Sports 

End of a Great Year 

As we reach the end of the year, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the successes that many of our teams and individuals have achieved over the course of the year.

It was fantastic to see so many students representing the school, with 144 teams competing at the Division level and 44 out of a possible 85 teams progressing to Region finals. Of these 44 teams, three were able to qualify for state finals. Congratulations to the Year 8 Boys Table Tennis, Year 8 Girls Netball and the Year 8 Girls Softball team. A special mention to the Year 8 Softball team that won the State title, an incredible effort, when you consider there are over 300 government secondary schools in the state. A full report of their State finals is included below.

There were also some fantastic performances within the Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics teams. The Athletics team won the Division title for the 25th time from the past 28 years, the Cross Country team won for the 27th time in a row and Swimming claimed the Division crown for the 24th consecutive year.

We hope to see many students involved again in 2017, with the key dates for Term 1 shown below.

February:

Friday 10th - RSC Swimming

Monday 21st - Senior Round Robin; Summer

March:

Wednesday 8th – Year 8 Round Robin; Summer

Wednesday 15th - Intermediate Round Robin; Summer

Monday 20th - Maroondah Division Swimming

Thursday 23rd - Year 7 Round Robin; Summer

Tuesday 28th – Eastern Region Swimming

Friday 31st – RSC Cross Country

YEAR 8 SOFTBALL STATE CHAMPIONS

After easily winning through the first round against our Division Schools at the start of the year, it was a long wait for the second round in Term 4. The games were closer, but our girls still won through convincingly. A very excited team was now going to contest the State Finals. The team was made up of Eliza Bently ( a State level Catcher – handy ), Tarni Cavanagh as our pitcher, Felicity Watts, Caitlin Dellow, Skylar Browne, Maddison Chipperfield, Estee Fifita, Eve Fletcher, Eloise Futiere, Rose Lawnsang, Rhiannon Ockwell, Emma Smith and Matilda Wilson.

The Finals were held at Jells Park Sports Complex on Monday 21st November in searing heat and blustery wind. 38 degrees was not going to deter these girls from giving it their all. Our first game against Epping SC was super close, we only won by 1 run, 3/2, with runs scored by Caitlin, Tarni and Eliza.  The next game was against Sunbury SC and was also very close, but we won by 2 runs, 9/7.  Runs scored were a home run from Caitlin, 1 for Tarni, Emma, Rhiannon and Eve, and 2 runs each for Eliza and Eloise. Eliza was sliding in her runs under pressure and making sure we won our games with her brilliant catching as well.

The third game had us all very excited as we knew the chances of making the Final were now looking likely. Thanks to both Eliza’s and Tarni’s mums for getting us icy poles to keep us cool and energised. I was glad that I had packed the Staminade powder as well. The heat was intense, and so was the competition. We played Alkira SC and it was a pressure game. We scored 3 runs in the first innings, thanks to Caitlin, Tarni and Eliza, but our first fielding innings was shaky, and the girls allowed Alkira to score 6. They steadied to come back with a second innings score of 6 (well done to all of you), and then held the opposition to a nil score in their second batting innings. We won 6/9 and were in the final against Viewbank SC.

Viewbank were last year’s champions, and they had played one less game in their pool to make the final as Mildura had not attended. Viewbank’s first innings was 0, ours was 2 runs, go Caitlin and Eliza! The second innings was 1 run for Viewbank and 0 for us. The fielding standard from both teams was very tight. The third innings allowed one more run for Viewbank, and our girls made another 3. Awesome work Caitlin, Tarni and Eliza, you totally rock! That was that, Ringwood Secondary won 5/2. We are now Yr8 Girls State Softball Champs! After 20 years at Ringwood I have finally had the absolute pleasure of coaching a team to a State win. I am one very excited coach. Thanks to all the girls for all the fun and fantastic softball that they played. We will have to have Intermediate trials very early in 2017, as there is now a title to defend. So proud of you all.

Mrs Claudia Aveling

AFL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to Joel Burleigh of Year 10, who represented the Victoria Metropolitan area in the Under 16 National AFL championships earlier this year. Joel played against the Victorian Country team at Simmonds stadium in Geelong and then played two further games against South Australia and Western Australia on the Gold Coast. Joel’s performance in these games and good form during the year, resulted in him being selected to play three games with the Eastern Ranges Under 18 team in the TAC cup, an outstanding effort as a 16 year old. Congratulations on these achievements Joel and good luck for the 2017 season.

AFL ROOKIE DRAFT

In the recent AFL rookie draft, ex-students Oscar McInerney (2012) and Nathan Mullenger-McHugh (2015), were selected by Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs respectively. Congratulations and good luck to Oscar and Nathan as they begin their AFL journey.