Sports Update 

VICTORIAN ALL SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Vermont Secondary College was represented strongly by numerous students at the Victorian All Schools Championships at Lakeside Stadium held over two weekends in late October and early November. Students were put through their paces amongst the best athletic candidates from government and independent schools around the state. Many new personal bests were achieved, and more competition experience was gained.

Weekend 1 results:

W17400m: Evie P 63.27 (PB) heat1500m: Brooke P 5:48.73 (12th) final

W1480m Hurdles: Yana T 14.21 (PB) heat Discus: Anna P 14.72m (14th) High Jump: Stephanie O 1.50m (2nd), Anna P 1.45m (7th)Triple Jump: Anna P 9.11m (16th);

M20100m: Lachlan S 11.59 (PB) (6th) final, 11.65 heat

M161500m: Finn M 4:21.79 (6th) final

M15100m: Ryan S 11.65 (5th) final, 11.74 semi-final, 11.63 heat (PB)1500m: Robbie P 5:24.78 (PB) heat

Weekend 2 results:

W17200m: Evie P 27.98 (PB) heat3000m: Brooke P 12:27.81 (9th) finalW14Javelin: Anna P 22.27m (11th)M205000m: Isaac M 16:07.89 (2nd) finalM183000m: Matthew V 9:21.21 (9th) finalM16800m: Finn M 2:14.15 (12th) final; 2:01.93 (PB) heat3000m: Finn M 9:21.36 (2nd) finalM15800m: Robbie P 2:23.00 (PB) heat3000m: Robbie P 11:17.73 (25th) final

Special congratulations to Stephy O of Year 7 and Finn M of Year 10 who's podium finish earned them a qualification for the Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships to be held in Adelaide next month. Stephy qualified for High Jump and Finn for the 3000m. Well done on this outstanding achievement. Good luck!

To our departing Year 12 students Lachlan S and Isaac M, thank you for your invaluable contribution to athletics at Vermont. All the best for your future endeavours in the sport – the sky is the limit.

STATE YEAR 8 GIRLS HOCKEY

The Year 8 Girls hockey team received a late call-up to play in the State finals. (Read invitation Thursday to play the following Monday.) Of course, the girls were thrilled, and we managed to squeeze in a lunchtime training session on Friday. They trained with a lot of energy and worked hard to improve on clearing the ball from our defensive area.

Come Monday, our first match was against Frankston. To put it simply, they were good. Very good. It seemed that no matter where we hit the ball, there was a Frankston player there to cut it off and send it back into our defensive area (even though we were doing better at clearing it out of there.) Even though we had more success at getting the ball into our attacking half of the field, we were unable to get any shots on goal, and ultimately, we lost 0-5.

We were a lot more competitive against Melbourne Girl’s College in our second game. They scored an early goal, but the rest of the match was very evenly poised, with many attacking forays by both sides. The final score was 0-1, but we were feeling better than after the first game.

Our third and final opponent for the day was Marist Sion College from Warragul. They were coming off an even bigger loss to Frankston than we had, so we were confident of putting in a good show. The game was very scrappy at first, but once we slotted our first goal, the tide started to turn more in our favour. We ended up scoring 3 goals for the half and were leading 5-0 early in the second half when the lightning came, and the match had to be abandoned.

I was so proud with the way the girls conducted themselves throughout the journey, given that none had played hockey before. They were always positive and worked hard to play as a team. Apart from the loss to Frankston, who went on to become the State champions, the girls were at least competitive in all their games, and I hope they will put up their hands to go around again next year. I’d also like to extend a big thanks to Ms. Callegaro for being our team manager at the State finals, her support was invaluable.

By Mr. Paragreen

EMR YEAR 8 GIRLS TENNIS

The Year 8 girls had so much heart in their team of four. Meliz G, Caitlin C, Juliet O and Ashley T conducted themselves with absolute class throughout, despite the risk of the event being rained out. Melbourne’s wild weather posed a challenge and tried to break the girl's spirit; however, they continued valiantly in the rain. There was not a single complaint from any of the girls, despite the continuous court changes and the formation of puddles on the clay. There was some tough competition from our Doncaster Secondary College and Balwyn High counterparts, however our team did not let their spirits weaken. They played with absolute integrity and with such grace. 

Thank you to the girls for all their efforts. They made an amazing team in a sport that is often a solo endeavour. Their comradery really showed, and I wish them the best of luck for next year’s season.

Mr. Pinder

EMR YEAR 8 BOYS BASEBALL

The Year 8 Boys are through to the State finals on the 29th of November. Congratulations. 

Our first game was against Lilydale Heights College which we eventually won 14-2. Though the scores were not a true reflection of the game as there we some close calls and some really good out fielding from our team. This stopped a few home runs occurring. 

The second game was against Koonung and they were also a fresh off a win and wanting to repeat their efforts again. Our pitching was on point and were leading early, but with a few lapses in concentration in the field and a couple of errors in our decision making, the game became an epic battle of skills and attention. We eventually won the game 8-6. 

The third and final game was against Balwyn, and they had an awesome pitcher that could throw down hard flat and fast balls all day and a catcher that never dropped one. We could hardly get a bat to ball, but when we eventually did, we were able to get to first base and set up some sneaky plays to get a home run or two inspired by our first base coach Mr Malpeli. We held our own in the pitching and catching stakes with some very consistent pitching and even better framing by our catcher. This game went down to the wire and taught us a lot about ourselves and what we can achieve together. Scores were 4-2 

There was no final match against Warrandyte HS, as two teams were able to go through to State from our region, but we will see them on the 29th. Great day, great team and great coaches. Thanks to Mr.Malpeli and Mr.Gillespie for coaching and inspiring us. Victory will be ours. 

EMR YEAR 7 BOYS CRICKET

The Year 7 boys cricket team headed over to Balwyn for their second-round showdown. We were up against Lilydale High School, and after winning the toss, we elected to bowl on a dewy morning surface. Lilydale took it upon themselves to set the cones out for the boundary, a nice gesture from them. However, it was the shortest boundary we had ever seen. That didn’t bother us too much as we both would benefit from this, maybe us a little more as batting second gave the ground a chance to dry up. 

Our game was shortened to 15 overs each for time restrictions, and Lilydale High set a great total of 145 for us to chase down. Maahit bamboozled Lilydale's danger man and sent him walking for our first wicket. Ari and Lucas both got their names in the book as well, with 2 wickets to Ari and 1 to Lucas. 

Luke and Rudra padded up to face the openers from Lilydale, but Lukes's innings was cut short in the first over having to retire hurt, after copping a ball to the toe. After making a quick 21, Rudra was also sent walking after a controversial run out. Things were looking pretty bleak with about three overs to go, with Vermont needing a lot of runs with not much time left. Our skipper Ansh decided enough was enough, and from his last 7 balls he faced, 5 of them were maximums. Ansh ended his innings with an unbeaten 70, but unfortunately, we fell short of Lilydale’s total by 12 runs. 

The loss knocked us out of the competition, so we played a friendly game against Camberwell and enjoyed the weather on a great day out. All the boys enjoyed themselves and should be proud of their efforts on the day!

Mr. Leithhead.

Upcoming events:

29/11 State Year 8 Boys Baseball – RESCHEDULED DATE