Concordia clinches rare title double at swim meet!

Concordia Lutheran College clinched a rare double in the process of claiming city dominance in the pool during the recent QCIS interschool swimming championships.

The Concordia Turbo Jets swim team topped both the aggregate and the percentage points – the first time the school has achieved that on its way to winning the overall title.

Turbo Jets coach Troy Chandler, and reigning Darling Downs Swimming Coach of the Year, was thrilled with the performance of the team.

“This is testament to the work being put in by our swimmers in the training pool,” Chandler said. “Swimming is one of those sports where the results only come if you are prepared to invest in the long hours of training you need to do to improve.”

“These results are the result of a gradual build-up of our overall squad depth over the past 10 years at the school. There has been a lot of hard work involved, but it is so pleasing to see the results of that work pay off in the pool for our swimmers,” he said.

Chandler, who also operates TJ's Swim School with his wife Jodie, has been coaching at Concordia since 2010 when he moved the swim school from Harristown State High School.

His involvement with the College’s swim programme is comprehensive as he provides swim lessons to the primary campus and facilitates the school swim meets.

“Over the years I have also been involved with the college representative team at Zones, TSSS, QCIS and Darling Downs trials. It is great seeing a swimmer develop through their entire swimming journey.

“It is a sport that is fantastic in teaching time management and providing personal motivation to young people who are looking to benefit themselves.”

Concordia finished 120 points in front of Downlands College in the overall title race and a full percentage point in front of Toowoomba Anglican School for the Percentage Trophy.

Chandler said that although the success was a team effort, there were a few outstanding performances that needed to be acknowledged.

Thirteen-year-olds Abby Denning and Lisa Richards together and 16-year-olds Cara Cronje and Lily Osborne all won their age divisions, while Alistair Richards and the combined 12-13-years girls relay team broke records on the day.

Concordia’s new Head of Sport Darron Skinner-Martin, who is quietly revolutionising sport across the college, said the QCIS meet had the potential to become a much more prestigious event on the Darling Downs swimming calendar.

“The meet brings together a number of schools of similar standing and gives the swimmers the opportunity to test themselves against other swimmers they normally wouldn’t encounter,” Skinner-Martin said.

“It also gives swimmers a chance to use their times to qualify for State and National level meets. The Turbo Jets now have age Nationals on the Gold Coast over Easter as the last meet of the season and the QCIS event gave them a solid hit-out to see where they are in their preparation for that event,” he said.

Results:

Overall Points Champion: Concordia 1140, Downlands 1020, Toowoomba Anglican School 993, Our Lady of The Southern Cross 915, Scot PGC 590.

Percentage Trophy: Concordia 3.04, Toowoomba Anglican school 2.17, Our Lady of the Southern Cross 2.14, Scot PGC 1.46 and Downlands 1.08.