Senior Tennis A

St Catherine’s defeated Star of the Sea. This week saw a lift in the girls’ confidence and overall performance, winning six out of the eight matches. The hot 33 degrees weather did not stop the girls from giving it their all and diving for every shot and we saw some great rallies, especially from the pairs.

Excellence Award – Brigette Cantarella
Coaches Award – Lucy Church

Senior Tennis B

St Catherine’s defeated Loreto. In hot conditions, St Catherine’s had a strong win against Loreto. Four 6-0 wins in the singles matches set up a strong foundation for the match. Special mention goes to Sophie Seng Hpa for playing great tennis in both the singles and doubles. Also to Ella Lansell and Willow Burrell who worked well together, getting a nail biting 7-5 victory.
Excellence Award – Sophie Seng Hpa
Coaches Award – Ella Lansell and Willow Burrell

Intermediate Tennis A

St Catherine’s defeated Loreto. After smashing the first two rounds of tennis, the Intermediate A team had some good competition this week with the win coming down to the number of games for the first four pairs. The girls are improving each week which is awesome to see and also working hard to bring what they learn in training to their matches.

Excellence Award – Hope Kudelka
Coaches Award – Sophie Turnbull

Intermediate Tennis B

St Catherine’s were defeated by Sienna. This week the Intermediate C and D team played at home against Sienna. Although only pairs 1-4 played the remaining four pairs played competitively against each other. Although no wins the longest standing pair were Sophie Kent and Ella Stefanis whose game resulted in a score of 8-5.

Excellence Award – Sophie Kent
Coaches Award – Ella Stefanis

Junior Tennis A

St Catherine’s defeated Loreto. This week the St Catherine’s A team smashed it against Loreto winning all divisions easily. Despite the heat and a loss the previous week, our girls played outstandingly with the majority of teams winning 8-0! Highlight of the game was Pair B1 Chloe Joubert and Ava Lansell winning 8-0 in less than 10 minutes! Despite Loreto forfeiting the two bottom teams, every girl still had an opportunity to play a game, with the bottom two teams playing a fun game against each other.
Excellence Award – Chloe Joubert and Ava Lansell
Coaches Award – Ruby Semour (helping other girls with their serve)

Diving

The Diving squad competed at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) in the Preliminary B competition, coming second overall. The girls overcame their nerves, being their first big competition. The standard of diving was outstanding particularly from Firbank and PLC. The girls rose to the occasion and performed extremely well, finishing second to Firbank overall. The definite highlight, was watching Laetita Donato dive and score 153.60. Special mention to Ava Lansell, who performed a personal best and won a blue ribbon.

Excellence Award – Laetitia Donato
Coaches Award – Ava Lansell

Annelise Cody

View full Sport reports here.

Mr Lloyd Knight
Head of Sport

Australian Henley Regatta

On Saturday 25 February, we witnessed another historic day for St Catherine’s School’s Crews at the Australian Henley Regatta. Australian Henley is a different format to any other regatta, with a time trial seeding School crews and one on one knock out racing following for the top four placed crews in the time trial. All other crews proceed to petite finals.

Our Senior Eights were victorious in the Schoolgirl Division One 8+ as well as the Schoolgirl Division Two 8+. To complement this achievement, Intermediate Rowers took on the challenge of racing in the Senior Quad division. The girls of the Paul Cross went on to beat the reigning Senior National Champion Ruyton Girls Senior First Quad to take out the Division.

All of our other Intermediates and the Senior Quad (Tallent), also competed in this division posting some solid racing performances on our home ground, the Yarra River.

In the afternoon session, (in a random draw) both eights competed in the U21 8+ Division. The St Catherine’s 120 Crew drew their training partners, the Mercantile U21 8+ in their first round. Our students’ fourth race of the day, the girls were narrowly beaten, by a fresh Mercantile who were heading into their first race.

The Geraldine Ilott beat the Loreto Second 8+ in their first round, and then drew the Loreto First 8+ in their second round. They pushed the Loreto girls till the last 500 metres, but then could not hold onto the Division One Crew. However this was a super performance by the girls.

Senior Crews

Intermediate Crews

Rowing Victoria Junior State Championships Regatta

On Saturday 4 March, our Junior and Intermediate Rowers competed at the Junior State Championship Regatta on the Barwon. This Regatta was a very impressive display of the all the training and hard work all our girls have put in during the lead up to Head of Schoolgirls Regatta (HOSG).

Our crews prepared themselves for the racing with pride and professionalism, and conducted themselves in the same manner on the water. The execution of their race strategies was very impressive. The improvement of our Junior Rowers has been impressive, while our Intermediate Rowers had another strong performance.

Our rowers have greatly benefited and learned from this recent experience of racing and will continue to improve from the Junior State Championships Regatta.

Junior Crews

Intermediate Crews

Rowing Victoria State Championships Regatta

Last weekend, the Senior Girls Squad were at the Victorian State Championships held on the 2,000 metre Nagambie Lakes rowing course.

Continuing their strong season, the Senior crews posted medal winning performances, reward for their great efforts so far this season. We are very much looking forward to seeing their continued progression through to the Head of the Schoolgirls Regatta.

In the heat, the St Catherine’s 120 racing in Division One, put down a strong performance finishing one length off Firbank in second place. The girls’ ability to keep their focus internal and drive their own rhythm was the key to their exciting performance. In the A Final, the girls met the crews from MLC, Geelong Grammar, Loreto, MGGS and Genazzano. After a strong start and leading through the first 1,000 metres, the VIII was pushed in the back 1,000 metres and finished with a bronze medal approximately two lengths off first place MLC. The girls have come away with great confidence heading into the last two weeks before HOSG.

The Geraldine Ilott racing in Division Two, were a very close second place behind MLC for a silver medal. Their new found confidence in their mid-race rhythm and capability to wind towards the line led to some top quality racing.

The Senior Quad was racing in the U19 4x+, due to the Schoolgirl 4x+ races not being scheduled until very late in the afternoon. The crew learnt a lot from their first 2,000 metre race, but were comprehensively beaten. They took this learning to an extended training session on the Goulburn River, where the coaches were very happy to see them develop much stronger rowing performances. They can take this learning and continue to practise at Carrum this weekend. Followed by Division Four racing at the HOSG regatta. We cannot wait to see them in action again.

The girls’ performance on the weekend reinforced both the coaches and the girls’ confidence in the ability of the Senior Quad. When the girls combine a strong start with their powerful rhythm – they are one of the most competitive boats in the state.

We look forward to seeing the squad charge on through the final two weeks of HOSG preparation.

Senior Crews

View the full Rowing reports here.

Mr David Fraumano
Head Coach of Rowing Program