The Primary school (Year 4 – 6) participated in its swimming carnival this week, with a beautiful warm autumn day providing additional incentive for the students to get their toes wet.

Mr Murphy, along with a wonderful team of staff and parents, helped co-ordinate the day, which saw a number of aspiring young swimmers show-casing their skills.

For the less water-loving amongst the students, some novelty events were held, which allowed swimmers of all stages and levels to realistically compete against one another.  A terrific group of Secondary students aided in certain events, and helped the less capable swimmers also enjoy the day.  A concluding free swim after the events were completed gave every student further opportunity to enjoy this water-based event.

The results of the day were:

Judah (Red)162 points
Benjamin (Green)206 points
Naphtali (Blue) 238 points
Rueben  (Yellow) 240 points

Students who showed strength on this day will be selected to participate in the inter-school swimming carnival next week.

Well done to everyone who helped on the day, co-ordinated events, cheered on students or participated.

The Primary school (Year 4 – 6) participated in its swimming carnival earlier this term, with a beautiful warm summer day providing additional incentive for the students to get their toes wet.

Mr Murphy, along with a wonderful team of staff and parents, helped co-ordinate the day, which saw a number of aspiring young swimmers show-casing their skills.

For the less water-loving amongst the students, some novelty events were held, which allowed swimmers of all stages and levels to realistically compete against one another.

The results of the day were:

Judah 206 points

Rueben 156 points

Naphtali 153 points

Benjamin 153 points

Students who showed strength on this day, were then selected to participate in the inter-school swimming carnival, with some great results achieved for many of the students.

The Championship Medals went to the following students:

Year 4 Runner-Up

Katie Meldrum

Year 4 Champion

Grace Bailey

Year 5 Runners-Up

Jesse Adams and Carlu Martens

Year 5 Champions

Hannah Lee-Reynolds and Samuel Riches

Year 6 Runners-Up

Melat Cohen and Anthony Serafino

Year 6 Champions

Caitlin Lee-Reynolds and Diwan Ackerman

Additional special mention was made of Jasmin Black, Jemima Mapsone and Caitlin Lucas for finishing just behind these memorable positions.

Congratulations to Mr Murphy and his team for bringing such a wonderful day of fun together.  You made a big splash!

Inter School Swimming Events have recently been held, after the identification of strong swimmers within Cornerstone was completed at our own in-school event.

Secondary students travelled to Perth to compete in their competition, with several students performing well.  The Primary stars battled their challenge out a little closer to home, taking on students from within Busselton in their meet.

Cornerstone is blessed to have several students who swim at a state level, and who understandably, performed well on the day.  More than just the results were pleasant for the College however, with staff and parents all commenting on how great the events were.  College teacher, Mr Caleb Murphy, was particularly impressed by the number of parents who attended.

‘It was awesome.  I met so many wonderful parents who took time out to come and cheer on our students.  It was a sensational day’, he said.

The inter-school events are on the annual calendar for Cornerstone, and usually occur just a week or two after our own carnivals are held.  Well done to each student selected for participation.  Your selection alone is worthy of celebration.

Cornerstone’s annual Swimming Carnival went off with a splash today, with perfect weather making the water especially appealing.

Students from Years 4 – 12 put aside their academic aspirations for the day, and instead, battled out for sporting glory.

A large number of parents and grandparents came to cheer on the students, but it was the students themselves who made the most noise.  Of special note is the Benjamin Faction, whose creative songs and dances provided a festive note to the occasion.

The winners on the day were Judah (Red).  They came ahead of Naphtali (Blue), then Benjamin (Green) and finally Reuben (Yellow).

The traditional swimming strokes of Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly were obviously on the event list, but a special duck race (that involved an inflatable ring and two rubber chickens per team) as well as a boat relay were also fought out.  Medley Relays were also scheduled as well.

The Carnival will be central to staff selecting an inter-school team that will compete later this month against other independent local schools.  Following the inter-school event, Champion Boys and Girls will be announced.

As for today, it was a beautiful day in the sunshine, that celebrated the physical sport of swimming, as well as the water-based Busselton lifestyle.

Special thanks must go to Mr Dijkstra and his team of helpers who made the day such a success.  Well done to everyone.

Secondary students at Cornerstone Christian College are currently expanding their skills in the water, with many taking steps towards earning their Bronze Medallion. 

As part the College’s Red Cross Cadets Option, 18 Year 10 students are spending part of their Friday afternoons at the Geographe Leisure Centre, fine-tuning their rescue skills.  Holding a Bronze Medallion is not only valuable for recreational activities, but can also aid in employment opportunities as well.

Of those completing this qualification, the most inspirational is Meseret Cohen.  Meseret has been in Australia for less than two years, having come from Ethiopia with her siblings in 2009.  Before life in Australia, she had not experienced the joys of swimming.  Despite such a short period of time to undertake swimming lessons, Meseret has proven herself to be strong enough to take home a Bronze Medallion of her own.

According to College teacher, Jo Needham, Meseret’s dedication has been inspirational.  She commenced Stage One, just last year, and has progressed quickly through the swimming stages. 

‘Meseret has worked really hard over the past couple of years to progress very quickly through the swimming stages. She has taken every opportunity she could find to improve her swimming techniques. She has learnt the rescue techniques easily but has had to work really hard to complete the timed swim components of the Bronze, particularly the timed tow – a 50m swim, then 50m tow in 3 minutes & 15 seconds’.

Jo Needham is excited to see the progression of the students, as they learn new lifesaving skills.  As a careers teacher, she also celebrates any educational activity that prepares her students for life beyond their secondary education. 

‘It’s also a great lead up to the Canoe Trip that a lot of the students go on as part of the Year 11 Outdoor Ed Course next year’, she said.

The Red Cross Cadets Option will continue to be a part of the Friday afternoon range of options in 2011 – and promises to provide further opportunities for participants to learn leadership skills, as well as gaining practical knowledge.

For a relatively small College, Cornerstone is top heavy with successful swimmers at a State level.

Tyler Hughes, Keeley Hughes and Lauren Alcorn are nearing the top of their chosen sport.  Keeley has consistently been very competitive at a regional level and both Tyler and Lauren are the top ranked regional swimmers in Western Australia for their respective age-groups.

Keeley, at 7 years old, became the youngest swimmer at the Busselton Swim Club.  During the recent summer season, she has achieved the highest points score within the club for the greatest time improvements.  In her short time in swimming, she has competed in 2 competitions, one of them being the WA Junior Country Championships at Challenge Stadium.

Tyler, Keeley’s older sister, is leading the way, as after just two years of competition, she holds 20 medals against her name.  Tyler has been the age winner at the Busselton Swim Club every season and won a Bronze medal at the WA State Junior Championships in Backstroke in 2009.  Additionally, Gold and silver medals were added to the family medal cabinet recently in Breaststroke and Freestyle at the WA Country Junior Championships.  Cumulative points over the 2010 season have led to her being named the top 9 year old swimmer in regional WA.  A sensational result!

Lauren Alcorn’s medal cabinet is filled with an enormous number of winning acknowledgements.  Like Tyler, she also has been named the top regional swimmer in her age-group, and recently  participated at the State Junior Championships.  During 2010 alone, Lauren has been named the Busselton Swim Club’s 10 year old champion, won 3 gold medals and a silver at the Country Championships, and 5 gold medals in the Northam Country Pennants.  In the Junior State Championships, she qualified for 3 events and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Her strongest finish was in the 50m Butterfly, where she is reaching the top of her field.

Keeley continues on with her training, but both Tyler and Lauren are taking a well-deserved break to ensure they are well rested and hungry again for competition next season.

The College is immensely proud of these three girls and their achievements.  We wait with anticipation to see what lies in the future for them in this sport, of which Australians are amongst the strongest nations in the world.  Sensational!

The Year 5-12 students participated in the Annual Swimming Carnival this week.

The Carnival was held at the Geographe Leisure Centre, and had each student testing their swimming skills against one another.

A number of close races marked the day, as well as enthusiastic cheering and laughter during the novelty events.  To the delight of students,  many parents were present to cheer their children along.

Judah won the day’s event, and Benjamin came away with the Sportsmanship Award.

Great swimming everyone!

Miss Jo Needham is a woman on a mission.  She is a teacher at Cornerstone, and also a member of the ‘Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim’ Committee.  With a crop of energetic teens before her in the classroom each day, it is inevitable that she is promoting this classic Busselton event as much as possible.

The result of her enthusiasm  is that as the annual Jetty Swim approaches, students at the College have commenced training to ensure they have the required fitness levels to complete this challenge.  As an extension to the Physical Education program at Cornerstone, regular time in the pool has been scheduled.

In February next year over 1000 swimmers will gather at the beachfront and participate in one of the two possible distance swims.  The full event, comprising of a 3.6 km swim around the length of the jetty together with the shorter distanced 1km race will have a total of 20 students from the College at the starting lines.

Jo is excited about the students’ participation and is encouraged that she has such an enthusiastic group to work with.

”Already their fitness levels have dramatically improved and we hope that will continue right up to the event”, she said.

Jo’s ultimate aim is to have students attempting the more challenging Geo Bay Swim event later in 2010.  A recent finish in that event by the College’s 15 year-old David Hill has no doubt inspired further commitment to training.  This 20km swim will require considerable preparation, but success in the Jetty Swim will be an incentive for the students to continue towards this goal.

The Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim will occur on the 7th February 2010.