Senior Sport

SPORT REPORT TERM 1 WEEK 5 2020

Another week of College sport saw mixed MCS reviews, NSW CCC selections and the Senior College Swimming Carnival.

Our MCS Cricket teams had mixed success, with the 1st and 2nd XI’s having the bye, our 8A’s and 10A’s games were forfeited by Fairfield and our 8B’s and 10B’s having their games washed out due to ground closures. Well done to the 3rd and 4th XI’s who reported much-needed wins to earn final four placings.

Our MCS Basketball teams departed the College early to cater for their trip to Castle Hill for their semi-final matches. Our Year 8 team experienced a sensation come from behind victory to earn a Grand Final spot, while our 1st and 2nd Grade teams suffered disappointing losses in their semi-final match-ups.

More detailed reports below.

Senior College Swimming Carnival

The Senior College descended on Gordon Fetterplace Aquatic centre for our Annual Swimming Carnival on Friday 21 February. A massive turnout by the students with close to 800 in attendance would ensure a very active carnival with swimming participation at the extreme. The boys are to be commended on their efforts but unfortunately, the full carnival program could not be met due to the extensive numbers in the freestyle events. Championship Races only were held in the afternoon session.

There was plenty of noise coming from the student House Leaders as they bellowed their respective house cheers relentlessly throughout the day which earned them much needed House Points.

The 50m Freestyle event was by far the most popular of the day with almost 480 student entries, which equates to 60 heats. The marshalling area was overcrowded all day and unfortunately, students who were keen to swim in the Division races for House Points were turned away.

The final event of the day was the House Open Boys 4 x 50m relay. This was a tightly contested swim with a nail biter of a finish. Both Kilian and Molloy House’s breaking a record from 2003, but it was Molloy who took out the race with a time of 1:53.66.

There were several records broken this year, some of which were from over 13 years ago.

Our 2020 record breakers were:

Phlynn Grohala 17 Years 100m Freestyle – 55.67
Jacon Colman 12 Years 200IM – 2:57.19
William Winsor 17 Years 200IM – 2:24.67
Molloy Open Boys Relay team – 1:53.66

There were several outstanding students on the day taking out most of the events that they competed in.

Jaxon Colman and Hunter from the 12 Years age group, Jaxson Smith and Riley Parrish from the 13 Years age group, Oliver Pullen and Darcy Kerr from the 14 Years age group, John Dimech-O’Connell and Joshua Parrish in the 15 Years age group, Chris Seton and Reagan Simmonds in the 16 Years age group, Phlynn Grohala and William Winsor in the 17 Years age group and finally, Hayden Cortis and Blake McKenna in the Opens age group. All earned close to 200 House Points each.

Our 2020 Swimming Age Champions

Even though Kilian received minimal points from returning permission notes, they were loud, proud and very competitive in the pool, thanks to Hunter Elson, Riley Parrish, Oliver Pullan, Joshua Parrish and Chris Seton who all earned Age Champion or Runner’s Up.

Our Champion House for 2020 is:

1st Place – Kilian 4487 points

2nd Place – Molloy 4383 points

3rd Place – Laurentian 3776 points

4th Place – Donovan 3590 points

NSW CCC Cricket

On Tuesday and Wednesday seven boys represented the College at the NSW Combined Catholic Colleges cricket trials in Riverwood. In total, fifty boys from across NSW were trialled to make the NSW team to compete at the NSW All Schools Championships. Two intense days of cricket with three games saw some wonderful cricket played and the St Greg’s boys performing strongly.

Joshua Shipley, Bryan Handunneththi, Jake Di Tomasso, Liam Sutton, Joshua Campbell and Kane Truman were our representatives.

Through their performances, we congratulate Liam Sutton, Joshua Campbell and Kane Truman on their selection and wish them well at the next carnival.

Mr Luke Morrissey

NSW CCC Coach

NSW CCC Softball

The College also had four student representatives at the NSW CCC Softball trials this week. All boys reportedly trialled very well and we are to congratulate Joel Byrne (Year 8) upon his selection into the NSW CCC team. He will now compete at the NSW All Schools carnival to be held at Blacktown in March.

MCS Reports

1st Grade Basketball (36) were defeated by Auburn (45)

Trinity Auburn have been a team that St Greg's have struggled against for the last two years so unless we were mentally prepared it was always going to be tough. Many or our players were not on their game and I would hate to have been taking stats of the number of turnovers that occurred. I am hoping that this group of gentlemen take this defeat as a learning experience and know that this is not the end of their time playing for St Greg's. I am very proud of their season and so should they be. Gentlemen, you are amazing, and it has been an absolute pleasure to watch your growth and outstanding determination throughout the season. Bring on Marist!!

MVP: Blake McKenna (Laurentian)

Mrs Giles

2nd Grade Basketball were defeated by Blacktown

A strong effort by St Greg's whofought hard all the way to the final siren, however, came up against a team that shot a high percentage, which we couldn't match in the last 5 minutes. I am very proud of the team as they had a fantastic season and continued to improve in each game.

MVP: Sam Corkhill (Laurentian)

Mr Perna

Year 7/8 Basketball (47) defeated (38) St Dominic’s

After the fear of not arriving on time due to the bus running late, we made it in time to have a 5-minute warm-up. From our end of the court, it looked like St Dominic’s had two teams worth of players as they were fielding 12 students. The first half did not go our way with pressure defence that we had not encountered throughout the rounds and some good shooting also from the opposition. At six points down at the break, St Dominic’s continued to dominate the scoreboard but soon got themselves into foul trouble. With roughly 4 minutes to go in the game we were down 14 points, and all seemed lost, BUT the team did not give up. With the sensational support by the 1st and 2nd Grade teams watching, Year 8 dug deep and quickly reduced the margin and took the lead with 2 minutes and 35 seconds to go. A time out was called by the opposition which enabled us to have a breather and come back out even harder and more determined. Amazing effort by the team to have a 23 point turn around in 4 minutes of basketball. Something that I have never witnessed. So proud and excited for these young men to make it through to the grand final. Blacktown have no idea what is waiting for them!

MVP: Mason Hunter (Kilian)

Mrs Giles

MCS Cricket:

1st XI had the bye – will play Eastwood at home in their semi-final.

2nd XI had the bye – will play Penrith away in their semi-final.

ISA BASKETBALL 29/02/20

Three St Greg’s teams (UN/14’s, UN/17’s & 1st Grade) competed in the ISA Semi Finals in Penrith.

UN/14’s v St Andrew’s RESULT: Loss 20-68

Although the St Greg’s UN/14’s sustained a big loss on the scoreboard, it was still a solid achievement in making the Semi Final. Jake Wright was the most valuable player on the day and led the team in scoring whilst Steven Moran-Briggs did most of the playmaking. Well done to the UN/14’s team for the competitive spirit and sportsmanship displayed this season.

UN/17’s v St Andrew’s RESULT: Win 31-26

This match up was close throughout the game with St Greg’s gaining the advantage in the final minutes of the game. Jack Stewart did a great job in controlling the game and Brent Heyhorn made some excellent drives to the basket. Well done to the UN/17’s on winning the game and earning a spot in the Grand Final next weekend.

1st Grade v Redfield RESULT: Win 80-73

Redfield proved to be a tough opponent for St Greg’s and pushed us right to the end. With only 2 minutes left on the clock it was still either team’s game before St Greg’s took control to pull away with the victory. Lindsay Munro made some magical assists to Billy Pay and Dylan Ruiter who both asserted their dominance around the basket. It was a true team effort with all players getting onto the scoreboard and playing good defence. We are looking forward to playing Redlands in the Grand final next weekend.

Mr Paul Fox, Coach

Triathlon

Last Wednesday and Thursday, we had two very eventful and successful days at the All School Triathlon event held at the International Regatta Centre, Penrith.

On Wednesday, we had 15 students compete in the Individual events in three divisions – Junior, Intermediate and Senior.

The first race of the day was the Senior race where we had 6 athletes competing.

Cody Salter received the CCC Bronze Medal and was 5th overall.
Blake McKenna placed 7th in CCC and 17th overall
Will Windsor placed 14th in CCC
Declan Price placed 15th in CCC
Will Grabowski placed 19th in CCC
Zac Stuart placed 20th in CCC

As the humidity soared, our 7 Intermediate athletes headed out on the course.

Joel Offord received the CCC Bronze Medal and was 6th overall.
Jack Headly placed 23rd in CCC.
Lucas Bucca placed 26th in CCC
John Dimech-O’Connell placed 27th in CCC
Sam Smith placed 30th in CCC
Justin Blums placed 32nd in CCC
Dominic Curtin placed 34th in CCC

The Junior race was interrupted by a medical emergency in the girl’s race and a thunderstorm before our only competitor Darcy Kerr finished with an excellent result of 6th in CCC and 37th overall.

The following day, we had 45 students competing in 15 teams of 3 athletes at the Team Triathlon events back at the same venue.

Our best result was a very impressive CCC SILVER MEDAL to Phlynn Grohala (swim), Cody Salter (cycle) and Joel Offord (run) who competed in the Senior race.

Our other CCC Senior results were:

8th – Will Winsor (swim), Declan Price (cycle) and Blake Ciscato (run)
18th - Liam Sutton (swim), Zac Stuart (cycle) and Joshua Dengate (run)
21st – Diesel Sheppard (swim), Lachlan Vella (cycle) and Cruise Tweedie (run)
22nd – Will Grabowski (swim), Tobin Eade (cycle) and Jardyn Nori (run)
24th – Zac Elali (swim), Dylan Scanlon (cycle) and Alex Pucovski (run)
28th – Jamie Phair (swim), Jed Whalan (cycle) and Jason Cormack (run)

CCC Intermediate results were:

14th – John Dimech-O’Connell (swim), Dominic Curtin (cycle) and Lucas Bucca (run)
33rd – Harrison Winsor (swim), Max Gveric (cycle) and Cooper West (run)
37th – Taine Sullivan (swim), Cooper Mangan (cycle) and Jai Bista (run)
40th – Harry Elson (swim), Henry Usher (cycle) and Oliver Stewart (run)
44th – Josh Obereigner (swim), Jack Headley (cycle) and Sam Smith (run)

CCC Junior results were:

14th – Oliver Pullen (swim), Ahmed Assaad (cycle) and Jake Simmons (run)
25th – Phinnean Bracken (swim), Oliver Tannous (cycle) and Riley Clifton (run)
34th – Orran Foster (swim), Jordan Sewell (cycle) and Chase Missen (run)

It was a great two days for these fine athletes who were able to proudly represent St Gregory’s College.

Thanks to Mr Serone for his support of the triathletes and for his work on the course water station.

It has been a pleasure to co-ordinate the fine athletes who competed over the two days of triathlon events.

Mrs Julie Sligar

MCS Basketball Champions

Year 8 Opens Basketball became the MCS Champions on Thursday 27th February. This is the first trophy that St Gregory’s have won since 2007. We started at a cracking pace with Taj Stapleton scoring several baskets to get to a 10-point lead early on in the game and making some very dominate rebounds. Great full-court defence and composure when we had possession enabled us to go into the half time break with a handy lead. Blacktown started the second half off well and pegged our lead back to within 4 points. As the coach nervously paced up and down the sideline, the team demonstrated the maturity of much older players in keeping their heads in the game and holding off all the efforts of the opposition.

Mason Hunter was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the match as he was very potent at both ends of the court. Outstanding support by 1st and 2nd Grade from the sidelines did not go unnoticed and encouraged Year 8 to push all the way to the end. Each member of the team stepped up to make this Grand Final win a reality. Congratulations Lachlan Barrie, Cooper Clarke, Lucas Donnelly, Nathaniel Gallagher, Mason Hunter, Brodie McClelland, Chayeston Mulholland, Dylan Sharp, Isaac Sykes and Taj Stapleton. A very proud moment for the coach! Huge thank you to John Muli and Martyn Phan for their role as Assistant Coaches this season – a vital part in this successful campaign.

Mrs Melissa Giles, Coach