Sports Report

Sports Report – Sports Captains

It’s been a fabulous start to the year, kicking off with the first whole school event, the Swimming carnival, which was a resounding success. 

It was great to see such enthusiasm and competitive spirit from everyone throughout the whole day. 

Congratulations to Freeman for coming away with the most points scored.

Our sporting success continued in our term 1 interschool sports with 40 sporting teams already representing Blackburn High School at Whitehorse Division competition. Of those teams 11 teams (out of the eligible 20) progressed through to the Eastern Metro Regional competition!

Congratulations to the following teams for progressing to EMR:

· Senior Boys Cricket, Netball, Volleyball

· Senior Girls Tennis, Softball, Hockey, Netball, Volleyball

· Intermediate Boys Volleyball

· Year 8 Boys Volleyball

· Year 7 Baseball

It’s so exciting to see Blackburn represented to well in the Whitehorse division. Hoping to see this continue in the upcoming cross country and winter sports next term!

Excitingly, we will have our Athletics carnival on the last day of term, Friday the 4th of April. We hope to see the whole school dressed up in their house colours and getting involved in plenty of events.

Cherly & Tabitha, 

Sport Captains

Interschool - Sports 

Whitehorse Division Swimming

Our swimming team of 45 students headed out to Aquarena for the Whitehorse Division Swimming Carnival. All of our students put in an amazing effort, and we came away with some great results.

Congratulations to the following students who have qualified for the Eastern Regional event, which took place at Aquanation on 28 March;

Sierra K – Open 400m Freestyle, 14 Yrs 50m Freestyle & Backstroke, 15 Yrs 200 IM Evan D – 17 Yrs 50m ButterflyBufan Y – 13 Yrs 50m Breaststroke14 Yrs 4 X 50m Medley Relay – Christiaan, Dylan, Chilli and Bufan14 Years 4 X 50m Freestyle Relay – Christiaan, Dylan, Chilli and Eric

Special mention to Sierra, who was awarded Age Champion for the 14-year-old girls.

Fantastic EMR Swimming Results

Sierra – State Finalist in 3 Events - A huge congratulations to our 7 swimmers who had qualified for and attended the School Sport Victoria EMR Swimming Finals. 

We had some fabulous results with every swimmer coming away with at least one medal and one of our swimmers, Sierra qualified for the State Finals in 3 events.

Results were as follows:

• Sierra – 1st Place 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley
• Evan – 2nd 20Yrs 50m Butterfly
• Bufan – 3rd 13Yrs 50m Breaststroke
• Christiaan, Dylan, Chilli and Bufan – 3rd Place 4 X 50m Medley Relay
• Christiaan, Dylan, Chilli and Eric – 3rd Place 4 X 50m Freestyle Relay

Congratulations to all swimmers, best of luck to Sierra, who will head to MSAC for the State Final on 1st May and a special mention to Evan, who is in his final year at BHS and has been an enthusiastic member of our swimming team right throughout his 6 years at the school.

Ms Nadine Roche – Carnivals Coordinator

BHS Senior Cricket SSV Whitehorse Division 

On Thursday, 27th February BHS Senior Cricket team played in a round robin limited-overs tournament at Koonung Reserve in the SSV Whitehorse Division. BHS won all 3 games convincingly against the local schools to move on to the next stage (EMR). This was the first time this group achieved this feat.

James E, Cameron, Hugo and Partaj were the standouts with the bat. Cameron’s maiden 50 retired in the final was the best individual performance of the day. Cameron, Will L and Liam were the leading wicket takers with the ball. 

Hugo was very tidy behind the stumps as wicketkeeper. Special mention to co-captains James and Cameron who led the team brilliantly and managed to allow all players to bat, bowl or field. 

Results 

Round 1: BHS 1/82 (10 overs) defeated Box Hill HS 5/76 (10 overs)

Highlights: James E 25 retired, Hugo 25 retired, Cameron 17 not out and 2/17 (2), Will L 2/13 (2) Liam 1/10 (2).

Round 2: BHS 2/72 (8 overs) defeated EDSC 4/53 (8 overs)

Highlights: Partaj 25 retired, James E 25 retired, Hugo 12, Luke 2/9 (2), Liam 1/14 (2), Sam 1/6 (1)

Round 3: BHS 2/118 (12 overs) defeated Koonung 3/81 (12 overs)

Highlights: Camerom 50 retired and 1/15 (3), James E 33, Jake S 19*, Liam 1/9 (3), Jimmy 1/20 (2)

BHS Senior Cricket SSV EMR

On Tuesday, 4th March BHS Senior Cricket team played in the SSV EMR at Knox Gardens Reserve. 

BHS fielded a strong XI with 3 intermediate players coming into the side due to some senior unavailability. Camden, Xavier and Coby got the promotion on the back of standout performances last Friday playing for the intermediate team. 

BHS arrived at the venue to surprisingly discover a water feature on the ground. The council had left the automatic sprinkler system on. Fortunately, they did turn off close to the scheduled start of play, leaving some parts of the ground well-watered.

In the quarter final, John Monash Science School (JMSS) won the toss and sent in BHS. A match defining 3rd wicket partnership of 54 runs between Partaj (20*) and James (51 retired) set up an excellent score of 3/103 off the allotted 15 overs. 

The partnership featured some smart and hard running between the wickets (12 x 2’s) accompanied by the occasional powerful blow (2 x 6’s and 3 x 4’s). BHS had momentum going into the field but knew we had to bowl well (full and straight), limit the extra’s and take our catches. The 4th over bowled by left-arm opening bowler, Coby was one no one will ever forget. 

Wicket, wicket, dot, dot, wicket, dot. A triple wicket maiden. Incredible scenes, and the game was now firmly in BHS’s hands. But, alas, there is always an opposition comeback and rear-guard counterattack. JMSS came back off the canvas and fought their way back into the contest. A costly 18-run over can do that. Thankfully, James and Will swung the momentum back to BHS, taking 2 wickets a piece and helped claim a thrilling victory by 5 runs. BHS now truly believed that we had the team to challenge for higher honours. 

BHS had now won 4 games in a row and were on a roll. There was, however, no time for celebration as BHS were required to hastily move to another ground and start the EMR semifinal straight away against Ringwood SC. BHS won the toss and sent  Ringwood in. 

The first wicket to fall was courtesy of Camden’s outstanding direct hit run out from midwicket. Ringwood lost wickets at regular intervals but still amassed 6/92 off their 12 overs. 

Cameron 2/9 (3) and James 2/21 (3) were the best of the bowlers. A required run rate of 7.66 runs per over was very much achievable on the small ground. Partaj (10) and Hugo (24) put on a solid foundation, building 21 for the opening stand. BHS then lost 3 wickets for 2 runs in the middle overs which put us behind the required rate. 18 runs were needed off the last over. BHS managed to get 14 runs to lose by only 4 runs and hence ending the 4-game undefeated streak. Cameron (25* including 2 x 6’s) valiantly fought it out to the last ball but was left with too much to do. BHS should be very proud of their efforts. 

In these very short, limited-over games the importance of every ball is magnified, and the result often comes down to the last ball. Upon losing a game by such a small margin one must then reflect on every moment of the game where a run was given away in the field, a wide or no ball bowled, a bye let through by the wicketkeeper, an overthrow given away or some lazy running between the wickets where that 1 should have been turned into a 2. These moments, at the time, are often nonchalantly disregarded as insignificant. But these moments can be the difference between a win and a loss. In Australia’s national sport, every run really does count.

Results 

Quarter-final: BHS 3/103 (15 overs) defeated John Monash Science School 7/98 (15 overs)

Highlights: James 51 retired and 2/18 (3), Partaj 20*, Hugo 10, Camden 8, Coby 3/14 (3), Will L 2/11 (2)

Semi-final: BHS 6/88 (12 overs) were defeated by Ringwood SC 6/92 (12 overs)

Highlights: Cameron 25*and 2/9 (3), Hugo 24, Partaj 10,  James 2/21 (3), Will L 1/26 (3)

BHS Intermediate SSV Whitehorse Division 

On Friday, 28th February BHS Intermediate boys played at Koonung Reserve in the SSV Whitehorse Division. We were blessed on the day with perfect conditions for cricket: fine, sunny and 25 degrees. 

In the opening round against Box Hill HS, BHS amassed 2/103 off their allotted 18 overs. Coby, Camden and Max S led the way with the bat. In the field, Coby and Camden also struck with the ball taking wickets, while Xavier was superb behind the stumps as a wicketkeeper taking catches and not letting through any byes. The game came down to the final over with Box Hill needing 7 runs. Unfortunately, BHS couldn’t restrict Box Hill, who won with 2 balls to spare. This was a heartbreaking loss as BHS had the better of most of the game. Too many basic skill errors were made with the ball (bowling short and wide) and in the field (dropping catches, misfields and overthrows), which ultimately cost us. This was a case of letting a game slip through our fingers and a missed opportunity to not proceeding to EMR. An easy second round consolation victory over Koonung allowed BHS to finish off the day on a positive note. Xavier’s 33 retired was the highlight of this game with an array of scoop and lap shots played behind square that was inspired by Australia’s Boxing Day hero Sam Konstas. Despite the loss in the opening round, the BHS boys enjoyed their day in the sun with their friends playing Australia’s favourite summer sport. Thanks to Mr Slater and Cameron G (Year 12) for helping coach on the day. 

Results 

Round 1: BHS 2/103 (18 overs) were defeated by Box Hill HS 5/105 (18 overs)

Highlights: Coby 31 retired, 2/17 (3) and 2 catches, Camden 27* and 2/19 (3), Max S 10*, Xavier 7 and 2 catches, Max M 5.  

Round 2: BHS 4/92 (11 overs) defeated Koonung 7/92 (15 overs)

Highlights: Coby 32 retired, Xavier 33 retired, Camden 2/5 (2), Cooper 2/14 (3), Tristan 1/19 (2), Kai 1/16 (2)

Year 8 Boys Baseball 

On Tuesday, 25th March BHS Year 8 boys played in an SSV Whitehorse round-robin tournament at Gilbert Park. BHS defeated Koonung in the opening round even with the opposition having an Australian baseball player in their ranks. Round 2 saw a well-disciplined EDSC defeat BHS. EDCS were stronger in all facets of the game (batting, pitching, fielding and game sense). A thrilling final round victory over BHHS meant that 3 schools were tied on 2 wins and 1 loss. BHHS were declared the winning school on run difference. Despite not going through to the EMR, the Year 8 boys enjoyed their day representing the school in interschool sport. 

BHS were very fortunate to have the coaching expertise of baseball player and coach Mr Tim Coad. All players learnt a great amount about the game and were inspired by his knowledge and passion for the sport. I would like to thank Mr Coad for his coaching. Also, a big thank you to Bonita (mother of Quinn) for her scoring, coaching and support on the day. 

Results

Round #1: BHS 8 defeatedKoonung 6

Round #2: BHS 6 weredefeated by EDSC10 

Round #3: BHS 10 defeated BHHS 7 

Best players: Quinn, Josh, Angus, Elliot