Senior School Sport &
Co-curricular

NSW State Athletics Championships

Between 12 -15 March, six Kinross Wolaroi students travelled to the newly renovated Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Track for the NSW State Athletics Championships. Scarlett Cantello, Anna Childs, Jessica Childs, Lara Hooper, Will Kline, and Mila Staniforth had all qualified as among the top athletes in the state in a variety of events. It was an Athletics NSW event and so included students from public, private and Catholic schools.

Competitors needed to progress through Zone and Regional Championships to qualify. The Kinross Wolaroi students all performed well, reflecting their training over the past six months.

Congratulations must be given to Lara Hooper who won a gold medal in long jump with a jump of 5.25m. She will progress to the Australian National Championships as well as the Australian Little Athletics Championships. Lara also competed strongly in high jump, clearing 1.50m, finishing 6th in NSW.

Mila Staniforth qualified for the National Championships with an impressively fast 400m run at 1:01.49, qualifying 8th in NSW. She also qualified for the National Championships in the 200m with a very fast time of 27.12 seconds, finishing 14th in NSW. She also competed well in the 80m hurdles and long jump.

Will Kline jumped a remarkable 1.90m in high jump, finishing 5th in NSW.

Anna Childs performed impressively in the 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 100m and triple jump, with her 400m hurdles qualifying her as 8th in NSW. She missed the National qualifying time for 400m hurdles by just one second.

Jessica Childs performed strongly in javelin, throwing a new personal best javelin throw of 30.30m, qualifying 9th in NSW.

Scarlett Cantello ran a very quick 200m hurdles race, completing it in 34.72, finishing 21st in NSW.

Well done to these athletes! We look forward to seeing you perform at the Kinross School Athletics Carnival next term!

ISA Tennis Singles Championship Report

On Saturday 7 March, Kinross Wolaroi competed in the ISA Singles Championships. Each school nominates two players and they play off in a round-robin style competition in their pools, before semi-finals and finals rounds.

This year the school was represented by Ollie Hyde and Ashton Quinn-Woonton. Both our players were eager to get into their matches and play competitive tennis. Ashton had some tough opponents in his pool and took this in his stride, demonstrating sound skill and great sportsmanship throughout his matches – well done Ashton!

Ollie played consistently during his pool matches and placed second in his pool, advancing through to the semi-finals. In the semi-final, he came up against a strong opponent from SASC. However, Ollie maintained his composure and had a convincing win 6-2, advancing to the Championship final. Ollie played a very strong rival from SSC in the final and although Ollie was consistent and mixed up his play, his opponent was too good on the day. Congratulations to Ollie for finishing Runner-Up in the Singles Championships for 2026!

Brooke Prowse

MIC of Tennis

Year 7 Try Sports

Try sports continues…. Year 7 students are enjoying rotating through hockey, soccer, basketball and touch football. Even the rain couldn’t dampen spirits. Year 7 students have shown enthusiasm and interest in participating in each sport. Thank you to our MICs Ms Sweeney (Touch Football), Mr Taylor (MIC Basketball), Mr Smedley (MIC Soccer) and Mrs Crellen (MIC Hockey) for introducing our Year 7 students to specific skills and technical drills across the four sports.

Rowing – Head of the River

Another outstanding fortnight for our rowing team has come to an end, highlighted by exceptional performances at the penultimate regattas of the season — the NSW Schoolgirl and NSW Schoolboy Head of the River at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith.

For the first time this season, both regattas were conducted in near-perfect conditions, allowing our athletes to showcase their preparation and talent on the big stage.

NSW Schoolgirl Head of the River

A 41-strong Kinross Wolaroi schoolgirl squad travelled to Penrith to compete in the largest schoolgirl regatta in the country, facing top-tier competition from across New South Wales.

The Schoolgirl 1st VIII delivered a thrilling performance that made the entire school community proud. Locked in a fierce contest through the opening 1000m, the race was wide open before Pymble surged in the second half to break the SIRC course record. Our crew crossed the line in 6:37, the third-fastest time in the history of the event — a remarkable achievement. With a few key refinements, this crew heads to Lake Barrington full of belief, determination and a quiet confidence.

The Year 10 Girls VIII secured a well-earned silver medal, continuing to build a strong and competitive rivalry with Loreto Normanhurst. Their cohesion, resilience, and commitment to each other place them in a strong position heading into Nationals.

Our Junior Girls program continued its excellent season, with both the Year 9 1st and 2nd Quads claiming silver medals in highly competitive finals. Despite a disrupted preparation, these crews demonstrated professionalism, grit, and composure. This result caps off a fantastic season for the junior cohort.

A sincere thank you to coaches Rebecca Pierce, Amy Greenlees, Will Stanley Davies and gap staff Seth Dunnington and Ben Rist for their dedication and leadership throughout the season.

NSW Schoolboy Head of the River

A 30-strong schoolboy squad took to the water in equally ideal conditions, producing a day of fast and exciting racing.

Our Junior Boys continued their dominant form from the State Championships:

Reuben “Grandstand” Cleary – Gold, Year 9 Single Scull
Hamish Macdonald & Henry Jones – Gold, Year 9 Double Scull
Year 9 1st Quad (Cleary, Macdonald, Jones, Power, Oldroyd) – Gold, convincingly defeating strong GPS opposition including St Ignatius’, Shore, and King’s

The Year 9 2nd Quad added a silver medal, while the 3rd Quad produced a season-best performance to finish 5th, highlighting the depth of the program.

The Schoolboy 1st Quad, stroked by Captain of Boats Toby Buckland, delivered a superb race to secure silver, posting an impressive time and building strong momentum ahead of Nationals. Outstanding efforts from Toby, Hamish Searle, Angus Hunt, George Hunt, and coxed by the indefatigable Jock Petersen.

The Schoolboy 2nd Quad, featuring Year 12 students Jackson Davis and Harper Shaw, finished their school rowing careers with a courageous and spirited performance — a fitting conclusion to their time in the program. In particular we are eternally grateful for the efforts Jackson Davis has showed this season with trailer management, boat maintenance and dedicating his time to helping the Junior program, ‘JD’ will go down as a KWS Rowing Legend.

A standout performance came from the Year 10 Quad of Ash Robinson, Heathcliffe Bell, Xavier Zinga, Angus Sawtell, and Sam Thomas, who claimed gold in one of the races of the day. In a fiercely contested final against Marist College Canberra, the crew produced an outstanding 6:41 (16 second PB), carrying significant momentum into Nationals. Special recognition to Angus Sawtell, whose resilience through injury made his return and performance particularly commendable.

Looking Ahead

To all athletes who concluded their season at Head of the River — congratulations on an outstanding campaign. Your commitment to the program has been exceptional.

Our 31-strong Nationals squad now turns its focus to Lake Barrington, Tasmania, where we look forward to competing at the highest level at the Australian National Championships.

We wish all summer sporting teams the very best in their upcoming fixtures and finals.

Mr Ben Watt

Master in Charge Rowing

Orange Running Festival

Kinross Wolaroi had some great results from the Orange Running Festival on Sunday, 15 March:

2nd in the High School Dash
3rd in the Primary School Dash
Skye Napier came 1st in the 10km run (Women’s)
Skye Napier came 2nd the High School Dash (Women’s)

Run for Sick Kids

As part of a Dean House Initiative, members of the school community participated in the ‘Run for Sick Kids’ at the Orange Running Festival on the weekend. There were a great number of students and staff who signed up to run in the 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon to raise money for Ronald McDonald House. So far, our school has raised close to $2000 for our local Ronald McDonald House and will continue to fundraise throughout the month of March to help support families of kids that are unwell and need to live away from home.

A big thank you to all students, staff and families for joining in and supporting a really important cause!

Basketball Season

I would like to thank all the players, coaches, scorers, and the Orange District Basketball Association for another successful season.

With 20 teams competing in the local competition, it is always great to see Kinross Wolaroi so strongly involved in local associations. Basketball continues to be well represented, and from recreational teams through to the First Boys and First Girls teams, there is a place for students of all abilities and skill levels.

I would also like to extend a sincere thank you to our external coaches who have helped build the program over recent years. Your time, expertise, and commitment are greatly appreciated, and your skills and knowledge have clearly rubbed off on the players. It has been fantastic to see the growth in confidence across all teams as the season has progressed.

A big thank you also goes to the teaching staff who have dedicated their time and energy to the program. This is a significant commitment, and it certainly has not gone unnoticed. To the parents who make the trips to PCYC and support their children each week—thank you for your ongoing support.

Finally, to the players: well done on a great season. All coaches have spoken positively about the way you conduct yourselves both on and off the court, and you should be very proud of your efforts.

There will be a few more games played during Cadets Week, and I look forward to seeing the results. A pizza lunch and medal presentation will be held in the final week of Term 1. Further details will be posted on the Basketball HUB page.

Mr Lee Taylor
MIC Basketball

Golf Success

Congratulations to Louis Simpson, who represented our school at the 2026 CIS Secondary Golf Championships. Despite challenging conditions, with rain falling for most of the day, Louis showed great determination and resilience, finishing 37th out of 60 competitors. A fantastic effort-well done, Louis!

Senior School Sport & Co-curricular