It’s not many sportsmen or women who can boast an unbeaten five-year run, but four Kingscliff High School students have done
just that.
They are the awesome foursome of high school swimming,17-year-old Blake Francis and 16-year-olds, Chris Warmsley, Oliver Illingsworth and Callum Smith and for the past five years they have been unstoppable.
Last week at the State Combined High Schools titles in Sydney, the boys took their fifth State 4×50 State Relay title, to complete a remarkable sequence of wins.
They have now won the 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 years relay titles at zone, North Coast and State – a feat that has amazed swimming and school officials alike.
They missed out on the record this year but they are chilled about it – after all, they already have 22 to their names.
“It (the record) was a bit out of our reach,” Blake Francis admitted.
And spare a thought for Maclean – who have been their arch rivals for most of the past four years – imagine being second best in your State and still not being able to win at North Coast level.
And the most amazing thing is that the four don’t train together outside of school, with Blake at Kingscliff, Chris and Callum at Banora and Oliver at Tweed. Remarkably, they have never messed with a winning formula and have always swum in the same order in every race they’ve competed in.
“It’s a wonderful effort,” Kingscliff High sports head Ian Ludeke said.
“It’s probably unheard of in CHS history, certainly in my experience. I’ve never heard of it before.
“And the nice thing is that they are all good mates and are all great students academically.
“They are great role models for our juniors. They look after the team when we are away.”
Ian said their success was probably one of the reasons Kingscliff continues to be one of the top swimming schools in the State, dominating the North Coast region for the past 18 years and always figuring heavily in the CHS championships in Sydney.
However, with Blake leaving school at the end of the year, the group said their winning run had finally come to an end, with the remaining trio (still only in Year 11 this year) deciding not to keep going without him.
Not that Kingscliff will be without heroes in the water, with the team of Ryan Cook, Tahnee Whitfield, Dean Abbott and Eden Hunter following hot on the older boys’ heels and taking out the 4X50 16-years CHS title this year – adding it to last year’s 15s title.
