St Catherine’s Track and Field 2019 Finals Evening Report

Congratulations to all the girls who participated in the 2019 GSV Track and Field season. Our girls did an amazing job representing St Catherine’s School with pride and passion, led by their captains Annelise Cody and Chloe Manson.

Our major competitions kicked off with the GSV Division 1 Track and Field Championships. This was St Catherine’s fifth consecutive year in the premier division, highlighting the consistent hard work and team effort of the group towards a common goal. The day produced a fierce competition between all schools with only a slim margin separating all at the end of the day. St Catherine’s finished 6th overall out of 24 schools. This was an outstanding result and all girls should be commended for their selfless efforts in giving it their all for the team performance.

The GSV Finals Evening is the pivotal individual athletics competition within the GSV season. It brings together the top athletes in Years 8 to 12 in each event across the three divisions. Under lights at Lakeside Stadium, this event always brings out the best in schoolgirl competition. Our girls performed extremely well, with lots of personal bests and a medal tally of six gold, five silver and four bronze medals. St Catherine’s finished 6th overall on the medal tally, its highest position in many years. Some notable outstanding performances included:

Throws Team

Our Throws team led the charge at the GSV Finals Evening with five of our six gold medals coming from throwing events. Olivia Nigido-Scott had an outstanding night, winning the Year 9 Discus and Shot Put, in a personal best of 12.18m in her last throw of the night. Olivia backed this up with a 3rd place in the Javelin.

Millie Fraser-Smith had an equally as impressive night winning the Year 11 Shot Put and Javelin, in a personal best throw of 32.60m. Tamsin Sleigh showed huge improvement winning the Year 10 Shot Put, in a personal best of 10.92m. Throws team members Hope Kudelka, Milla Naylor and Celia Cody also competed on the night showing the strength and power of this talented bunch. The Throws team have shown huge improvement this year thanks to the coaching of Kim Mulhall and Jack Dalton. Both have brought a great deal of energy, expertise and enjoyment towards the events affectionately known as chucking!

Jumps Team
Our Jumps team had a strong night on the field. Lucia Tabbagh jumped a personal best of 10.57m in the Year 8 Triple Jump to finish 2nd overall. She backed up this performance also qualifying for the Long Jump, alongside Senior athletes Tabitha Manson, Harriette Dryden and up-and-coming Year 7 Junior athlete, Annie Seymour. In the High Jump, Emma Froomes, Celia Cody and Emily Sutherland all qualified through to Finals Evening. Emma Froomes achieved a 3rd place overall, jumping 1.45m in the Year 9 division. While Celia and Emily, although both clearing 1.50m, with a count back determining Celia finishing in 2nd place overall. Thanks must be given to our outstanding Jumps coaching team Tom O’Connor, Bridget Niedeck and Anula Costa.

Middle Distance Team
Our Middle Distance team got reward for effort, putting together strong racing off the back of consistent hard work. On Finals Evening, our Year 10 students led the charge with Chloe Joubert, Francesca Demetriou, Alexandra Demetriou and Isabella Bufé all qualifying through. In the 1500m, this was quite a significant achievement, with four of the 12 students in the field representing St Catherine’s. The girls all raced extremely well, with Chloe Joubert finishing 2nd in the 800m, in a personal best time of 2.23. Emily Sutherland also ran an extremely determined race, coming from behind to finished 2nd overall in the Year 12 800m. Mattea Demetriou continued to improve her skills and fitness, qualifying for the Year 7 1500m. This team were coached and led extremely well by Riley Shaw.

Alexandra Demetriou & Chloe Joubert (Yr 10)

Sprints and Hurdles Team
Our Sprinters and Hurdlers were fast out of the blocks. Our Hurdlers team were all class with St Catherine’s girls qualifying in four of the six age divisions. Elodie Ferrali and Harriet Fortey finished 2nd and 3rd overall respectively in the Years 10 and 11 90m hurdles, while Year 7 student Louisa Burney showed off her new skills finishing 1st overall in her 80m hurdles race. In the sprints, Annelise Cody and Elodie Ferrali both performed well in the 100m, however it was the 400m where St Catherine’s made their mark. St Catherine’s students Scarlett Pringle, Sienna Darcy, Charlotte Gough and Annelise Cody all contested their respective 400m age groups. Annelise ran extremely well finishing 3rd overall, while our other runners all ran personal bests over the distance. The much loved Lee Naylor, Harry Roubin and Juliet Grant coached the Sprints team.

Relays
In the relays, our Year 7 Relay team of Violet Johnston, Louisa Burney, Scarlett Pringle and Annie Seymour showed plenty of future promise qualifying and finishing 6th overall at Finals Evenings. However, the open 4x400m team once again stole the show for St Catherine’s. In an always hotly contested GSV event, the 2019 version of this race did not disappoint. The team of Elodie Ferrali, Francesca Demetriou, Emily Sutherland and Annelise Cody gave it everything they had, crossing the line in 4th place overall.

Annelise Cody (Yr 12)

Thank You
On behalf of the Athletics team, I would like to thank our Year 12 team members, Annelise Cody (Co-Captain), Chloe Manson (Co-Captain), Celia Cody, Emily Sutherland, Harriette Dryden, Hope Kudelka, Matilda Wolton, Nikita Taylor and Elizabeth Anastasiadis, who have made such an outstanding contribution to the ‘running culture’ of St Catherine’s. These students have displayed strong leadership and leave an outstanding legacy for students to come.

As always, behind such strong performances are a very talented and capable team of coaches and support staff. I would like to thank our coaching team: Mrs Susan Hobson, Harry Roubin, Juliet Grant, Lee Naylor, Tom O’Connor, Reilly Shaw, Bridget Neideck, Kim Mulhall, Jack Doltan and Anula Costa for the hard work they have put in towards guiding the girls to achieve their best. Finally, I would also like to thank all the parents who have supported the team at the various competitions throughout the season; you are very much a part of the team as well.

We look forward to next year’s athletics season.

Mr Lloyd Knight, Head of Sport and Head of Athletics