Sports News
Victorian Schools Canoe Championships
Last Sunday 17 March, two paddlers from Girton Grammar came home having represented the school with honour and a bag of medals to boot.
Ignacio Gonda (our Spanish exchange student, known as 'Nacho' to his friends) and Matilda Lovett represented the school in both sprint and marathon events. Conditions were perfect, with temperatures in the mid-20s and only the mildest gusts of wind. Weekly training on Lake Weeroona with Girton’s Canoeing Club through Term 1 paid dividends on the day.
Nacho faced up to a highly competitive field in the Under 18 Men’s K1 200m sprint and placed a creditable fourth. He joined a team that combined the four best male schools paddlers in Bendigo to place second in the Men’s K4 200m sprint, using a kayak first raced in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and missing first place by a mere 1.7 seconds.
Matilda and Nacho together won gold medals in the Under 18 Mixed TK2 200m sprint and the Mixed TK2 2km event, beating out very competitive teams from Trinity, Carey and Camberwell Grammar Schools.
Matilda finished with a silver medal in the Under 18 Women’s TK1 2km event, despite not yet being 16 years old and facing older, and stronger, competitors.
Our small team gained two golds, one silver and the respect of their competitors. Congratulations to both Matilda and Nacho on an amazing effort!
Basketball
Congratulations to all the Girton Basketball teams on completing an excellent season. In particular, well done to the award winners for their outstanding performances and contributions! Our teams' performances this season are a testament to the hard work, dedication and teamwork of every player. Thank you also to all the staff who have tirelessly supported this co-curricular and its students.
Cricket
On Friday 8 March, the Girton Year 7–8 cricket team played at Catherine McAuley College (CMC) for the Sandhurst Cricket Day. The games were 15 overs per side. The first match was against Victory Christian College (VCC). Girton bowled first and VCC put up a total of 2/98. Luke Warren and Lucas Zylan took a wicket each. Unfortunately, we fell just short in the run chase, putting up a total of 4/92. Girton opener Charlie Cordy made an impressive 48 runs to nearly pull the team across the line. The loss meant Girton would play Weeroona College in the second game.
Girton batted first against Weeroona College. Hugh Smith top scored with 18 as Girton posted a total of 69 runs off the 15 overs. With a reasonably low total to defend, Girton had to bowl well. Weeroona had a solid start before Seth Gross and Ayman Mostafa came on to bowl. Seth came in and got 2/4 in his two overs. Ayman, bowling his spell from the other end, took two wickets at the end of his first over, meaning that he was on a hat-trick, and that the team had the chance for a team hat-trick with the first ball of Seth's over. Seth's delivery hit the top of off stump! Then, with the first ball of Ayman's second over, he clean bowled the batter, getting his hat-trick. All of his wickets were clean bowled! The team was very excited as Ayman had come on and turned the game. He took another wicket in his second over and finished up with an incredible 4/8 off two overs. Girton bowled Weeroona out for just 39 runs on the back of Seth and Ayman’s performances. Well done to Girton on a great day and to Ayman on an outstanding hat-trick.
Thank you to Mr Langan for accompanying the team and helping me with the umpiring and scoring, the parents and grandparents who cheered us on, the Sports Office for organising the team, and CMC for hosting the day.
Oliver McKenzie (10 Millward)