Second place in boys' Grade A and Grade C was enough to secure St Francis Xavier's College's first-ever promotion to Division Two at Kowloon Park pool last week.
The St Francis boys were no match for the New Method College (NMC) Grade A team who annihilated the field by piling up 129 points - double St Francis' haul.
But NMC were disappointing in Grade C, where they bizarrely claimed just a solitary point, with King Ling College edging out St Francis by a single point for first place.
If some of the younger NMC swimmers could have competed in Grade B instead of Grade A, they may have won promotion.
St Francis coach Wong Ka-kin shrewdly spread his school's talent across the age groups, aiming to build up a challenging overall total. His strategy paid off, as St Francis finished 12 points clear of NMC, and left the runners-up looking decidedly non-plussed with their Grade A trophy.
'We trained hard at a summer camp this year - the results showed it was worth it,' said Wong, who has been at the school for eight years.
