Last Saturday was a big weekend of Rowing for our St Catherine’s crews, with our Junior and Intermediate Crews racing at the Victorian State Championships Regatta on the Barwon River in Geelong, and the Seniors racing at the Australian Henley Regatta on the Yarra.

It was fantastic to see the technical progression that all of our crews have made over the last few weeks, and to see the strength and power that they were able to apply in each race.

The Junior State Championship Regatta was the final regatta before the Head of the School Girls. It provided an excellent opportunity for our girls to refine their race craft before the final three weeks of training.

Our Intermediates, who raced in the morning session continue to show finesse and perseverance with all crews finishing in the Top 6 of their respective division. Particular congratulations must go to the Inter ‘Cross’ crew who were crowned State Champions.

Our Juniors, who raced in the afternoon session continued to show significant improvement over the two races. This was evident with all seven crews qualifying for the A Final (Top 4) of their respective division. Special mention to both the Junior ‘Bernard’ and ‘Gunn’ crews who also were crowned State Champions.

The Australian Henley Regatta always produces fierce, competitive racing and this year was no different. The St Catherine’s 120 produced a stellar performance in the Semi-Final to progress to the Schoolgirl Division 2 Eight Final, in which they faced off against Firbank. After a hard fought battle, they went down by 1/3 of a boat length, to claim second place. The Fearless Girl came up against Melbourne Girls Grammar in the final of the Schoolgirl Division 1 Eight. The St Catherine’s girls asserted their dominance early in the race, leading early from the outside lane and producing a margin of almost 6 seconds to take out the race.

Congratulations to the following crews.

Victorian State Championships Medallists:

Bronze Medallists

9 Cross – Lila Barrington, Alice Molnar, Olivia Monkman-Straub, Charlotte Upton, Rhea Werner

9 Steven – Louisa (Lulu) Burney, Millie Nilsen, Sienna Rigg, Scarlett Shelton, Charlotte Wood

9 Walton – Maeli Davenport, Sarah Fanning, Chelsea Harris, Ellie Loupasakis, Zara Lovett

Silver Medallists

10 Gunn – Ava Colosimo, Lucy Green, Kate Gibson-Rowsthorn, Zara Peele, Matisse Stafford

9 Heyington – Chloe (Coco) Butterfield, Flora Cutchey, Stella Jesudason, Violet Johnston, Katherine Soutter

Gold Medallists

9 Bernard – Sophia Atkins, Megan Chang, Sophie Dreaver, Emma Hoban, Annie Seymour

10 Cross – Zoe Hall, Olivia Howitt, Mietta Passon, Charlotte Rodgers, Lily Taylor

9 Gunn – Mattea Demetriou, Georgia Hennessy, Millie McIntosh, Keira O’Hara, Scarlett Pringle

Australian Henley Regatta

Winners

Fearless Girl – Isabella (Bella) Bufe, Francesca Demetriou, Sarah Marriott, Chloe Cooper, Zara Bongiorno, Bronte Cullen, Claire Gray, Alexandra Demetriou, Summer Balla-Kellett

Runners Up

St Catherine’s 120 – Clementine (Cece) Newton-Brown, Clarence (Clara) Houle-O’Connor, Tamsin Sleigh, Olivia Nash, Jessica (Jess) Anderson, Adelaide (Addie) Mitchell, Jessica (Jess) Yang, Ika O’Halloran, Arabella (Bella) Hall