Sports News
Sailing: In April Sam Machell (9Burrows) went to Lake Garda for the 43rd Optimist meeting 2025 in Italy. Over 800 young sailors from 43 countries were battling it out on the water. The regatta consisted of three qualifier days, dividing the junior sailors into gold, silver, bronze, emerald and pearl fleets on the final day of the regatta. The sailors were met with some tricky and unstable weather conditions, testing them all. 41 strong GBR sailors took part in the competition. 13 sailors make it to Gold Fleet and 15 sailors, including Sam, make it into Silver Fleet, ending as the 7th British boat in the Silver Fleet.
Sam then competed in the GBR Teams Selections Trials in Weymouth at the beginning of May. It was a very tough competition with four days training prior to the event, and four days racing, fighting for a GBR international place. Only a very limited number of sailors, out of a total of 78, get a place in the team and the competition was fierce. Day 1 was cancelled due to lack of wind and there were tricky weather conditions on day 2 with very light winds. The wind finally returned on the last two days and Sam ended up 31st overall, with a 5th place in the last race. This qualified Sam for Development Team 2 going to represent GBR in the French Nationals in July, but unfortunately this clashed with the RS Feva Worlds in France which Sam is attending. We wish Sam all the best in this competition.
Swimming: Congratulations to Libby Johnson (11Sherborne) who has had some big success at the recent Regional South East Swimming Championships held at High Wycombe. Libby managed to finish in both the 50m Freestyle, coming overall 6th, and 50m Butterfly getting 3rd and a bronze medal in a tightly contested race against some tough opposition. Hopefully this puts her in good stead to qualify for Nationals in the Summer.
Cricket: Jack Challen (8Ridgeway) scored an unbeaten 103 not out in a recent Sussex County Cup cricket match against The Regis School. To the best of my knowledge Jack is the first person to score a century for the school. Jack's batting was elegant and full of power leading him to scoring three 6s and 11 4s. This is an incredible achievement and one that will take some beating. The team face Steyning Grammar School in the next round. Well done Jack!
Athletics Track & Field Cup: Well done to the Year 9 and 10 girls' who have qualified for the South East of England Track and Field Cup A final. To qualify for this Final you have to be one of the top 10 scoring teams in round one, our area includes Surrey, Sussex and Kent. To the best of my knowledge we are the only state school in this final, this is only the second time we have reached this final in the past 7 years.
Extended congratulations to the Year 9 and 10 boys' who have qualified for the South East of England B final. They had to finish in the proceeding 20 places. The boys Final takes place on Monday 16th June at the K2 in Crawley and the girls' on Thursday 19th June at Medway Sports Centre, Kent. Already this year there have been seven school athletics records broken!
West Sussex West School Games Standings: As we come into the final half term of the school year here are the latest standings for all of the league and festivals our school has taken part in this year. This is an amazing achievement by everyone that has represented the school, we have not won every event but we have taken part in nearly every event. Well done everyone.
