A young swimmer at St Mary's College in Crosby is shaping up to follow in the footsteps of her famous relative.

Laura Halsall's recent achievements in competitions at home and abroad are reminiscent of those of her cousin, Team England Olympic swimmer Francesca Halsall, who was also a pupil at St Mary's.

Year 11 student Laura won three medals - a gold, a silver and a bronze - in the World Catholic Games in Portugal where she was also a member of the record-breaking Great Britain medley relay team.

More recently, she was asked to represent Lancashire in the national inter-county

competition in which the Red Rose county were the overall winners, an event which

Laura described as ‘the best swimming experience of my life'.

As a result of these and other excellent performances in competitions like the UK School Games, Laura has now been asked to join the Amateur Swimming Association England Talent Programme which nurtures outstanding young swimmers.

Being part of this set-up could pave the way for Laura to climb the swimming ladder and eventually compete at the highest level.

St Mary's Head of Girls PE, Sally Foster, commented: "Laura has picked up a lot of

medals and trophies over the last couple of years and we're all very excited by her

progress."

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