Victorian Track & Field All Schools Championships

The Victorian Interschool Track & Field season came to a close over the weekend, with the running of the Athletics Victoria All Schools Championships. It has been a big two weeks for St Catherine’s athletes who have been competing at various state level competitions at Lakeside Stadium.

At the School Sports Victoria Championships, Tamsin Sleigh (Year 7), competed extremely well finishing fourth in the 100m and 200m State Finals. Tamsin has worked extremely hard this season, overcoming injury and was really happy with her fast starts in both races. Tamsin now sets her sights on the club season of Athletics.

At the Athletics Victoria All Schools Championships held over the weekend, a team of seven St Catherine’s athletes took on the very best secondary school aged athletes from around the State. Our High jumpers, Ingrid Crossing (Year 11), Celia Cody (Year 9) and Emily Sutherland (Year 9), gained valuable experience challenging themselves at higher heights. With the bar rising in 10 centimetre increments, compared to the GSV regular five centimetre, the girls struggled to find their flow of jumping, however the girls now have a new challenge to improve in next year.

Elodie Ferrali (Year 7) and Tamsin Sleigh (Year 7) competed well in the 80 metre hurdles, both girls were competing up an age group and will take confidence in the fact that they were extremely competitive in their races.

Alexandra Demetriou placed fifth in the U14 800m at the Victorian Track & Field All Schools Championships

Alexandra Demetriou placed fifth in the U14 800m at the Victorian Track & Field All Schools Championships

Alexandra Demetriou (Year 7) left nothing out on the track as she powered home to record fifth place in the U14 800m state final. Alexandra has improved remarkably this year in her Running and battled all the way to record a new PB of 2.25 for the event. She looks forward to improving that mark in 2017.

annelise-cody-3rd-67-31-in-the-u17-victoria-all-schools-400m-hurdle-final-national-qualification-for-the-athletics-australia-junior-track-field-championshipsThe highlight of the meet came from Annelise Cody (Year 9). Showing a lot of guts and determination, Annelise finished third in the Under 17 400m hurdles. This was Annelise’s first attempt at hurdles over the 400m distance, with the event only recently being introduced at an Under 17 level.

Annelise, with Coach Harry Roubin had been working extremely hard to extend the rhythm of her sprint hurdles (90m) to the longer 400m distance. Both athlete and coach were extremely happy with the result, which saw Annelise run 67.31, a national qualifier by more than five seconds. Annelise will now have the opportunity to compete at the Australian Track & Field Championships in late March next year.

This event draws a close to the School Athletics season. I would like to thank our Term 4 coaches, Mr Harry Roubin and Ms Susan Hobson for all their efforts and time preparing the girls. Our St Catherine’s program has come a very long way in only three years and we are looking forward to another big year of improvement in 2017.

Signing off for another year.

Mr Lloyd Knight, Sport and Athlete Development Coordinator