College News
MCC Chess State Champions
There are those among us that consider that chess is not a sport. After all, it doesn’t have a ball, a field, pads or gloves. But then, I would argue that a sport makes you tense. You train for a sport, and sport is putting your abilities against those of an opponent in the spirit of being a good sportsperson
Chess fulfils all these criteria and more. Never have I been more tense than sitting, watching the chess games unfold. Training for chess is the same as training for any other sport and no other sport allows a year 7 student to pit their skills and abilities against a year 12 student and have a reasonable chance of winning.
During 2022, Marian Catholic College has had a very successful chess season. Our first match was against Murrumbidgee Regional High School. Two wins for each school meant that board 4’s results were ignored and Marian advanced to the next round against Narrandera High School, played online due to COVID restrictions. With William Lancaster leading on board 1, Anurag Dhot on board 2, Oliver Penedo on board 3 and Jaidan Morell on board 4, Marian won this round three boards to one. Our third match was against Deniliquin Christian School. Elemeniko Valele substituted onto board 3 and Oliver Penedo took on board 4. A clean sweep of four wins saw MCC advance to round 4 against Kooringal High School. William Lancaster, Oliver Penedo, Elemeniko Valele and Bhavya Chaudhari played boards 1 to 4 and a sound result of 3 wins to 1 put Marian into the Riverina Regional Final against Border Christian College. Both teams felt it was appropriate to meet in person and the match was played at McElroy House in Wagga on the 22nd August. William Lancaster, Oliver Penedo, Elemeniko Valele and Hugh Lancaster from Marian took on Ryan Sinclair, Linden Wood, Zach Diaz and Reuben Arnold from Border Christian College. Whatever the result, both teams displayed exceptional sportsmanship and were a credit to their respective schools. However, only one team can advance to the state finals and Marian Catholic College defeated Border Christian College three wins to one.
The state finals were nervewracking. Marian Catholic College started the round with a match against the champions of the North West Region, Armidale Secondary College – Duval Campus. Each team won two games, but as Marian won the first two boards out of four, we advanced to the next round. This round saw us have a bye while teams from the Hunter and South Coast regions decided who was going through to the final. Merewether High School from the Hunter defeated Smiths Hill High School from the South Coast, advancing to the NSW State Country Schools Chess Final for 2022.
Due to travel restrictions, the final was played online. Isaac Cruickshank from Merewether played an excellent game of chess on board 1, however, he went down to William Lancaster from Marian. Oliver Penedo and Elemeniko Valele from Marian also defeated Josiah Gadsby and Jonah Lancaster from Merewether on boards 2 and 3 while Alex Williams from Merewether was able to defeat Bhavya Chaudhari from Marian on board 4.
As Marian Catholic College was able to win 3 of the 4 games played, we were crowned the NSW State Country Schools Chess Champions for 2022. The team consisted of William Lancaster, Hugh Lancaster, Oliver Penedo, Jaidan Morrell, Bhavya Chadhari, Anurag Dhot and captained by Elemeniko Valele.
I would like to congratulate all the teams that played this year and look forward to the competition in the coming year.
2022 COLLEGE FEES
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The payment of Tuition fees enables the College to continue to provide the resources required to ensure the quality education for all our students.
As always, CEDWW policy is to provide support to any parent experiencing genuine financial hardship and there are a variety of ways in which this can be done.
If you are experiencing or anticipate difficulties in meeting these fee obligations, please do not hesitate to contact the school directly to confidentially discuss your situation.
Helen Brill
Business Manager
Year 7 Writing Competition Awards
