Sport

SPC wins BAS Lap of the Lake

In sunny and still weather, SPC stormed to victory at the final BAS Cross Country meet for the year with the BAS Lap of the Lake held after school on Wednesday, 26 August.

Our boys rose to the occasion to win the following titles:

• Overall boys’ aggregate shield, proudly collected by Captain Archie Todd
• Junior 4km race - Archer Spackman
• Intermediate 6km race - Ollie Ryan
• Senior 6km race, as well as second and third place for a clean sweep of the podium – Tyler Medlyn, Isaac Gillett, Mitch Korosec
• Senior boys age group pennant

Run with such enthusiasm and support of each other, we couldn't be prouder of your consistent efforts this season. Well done boys.

Mrs Rossato

Australian Cross Country Championships

Congratulations to SPC students Lenny Templar (Year 7), Archer Spackman (Year 8), Ollie Ryan (Year 9) and Isaac Gillett (Year 11), who represented Victoria at the Australian Cross Country Championships at Victoria Park on Saturday.

In brutal, mud-soaked conditions, all four gave it everything to finish:

- Ollie, 4th/70 competitors, U16 4km | 14:13 min

- Lenny, 36th/71 competitors, U13 3km | 12:23 min  

- Archer, 44th/79 competitors, U15 4km | 15:58 min

- Isaac, 35th/67 competitors, U17 6km | 22:56 min

A special congrats to Ollie, who finished just nine seconds short of an individual bronze medal in a field of 70! Victoria's first three runners crossed the line in second, fourth and sixth to secure team gold. Ollie also secured a team bronze medal on Sunday in a mixed U16 relay event.  

What an outstanding effort from all four athletes in truly challenging conditions.

Basketball: Elite 8 Champions Cup

Juniors

After our Junior Elite Team made it through the first round of Champions Cup, qualifying for the Elite 8 competition at the State Basketball Centre, we knew it was going to be tough. Elite 8 means we play against the Top 8 sporting schools in the state, including Maribyrnong, Rowville, Berwick and Western Heights.

Game 1 saw us shape up against Maribyrnong and all the boys could talk about was the 6'10 centre (yes, a Year 8!) Needless to say, we lost the opening tap and found it hard to get points on the board early. This was definitely going to be a tough day. But to our credit we found a way to compete, get points on the board and keep our head held high. 

Our Bigs, Aaron Vereker, Harry Atterton and Oscar Corfee played against some very big strong boys but didn’t back down once. We eventually lost the first game by a decent margin. Paddy Ashby and Buster Argyle were a joy to watch and supported the other boys as a team to let the opposition know we don’t give up easily!

Game 2 and 3 went much the same way. We were undersized against all teams but our determination and effort was amazing. The boys fought hard for every point, did their best to represent themselves and SPC with pride, and finished the day completely exhausted.

On the way home we had enough time to stop at the Rockback McDonalds – Eric and I watched as our boys sat, ate and talked as a group in a busy place. Our comment: “These boys are awesome!” So polite, respectful, considerate and as a team we are very excited to watch these young fellas progress through our program. The future is bright!

– Josh Ebbells and Eric Hayes, Junior Coaches

Seniors

Our senior boys Elite Basketball team participate in the esteemed Champions Cup Elite 8 tournament on Thursday, 27 August. This is the highest quality competition for school basketball in Victoria and to make it to this stage is an achievement in itself. 

We played our first game against Rowville Secondary College, a school who have had a designated Elite Basketball program for over 15 years and were one of the favourites to win the entire competition. We played an extremely physical and tough game, and with some outstanding performances from Lucas Byrne and Levi Munyard we came away 6 point victors. A huge win to start the day and put us in a position to finish top of our pool. 

Our next game was against Trinity College, a high performing school based in Kew, Melbourne. We jumped out to s strong 15 point lead in the first half but unfortunately, a difficult second half and a mistake at the end of the game led to us losing by 1 point to Trinity. 

We regathered ourselves and prepared for our next game against Western Heights, another school with a well established elite basketball program, coached by multiple National program coaches. This was a must win game for us, trying to lock in top spot in our pool and advance to the semi-final. After a slow start, we started to take over the game and another dominant performance from Lucas Byrne and some great contributions from players like Archer Martin, Noah Phillips and Joe Buckle got us the win. 

The semi-final against Caulfield Grammar was going to be tough. A team full of talent and very well coached with a specialised program and plays in the APS league for school sport was going to be a challenge. 

The boys played their hardest and fought through some adversity to be in the game at half time. Unfortunately, we started to run out of legs in the second half and the Caulfield team were able to push out to a 15-point lead. A disappointing result in the final game, however the overall result of finishing third place in the Champions Cup tournament is a phenomenal achievement and something our senior side has not achieved since 2010. 

The boys represented the school with so much pride and we thank them for their effort and contribution to the St Patrick’s College Basketball program. We look forward to representing the school again at the ACC semi-final next week at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. 

– Jarrod Fryar and Eric Hayes, Senior Coaches

Rugby Presentation Dinner

Last night, our Rugby community came together to celebrate another fantastic season of SPC Rugby. 

It was a wonderful evening of camaraderie and reflection, recognising the commitment, growth and achievements of our players, coaches and support staff throughout the season.

Congratulations to all of our award recipients (listed below) and thank you to everyone who has contributed to another memorable season of rugby.

John James Medal

Communication

The best form of communication we have with parent/guardians is via the Parent Access Module (PAM). Students require permission to participate in all sport. Parent/guardians will receive the information through a PAM activity permission. Please ensure that you read the information prior to giving permission and that you also talk to students about the information. 

The daily messages are one of the best ways we can distribute information to students about sports that are on offer and where sign-up meetings will be held. Students should check the daily messages regularly.

Once students have signed up for a sport, we will be adding them into a MS Teams group where they can communicate directly with their coach. Students must communicate with their coach if they are unavailable for a match so we can find a replacement to ensure we have a full team for each match. If students are unsure of how to sign up for a sport or want more information, they can visit sports staff in the gymnasium. 

Sport Uniform

All SPC sport uniforms can be purchased at Dobsons, either at their Mair St store or online at dobsons.com.au. Students need to ensure that they are in the correct uniform to participate. The general sport uniform is the navy blue polo top, navy shorts and white socks. Certain sports will require very specific clothing e.g. Soccer will need to purchase SPC soccer shorts and socks and Basketball will need to purchase SPC Basketball shorts. Students should check with their coach as to what is required. 

I wish all students and coaches every success in Term 3. Always play the game in the right spirit, wear the correct uniform and respect the facilities, home and away. St Patrick’s College is steeped in sporting tradition and you are encouraged to add more chapters to our past endeavours. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me (jlappin@stpats.vic.edu.au) or our Sports Administrator Mr Simon Dwyer (sdwyer@stpats.vic.edu.au) with any questions.