Cross Country
Wednesday saw the annual London Schools Cross-Country Championships held in the salubrious surroundings of the shadow of Wormwood Scrubs. In spite of the heavy conditions, there were some excellent individual performances by Westminster runners. In the Senior Boys event, Toby was our highest-placed finisher in 6th place, closely followed by Thomas (8th), Herbie (11th), Ted (14th), Louis (15th) and Arseny (16th). Senior Girls results were equally impressive as Tara came in 6th, Arianna in 8th, Bryony in 12th and Sophie in 14th. It was a tougher proposition for the Inters Boys but Rohan led the way in 15th, followed by Stefan (19th), Sam (26th) and Toby (34th). The largest field was in the Junior Boys event where Oliver and Lars finished 39th and 53rd respectively out of 120 finishers.
Team results are not in as yet although hopes are high for medals in the Senior Boys and Senior Girls events in particular.
Fencing
Another busy week for fencing brought more success with victories over St. Benedict’s, Ealing and Eton College respectively. On Tuesday, it was the turn for Westminster’s junior fencers to entertain their counterparts from St Benedict’s, and it proved to be a thrillingly tight contest. Westminster won the Epee (45-12) and Sabre (45-37) sections whilst St Benedict’s took both Foil A (43-39) and Foil B (45-33), however, it was Westminster who took the honours on most hits scored by 162-137.
Thursday brought the visit of Eton’s fencers to the Sports Centre, and it was a successful afternoon for Westminster as they took the contest by 3-1, courtesy of victories in Foil A (45-38), Foil B (45-42) and Epee A (45-27). Westminster were indebted to Alec , who scored 34 out of the 45 hits in Foil B, and Mark, who twice brought the team back from behind in Foil A.
Football
Having been seriously hampered by the wet weather so far this term, it was a blessed relief to get a pretty much full block fixture played home and away against Bedford Modern on Saturday. Over in Bedford, the 1st XI fought their way to a competitive and meritorious 1-0 victory, whilst there were hard-earned draws for the 4th XI (1-1) and 5th XI (0-0). At Vincent Square, the U15As fell behind early on but bounced back to dominate the first half and lead by 3-1 at the break thanks to a double from Diego and a strike from Nat. Soon after half-time, Diego completed his hat-trick with a sublime chip, but, a defensive mix-up then allowed Bedford to narrow the gap and made for a decidedly less comfortable last quarter of an hour. Nevertheless, Westminster were able to close the game out for a well-deserved and full-blooded 4-2 win. Meanwhile, the U15Bs conceded the fastest goal of the day by giving away a penalty in the very first minute, and could never quite find a way back on to level terms thereafter. Bedford also took the honours in a close 3rd XI fixture (2-1), as well as in both of the U14 matches.
Swimming
Thursday saw the annual Westminster Borough Swimming Championships held at the Queen Mother Sports Centre. On the day Westminster pupils were to the fore as they finished no lower than second place in any of the events in which they participated. In all, Westminster won 2 relay gold medals, as well as 8 individual golds and 5 individual silvers. In the Junior Boys section, Matthew was our sole competitor, but that didn’t stop him picking up two silver medals in Breaststroke and Freestyle. Lily and Arianna were competing in the Senior Girls section and picked up 5 medals between them. Arianna won both Butterfly and Individual Medley,as well as coming second in Freestyle, whilst Lily won Gold in Backstroke and Silver in Breaststroke. The Senior Boys section saw a full complement of Westminster competitors perform a near clean-sweep. Individually, Herbie won Gold in Butterfly and Freestyle, and Oliver Li took first place in Backstroke and Individual Medley, whilst Marwan won Silver in the Breaststroke. Nevin then linked up with the other three boys as they took Gold in both the Medley Relay and the Freestyle Relay.
