GSV Sports Leaders Breakfast

The Annual GSV Sports Leaders Breakfast was held at Korowa during Week three. This provided an excellent opportunity for several of St Catherine’s Sports Leaders to meet and discuss the upcoming year with their peers from the GSV community. Our 2017 Sport Captains Georgia Deacon and Chloe Page, Swimming Captain Lucy Tanner, and Cross Country Captains Bridget Lieberman and Stephanie Wills also enjoyed a presentation from three time Olympic medallist and former captain of the Australian Softball Team Natalie Titcume. Natalie provided a humorous and insightful look into her experiences as a leader on the world stage as well as her roles as a mentor to athletes and an educator at Wesley College. She conducted an exercise in which everyone was asked to identify their personality strengths. This self-analysis task placed everyone into four main categories; the playful peacock, the loyal retriever, the wise owl or the leader lion. Natalie discussed the strengths, weaknesses and leadership styles of each category while also identifying the need for leaders to understand and lead to all types of personalities. The presentation was highly engaging and provided all young leaders in the room with a range of skills to assist them in their positions of leadership. We wish our 2017 Sports Leaders all the best for the upcoming year.

Sport Captains Georgia Deacon and Chloe Page, Swimming Captain Lucy Tanner, and Cross Country Captains Bridget Liberman and Stephanie Wills enjoyed a presentation from three time Olympic medallist and former captain of the Australian Softball Team Natalie Titcume.

GSV Sport

Participation in GSV Sport for 2017 is well and truly underway with St Catherine’s competing in Softball and Tennis. It has been fantastic to see so many students getting involved, with approximately 80 Years 7 and 8 students attending Tennis training and 30 attending Softball training on Tuesday mornings. This equates to the majority of Years 7 and 8 students involving themselves in GSV Sport! Likewise, our Intermediate and Senior students have flocked to training sessions and had success in their first rounds of matches. A special mention should go to the Senior Softball Team who had a thrilling 12-10 win over Mentone in their Round 2 match (see match report below). Also to the Intermediate and Junior Tennis Teams and the Intermediate Softball Team who had strong wins in their first games. A reminder that match reports, fixtures, team selections and all relevant GSV information can be found through the mystcatherines Sports Page.

A new program being offered at St Catherine’s is the Monday morning Tennis Development Session. This program commenced in Week two with students receiving excellent coaching from our Victorian Tennis Academy coaches who will be working with the St Catherine’s girls throughout the term. All students in Years 7 to 12, of all abilities are welcome to attend and develop their Tennis skills. We wish all students participating in GSV the very best for their upcoming matches.

Mr Nick Racina
Assistant Head of Sport and Head of GSV Weekly Sport

Senior Softball

St Catherine’s 12 defeated Mentone Girls 10

The girls recorded their first win of the season with a close 12-10 victory over Mentone Girls Grammar. The game started slowly with the girls recording only three runs in the first innings. However, the team showed great determination and resilience, taking on all instructions given and turned a seven run deficit into a two run lead by the bottom of the second innings. This outstanding effort was encapsulated by the amazing double play executed by Hayley Cottrell, taking out two Mentone players, keeping them scoreless in the second innings. The game was a great display of skill and sportsmanship by all of the girls on the team, and we look forward to backing it up with another win next week. Special mention should be given to spirit and enthusiasm shown by the girls in supporting their teammates through the entire game. It was only through their positivity and willingness to listen, that they were able to take the win.

Miss Charlotte Wyles
Senior Softball Coach

GSV Triathlon

It was fantastic to see so many St Catherine’s students take part in the 2017 GSV Triathlon. Despite the wet and chilly conditions, St Catherine’s competed with one of its largest Triathlon teams yet, with 45 girls involved. The event provides students with the opportunity to sample the sport, allowing them to compete in either the full individual Triathlon or in a team of three, where each student completes either the run, ride or swim leg of their Triathlon relay.

This year, a number of our Year 8 students, who last year competed in a team, chose to take on the challenge of the individual Triathlon. Ava Lansell (27th), Chloe Joubert (12th) and Elodie Ferrali (11th) all competed extremely well, surprising themselves with their Triathlon skills. Isabella Bufé, on her mountain bike, finished a very close fourth place overall, less than 20 seconds behind the second place getter. This was a great effort by all our Year 8s. In the large field of 82 teams, St Catherine’s did extremely well with two teams inside the top 20 and a further three teams inside the top 30. The Year 7 team of Madeleine Hooker, Zara Bongiorno and Sarah Marriott were our best placed Junior team, finishing 15th overall. It was fantastic to once again see so many Years 7 and 8 students compete in the event. I hope many more will come back and feel confident in taking on the challenge of the individual triathlon in 2018.

For our more experienced competitors, our best intermediate team of Alessandra Krause, Clementine Aston and Chloe Manson finished 13th out of 42 teams, while in the Senior Division our team of India Watson, Sarah Wills and Lucy Church finished a very close fourth, just missing the podium. Stephanie Wills showed lots of promised on the bike leg, suggesting there may be a bit of potential in the sport of cycling in the future. Isabelle Dann produced the highlight of the day. Racing in the full distance triathlon, Isabelle won the Senior Division event. Isabelle was extremely consistent across the three disciplines and is building some real confidence as she heads into the Cross Country running season.

Overall the Triathlon team had a great day and look forward to taking on our next event, the Loreto Run/Swim/Run Challenge on Tuesday 7 March. I would like to thank Mrs Hobson, our assistant coaches and all the parents who came along to support and cheer on our girls in the event.

Mr Lloyd Knight
Head of Sport

Rowing Crew Presentation Night

On Monday 6 February, parents and rowers were fantastic at the Crew Presentation Night held at Mercantile Rowing Club. The evening saw the christening of two boats purchased through the fundraising efforts of the Heyington Club.

The St Catherine’s 120 was named to recognise the anniversary of our School, the achievements of the 2016 National Rowing Championship crews and Heyington Club members. The boat was proudly christened by Louise Lampard, as the 2016 President of the Heyington Club.

The Paul Cross was named in recognition of our current staff member and former Deputy Principal. Mr Paul Cross has been an amazing support for the rowing program over many years. His contribution to the whole school was above and beyond for many years and it was a true privilege for me to witness Mr Cross enjoy this event.

The support from dignitaries from all levels of the School was fantastic. Mike Zammit and Cassie Monahan representing the Business Office, Mrs Michelle Carroll and Mrs Gina Peele from Senior Leadership, School Council members, our Head of Sport Mr Lloyd Knight and more. There were also key contributors to last season including our former Heyington Club president Louise Lampard and 2016 senior rowers.

A great environment was developed at Mercantile by the hard and appreciated work of current Heyington Club committee members under the leadership of Rachel Robertson.

Firbank Regatta Recap

On Saturday 11 February, all senior rowing squads attended the Firbank Regatta in Geelong. Firbank has establish a reputation as one of the strongest Rowing schools in the country and traditionally have been a formidable force within their own regatta. All crews performed to a high standard in both their race preparation and the execution of their races. This led to another historic day for St Catherine’s School. For the first time we were awarded out the overall trophy for the regatta (the Firbank Trophy). This was a reflection of the fantastic efforts by students at all levels of the program.

A special mention goes to the girls of the Senior Division 2 Crew, The Geraldine Ilott. These students won St Catherine’s School’s first ever Senior Division 2 8+ title, an amazing achievement for the Senior Squad.

The only disappointment of the regatta was the regatta not holding a division for the Senior 4x+. Therefore, the girls of the Tallent completed competitive work against the MLC senior quads on the Yarra. It was a positive start for these girls who received their first taste of competition for the season.

All of our athletes have shown considerable growth in their race –day activities, and this momentum will leave us in good stead for the coming regattas. 

Geraldine Ilott Crew – Firbank Winners

RV Schools Regatta

On Saturday 18 February our Junior and Intermediate Rowers competed at the GRA Regatta on the Barwon. This regatta was a very impressive display of the hard work all our girls have put in during the lead up to Head of the Schoolgirls (HOSG).

Each crew conducted themselves with pride and professionalism, and managed themselves both on and off the water with great expertise. The racing was a step up again, as all crews executed their race plans and continued to develop their crew strategy.

All of our athletes have greatly benefited from this race experience and will continue to improve from the Morongo Regatta. With our foot firmly planted on the accelerator we will keep building momentum as we come closer to HOSG.

The Heyington at RV Schools Regatta

Nagambie Regatta

Senior rowers returned to Nagambie on 18 February to race at the Nagambie Regatta. It was a solid day of learning for the students at their first regatta of 2000m racing. Reports from coaches were that students learnt a lot regarding their execution of racing performances. These lessons will now be addressed in training so we can continue to build towards HOSG.

Senior Crews

Mr David Fraumano
Head Rowing Coach