2024 Swimming Carnival Outcome

King House has etched itself into the history books, pulling off one of the most remarkable come-from-behind victories ever seen at today's 2024 Swim Carnival.

Languishing in 4th place for most of the morning, suffering from a clearly visible lack of numbers during the novelty events, and overall numbers at the venue, they stormed back into contention on the back of 6 standout individuals who would collect 6 of the 12 Age Group Champion medals.

Late in proceedings, the Leaderboard fluctuated race by race, with the top 3 Houses all at various stages in 1st position, and Ovens well within striking distance too. 

In the end, it was King who saluted by a mere 2 points from last year's champions Merriwa, with Wareena just 13 points back.

Apart from the Once-In-A-Century draw between Wareena & King in 2021, Newmo said it was the closest finish she could recall in her 26 years of running the event.

In a wonderful scene, King's two Senior House Captains Clove Boonzaayer and Zoe Baguley lifted the iconic Shield,  flanked by the other 10 King House Captains,  in front of a packed auditorium during the Presentation Ceremony at the PAC.

Final Scores:

1st - KING - 410

2nd - MERRIWA - 408

3rd - WAREENA - 397

4th - OVENS - 354

Interestingly, King finished last in 2023, a whopping 126 points behind the winner Merriwa. It goes to show that any House can win, any year.

Individually, there were 12 Age Group Champion medals awarded during the Presentations. Again, these champions become part of W.H.S history forever, some winning for the 1st time and others now multiple winners.

Age Group Champions

13 Girls - Aroha Waddell - KING

13 Boys - Hanesh Govinda Samy - WAREENA and Angus Fraser - WAREENA

14 Girls - Ruby O'Kane - MERRIWA

14 Boys - Oskar McGahan - OVENS

15 Girls - Lillian Hooper - KING

15 Boys - Sam Morey - MERRIWA

16 Girls - Milly O'Kane - KING

16 Boys - Merlin Tzaros - WAREENA

17 Girls - Tara Genn - KING

17 Boys - Jye Laxton - KING

20 Girls - Zoe Baguley - KING

20 Boys - Tristan Scott - OVENS

Lillian Hooper scored the most individual points, with 34 from her 5 events, while Merlin Tzaros was the other to pull more than 30, with his 32 from 4 events.

Strong effort by Merlin, backing up from winning the Barwon Heads Triathlon on Sunday. Also of note, is that when we arrived to set up at 7:30am this morning, Merlin was just getting out of the water having just swum 4km with his father Chris. That's 80 laps.

Jye Laxton though, may be the most important name on that list. Jye was sadly going to miss the original Swim Carnival as he was on a family holiday. However, the rescheduled date saw him suddenly available today.

This stroke of fortune was likely a key reason for King's victory today.Another key point is the super participation of our Year 7s today. For alll 4 Houses today, it was the Year 7s who collected the most points - especially Wareena's Year 7s (7E class) who gathered 189 points themselves. An outstanding sign for future Carnivals.

Big thank you to all Students who participated today or came along to support the day. Likewise to the many Parents who popped in to support their children. It was a monumental triumph in terms of School Spirit.

Huge thank you to all Staff in attendance, all of whom undertook various roles to make the day run smoothly.

Special thank you to our Prefect Team, who ran the BBQ, our 9D class who ran their own Food Stall, to Year 12 Cody Lepoidevin who was our DJ controlling the music, and our 48 House Captains.

Thank you also to current parent and former teacher Kev McGennan for volunteering his considerable photography expertise (photos attached).

Finally, thank you to Sandy "Newmo" Newman. Newmo has been the W.H.S Sport Coordinator since 1999, and today she was running her 26th Swim Carnival. As she is retiring at the end of this year, today was her final Carnival. We thank her for being there today (despite being on "leave"). It's staggering to think of how many students for whom she's provided special days and moments like today, over those years. It would likely amount to tens of thousands of young people. An all time legend of our school.

Best of luck to the 50 race-winners & relay team members coming to race on Thursday in Wodonga at the Upper Hume stage.

We now look forward to the 2024 Athletics Carnival, which will take place early in Term 3. Details coming soon.

• Jud Mullins - Sport Coordinator