Sport: CROSS COUNTRY

Our Cross Country Running team made history on Monday at the picturesque Dederang Racecourse, winning the Upper Hume Championship for the first time in 10 years.

Despite many of our gun runners missing the event due to Year 10 Work Experience and the Year 9 Future Makers Camp, we had 43 runners in our team, with 21 finishing Top 10 (10 more than last year) and 25 finishing Top 15 to qualify for the Hume Region stage in Benalla on 21st June, the final stage before State Champs.  

In the Overall Standings, we were 1st of 9 schools, triumphing comfortably on 44 points, over Victory Lutheran College Wodonga (38) and Catholic College Wodonga (36), after finishing 3rd last year. 

Year 10 Merlin Tzaros was our star of the day. Having missed the last two years due to injury and illness, the Champ was back at the event for the 1st time since breaking the all-time Upper Hume record for the 12/13 Boys age group as a Year 7 in 2021 (the year he came 2nd in the State), and promptly won 1st in his 16 Boys 5km event, over 3 laps of the horse track wearing the vintage gold & blue Athletics singlet worn to Athletics State Title wins by past legends such as Jack Boulton and Daniel Boyle. The Team Victoria Triathlon member and last year's W.H.S Sportsperson Of The Year continues to inspire us all. 

Others to place were Year 10 Emilio Miliankos-King who got 3rd in the same race, and Year 8 Clarence Lampa who collected 3rd in his 14 Boys 3km. Clarence is making an early bid for Interschool Sport student of the year. He recently was the Skipper of our Junior Boys Lawn Bowlsl team which won ​Hume Region and went to State Finals, was the match-winning goal scorer in the Soccer team, and also was the star of Super 8 Cricket, scoring over 50 runs in an over not once but twice. The massive all-round talent now looks set to be a chance to make a 2nd State Championship in a matter of months.  

Elsewhere, Year 7 girls Paige-Lee Dummett and Isabella Boulton snared 4th and 5th in the 1st race of the day. Both girls made it to State in Primary School and are wonderful additions to our Athletics & Sport teams. Paige-Lee has already represented us at ​Hume Region for Swimming this year, and looks set to do so again here. Boulton of course is one of our great names, with brother Jack being a 200m & 400m Athletics State Champion when with us in 2022 at Year 12, and winner of multiple other State & National titles in Athletics, and even an Australian 400m all-time record, as a teenager. Their father Jason is also a former House Captain when attending W.H.S, and we love history like that.

An outstanding group of Year 8s also finished Top 15. In the Girls 3km, we got 5th (Inanay Gilson), 7th (Ruby O’Kane), 8th (Kaity Ford) and 14th (Ruby Burns). If not for a Soccer injury to Liv Day who made it to State last year, we would have had 4 of the Top 10. Coincidently, all 5 of these outstanding all-rounders were the Engine Room of our Soccer team that finished Runners Up at the Upper Hume carnival two weeks ago. 

For the Year 8 Boys, Clarence (3rd) was closely followed by Hugh Spring (7th), Jed Murray (8th) and Oskar McGahan (14th), with another Year 8 boy in Leo Woodburne, younger than his counterparts, getting 8th in his age group (12-13 Boys). 

We also dominated points-wise in the 16 Boys and both Senior races (17-20yo). We took 3 of the top 5 spots in the 16 Boys - Merlin Tzaros (1st), Emilio Miliankos-King (3rd) and Sam Day (5th). Four of our Senior Girls went Top 10 – Isabella Hooper (4th), Clare Collins (5th), Phoebe Bosely (7th) and Iambein Thompson-Laban (8th). Five of the Boys did likewise - Reuben Smith (6th), Tom Ford (7th), Wirra Gilson (8th), Darcy Stone (9th) and Anthony Chisholm (10th). 

For Reuben Smith, running 5km on a horse track potted with holes from horse hooves, is a big change from the slick velodromes of New Zealand and Queensland where he has been winning National & International medals in Sprint Track Cycling this year. Others to qualify were Tristan Scott (13th), Cope Swinburne (14th) and Bode Crawford (15th).

This was a significant triumph, considering our enrolments are less than half of some of the other schools. 

Big thank you to all runners. To have 43 of you courageous enough to compete in such a gruelling event, says something about our school's character. We were by far the largest team at the event. With your continued participation and effort in Interschool Sport, you are driving our School Culture, and are making a significant impression on the community, with multiple staff from other schools commenting on your willingness to enter every Sport available, and to compete hard, fair and punching above weight. I'm convinced after observing many such events that the collective of names mentioned here (and many others who were absent) are up there with the best quality young people in not only Wangaratta, but our entire region.

Another point to note was that 4 of the 9 Upper Hume Sport Coordinators are former Wangaratta High School students that attended here under Newmo - Dale Carmody (Cathedral), Briony Henderson (Wodonga Middle Years College), and our greatest swimmer of all time and 7x Swim Carnival record holder Rowan Barrow (Wangaratta District Specialist School). Testament to Newmo's phenomenal influence over her career.

Thanks to Ash Clayton for coming along, and Newmo for volunteering again. Thanks too to Chris & Julie Tzaros for supporting, and especially Chris for the great photographs. Plenty more photos on Facebook (limited to 10 here on Compass).

Jud Mullins

Sports Coordinator