Sport News
Term 4: End of Year Report
Hi, South Oakleigh College community.
With the year coming to a close, we’d like to reflect on the year in sport, and once again highlight the outstanding team and individual achievements from 2023.
HOUSE COMPETITION WINNERS
Swimming – Acacia
Cross Country – Acacia
Athletics – Acacia
Dodgeball – Banksia
MONASH DIVISION INTERSCHOOL SPORT WINNERS
Year 7 Girls Netball
Year 8 Girls Softball
Year 8 Girls Tennis
Year 8 Girls Soccer
Year 8 Boys Baseball
Year 8 Boys Tennis
Year 8 Boys Table Tennis
MONASH DIVISION SWIMMING CARNIVAL
We took a team of 16 students to the Monash Division Swimming Carnival. Whilst we didn’t win any events, we had several placings, with Eloise Triferis winning the medal for the best swimmer in the Girl's 14-year-old age group.
MONASH DIVISION CROSS COUNTRY
Our results at this competition were outstanding, culminating in us winning the Intermediate Shield and finishing only 5 points behind in second place in the Junior Shield. We had 7 of the first 15 runners in the Under 15 Girls event. We also won five events on the day, with Lucia Shaw winning the 12/13 Girls, Kenji Calf the 12/13 Boys, Sophie Volpert the 14 Girls, Vanessa Sadjoli the 15 Girls and Evangelos Panagiotou the 12/13 Multiclass event. We had 32 students qualify for the Eastern Metropolitan Cross Country Championships.
EMR CROSS COUNTRY
This event was held at Yarra Glen Racecourse on Tuesday, June 13th, with the highlights being Evangelos Panagiotou winning the 12/13 Multi Class event and Kenji Calf finishing 4th in the 12/13 Boys event.
STATE CROSS COUNTRY
The State event was also held at Yarra Glen Racecourse. Seeing schools from far and wide across Victoria highlighted that this truly was a state event with the very best performers. Kenji finished in 48th place out of 100 participants. Evangelos finished in 2nd place out of 15 competitors.
We congratulate Kenji and Evangelos on their outstanding results across all cross-country events this year.
A big thank you must also go to Jack Wright, who ran alongside and supported Evangelos in several of his multi-class events.
MONASH DIVISION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
South Oakleigh College had ten students break records in their events; Will Amiatu (3), Lucia Shaw (2), Sophie Volpert (2), Oskar Dogrusever (2) and Deagan Backers (1).
We also had four students awarded Age Group Champions; Lucia Shaw (12/13), Andrew Macrae (12/13), Sophie Volpert (12/13) and Will Amiatu (15).
STATE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
The State Athletics Championships were held at Lakeside Stadium, where we had Will Amiatu, Sophie Volpert, Tricia Santosh, Lucia Shaw and Oskar Dogrusever representing the school. To reach this level of competition is an outstanding achievement by these students, who performed exceptionally well.
Sophie Volpert 1st – Discus & Shot Put and 3rd – Javelin.
Will Amiatu 1st – Discus and 2nd Shot Put.
Lucia Shaw 2nd – Long Jump
Tricia Santosh 4th – 400m
Oskar Dogrusever 5th – 400m.
Congratulations to all students, and Sophie and Will on being State Champions.
VOLLEYBALL SCHOOLS CUP
From Monday, July 24th to Wednesday, July 26th, we entered our first team in the Volleyball Schools Cup at Dandenong Volleyball Stadium. The event featured a large number of private, independent and public schools throughout Melbourne, which created an exciting atmosphere throughout the stadium. Our team included a mix of Year 9 & 11 students, who had been training hard in the weeks leading up to the event. After our preliminary matches, we had registered 4 wins and 1 loss, which qualified us for the 1st v 2nd playoff against Balwyn High School.
With the match being on Wednesday evening, it was fantastic to see the representation of parents, students and teachers supporting the team. The match was an entertaining and high-quality one, that was a tight contest throughout. After losing a tight first set, and being down 5-0 in the second set, we gained momentum and won the second set. The third set was very even, however, unfortunately, we had a narrow defeat 15-12.
Across the training sessions and matches, it was pleasing to see the camaraderie and enthusiasm shown among the boys. A special thank you also to Eli Franzke, who used his experience to provide invaluable coaching and guidance for the team. Eli was also awarded the MVP medal as the best player in the competition.
SUMMARY
2023 SPORTS AWARD WINNERS
Year 7 – Lucia Shaw and Andrew Macrae
Year 8 – Sophie Volpert and Alex Robertson
Year 9 – Kyla Heyward-Davenport and Will Amiatu
Year 10 – Ella Hunt and William McManus
Senior – Lucien Tarkan and Jesse Sadjoli
I’d also like to congratulate the winner of our Outstanding Sports Achievement award, Jesse Sadjoli. During his time at South Oakleigh College, Jesse was an enthusiastic and successful participant in our Interschool competition, particularly badminton, and our House carnivals, with his best results coming in swimming. Even in his final year, Jesse was performing strongly in a variety of events.
A special mention to Evangelos Panagiotou. As a vision-impaired student, I have been inspired by the resilience and determination he has shown to overcome challenges and pursue what he is passionate about. Seeing him finish 2nd in the State Cross Country multi-class event was an exceptional achievement.
I’d also like to acknowledge the contribution of our 2023 Student Sports leaders, William D’Costa, Amelia McQuienn and Jeremy Tsitourids. Their support throughout the year has been much appreciated.
To successfully run a sports program, we also rely on the time and commitment of our teachers. A big thank you to the staff who have assisted with training sessions and competitions this year. It has also been fantastic to see many parents supporting their kids at these events.
As we look forward to 2024, we will aim to continue creating an environment that leads to ongoing improvement in team and individual results in our sports competitions. We will also look to provide students with opportunities to enter competitions outside of our Monash Division competitions. Most importantly, we want to create an environment that encourages all students to participate and to be able to enjoy themselves and experience the benefits that sport promotes - teamwork, leadership, resilience and pride in school and respective houses.
Have a safe and enjoyable break.
Jason Knee
Sports Coordinator