Sport: Milly Makes it to Netball Victoria's State Netball Squad!
Congratulations to Year 9 Milly O’Kane who has just been selected to the Netball Victoria State Netball Squad at Under 17 level.
This places the Wangaratta Magpies Football & Netball Club talent currently in the Top 50 Netballers for her age in Victoria. The gravity of this achievement can be appreciated once you realise the amount of girls that would have been vying for this squad (Netball is the 3rd most played Sport in Australia, with over 870,000 women and girls playing).
Milly has a number of Squad Training sessions in Melbourne before the Final Team is selected in December. If picked, she will then play for Victoria in the Netball Australia National Championships, against teams from the other States.
A wonderful achievement Milly. We are proud of you and wish you luck making the Full Team.
It's worth noting too, the list of Sporting Accomplishments Milly has achieved in just the last 12 months alone. Those include:
- 2024 Netball Victoria Talent Academy
- 2024 North East Netball State Title Team
- 2024 Wangaratta Netball Association U17 Rep Team
- 2024 School Age Group Champion - Swimming
- 2023 School Age Group Champion - Athletics
- 2023 School Winner of Hazel June Woodward (Sisley) Memorial Sport Award
- 2023 Ovens & King Football Netball League Under 15 League Best & Fairest
- 2023 Ovens & King Football Netball League Under 15 League MVP
- 2023 Corowa Rutherglen (Ovens & Murray FNL) Under 17 Team Best & Fairest- 2023 King Valley (Ovens & King FNL) Under 15 Team Best & Fairest
- 2023 Nominee (1 of 3) in Bendigo Academy of Sport Netball Athlete Of Year.
- 2023 5th @ School Sport Victoria State Track & Field Championships - Javelin
- 2023 (and 2022) SSV State Championships - Badminton
One of the most amazing things about the above list, are her 2 Club Best & Fairests from last year. Not many know that she played 2 games of Netball, in two different leagues, every Saturday. She played early morning with the King Valley Under 15s, and then drove to wherever the Corowa team game was in the afternoon, so she test herself at a higher standard (Ovens & Murray FNL) and higher age-group. Not only did she win the Best & Fairest trophy for both teams, but her win for Corowa Under 17s was when playing not just as a Bottom-Ager, but 2 years under the age. Quite extraordinary.
Thank you for being a tremendous ambassador for our school Milly, and for being a wonderful all-round character as well.
FOOTNOTE - If Milly does make the team, she will be the 1st Wangaratta High School girl (we believe) to make a State Netball team in 29 years. That was Kim Welch (daughter of legendary teacher and also ex-student & Prefect Geoff Welch), who made the Under 19 team in 1995, plus Under 17 (1994) and Under 16 (1992). Her flurry was at the end of our Renaissance Period of Netball, where between 1982 and 1995, we had a remarkable 6 girls make the State Team in 14 years - Lori Delaney (1990), Kate Morris (1985), Robyn Townsend (1982 as Captain, and 83), Lisa Wilson (1982, 83 and 84) and Narelle Young (1985). Even better, 2 made the Australian team - Townsend and Wilson, both in 1982, at Under 16 and Under 15 respectively). In that period our girls won 4 State Championship in 5 years (1982 Senior, 1983 Senior, 1984 Intermediate, 1986 Intermediate), plus 3 Runner-Ups (1982 Junior, 1990 Junior, 1993 Intermediate) and a 3rd place (1991 Senior).
Jud Mullins
Sport Coordinator