: Trinity – 52 5: Lyceum, Nugegoda – 29 6: Wesley – 27 7: D.S. Senanayake – 21 7: Royal – 21 7: Lyceum Wattala – 21 10: St. Sebastian’s – 20 Individual Champions
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