Megan Woolley reporting
Two Springfield students showed mettle far beyond their years and made their home turf proud with their sensational swims at the 2022 Commonwealth Games earlier this month.
St Peters Lutheran College Year 12 students Mollie O’Callaghan and Ella Ramsay have made quite a splash recently, wowing crowds at home and abroad with their performances in the freestyle, backstroke, and medleys in Birmingham on August 1 and 4.
Mollie O’Callaghan
For 18-year-old swimming sensation O’Callaghan, the games were a testament to the fact that her incredible performances at the 2018 Games in Melbourne and last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo – where she won two gold medals and one bronze – were no stroke of luck.
She outdid herself once again in Birmingham, proudly taking home five gold medals and two silver.
As well as being crowned the Commonwealth’s queen of the 100m when she motored past her “idol” and fellow Aussie Emma McKeon to win the 100m freestyle final with a speedy 52.63 finish.
See Mollie’s full results for the finals below:
100m Freestyle Women\’s Final – 52.63secs : 1st
200m Freestyle Women\’s Final – 1:54.01mins : 2nd : (PB)
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Women’s Final – 3:30.64mins : 1st
4 x 100m Medley Relay Women’s Final – 3:54.44mins : 1st
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Women’s Final – 7:39.29mins : 1st
50m Backstroke Women’s – 27.47sec – 2nd
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Mixed – 3:21.18mins : 1st
Coached by Dean Boxall, O’Callaghan refined her performance through hours of daily training at the St Peters Western swimming club in Indooroopilly.
Ella Ramsey
Two grades below O’Callaghan, Ramsay certainly impressed in her international debut with a qualifying fourth-place run in the second heat of the 200m Individual Medley. The competition in the final was too fierce.
Ella Ramsay did an amazing job to qualify for the final of the 200m Individual Medley on August 1, along with fellow Aussies Kaylee McKeown and Abbey Harkin, who are five and eight years her senior, respectively. Ella finished an admirable eighth at the final.
See Ella’s full Commonwealth results below;
200m Individual Medley – Women : Heats : 2:14.03 : 4th
200m Individual Medley – Women : Final : 2:14.71: 8th
St Peters Lutheran College, Springfield is a Kindergarten to Year 12 co-educational independent school underpinned by strong Christian values.
