Queensland are the champion state in the Australian Schools Championships for the third year in a row, after two days of competition in the Mount Crawford area. They were level with Tasmania after the individual day, but pulled clear with maximum points in three of the four relays, winning the two junior classes outright and coming second to New Zealand in the senior girls.
Emily Cantwell on her way to second place yesterday
New Zealand dominated the individual competitions on their way to taking the Southern Cross Junior Challenge (again). They won three of the four classes, through Laura and Tim Robertson (senior girls and junior boys), along with Lauren Truner (junior girls). The senior girls and junior boys were virtually NZ-Queensland head-to-head competitions, especially the senior girls where between them they filled the first seven places. Max Neumann and Jack Oakhill filled the placings in the junior boys, whilst Turner’s closest opposition came from Anna Dowling (Tasmania) and Shea-Cara Hammond (ACT). Emily Cantwell (Queensland) separated Robertson and Selena Metherell in the senior girls.
The one class where New Zealand did not have things all their own way was the senior boys. Whilst their four runners all made the top seven, at the front end it was an ACT quinella through Ian Lawford and Oliver Poland. Their JWOC teammate, Kurt Neumann, was in third place.
In the relays, Queensland dominated the junior boys from start to finish. The junior girls did not have things quite as easy, but still had things well under control by the final leg. That was enough to place them in a very strong position, despite a mispunch in the senior boys. To match them Tasmania needed to put together four good results as they had the previous day, but a spirited second (holding New Zealand off in the day’s best finish) in the senior boys was the best they could manage. The ACT won that race thanks to excellent runs on the last two legs from Oliver Poland and Ian Lawford, which gave them just enough points to overhaul NSW for third place overall.
Official points: Qld 45, Tas 42, ACT 34, NSW 33, Vic 22, SA 20, WA 14.
2010 Australian Schools Honour Team Announced
Junior Girls
Kate Bowen ACT
Heather Burridge QLD
Anna Dowling TAS
Shea- Cara Hammond ACT
Junior Boys
Joe Dowson WA
Matt Doyle QLD
Max Neumann QLD
Jack Oakhill QLD
Senior Girls
Emily Cantwell QLD
Jacqui Doyle QLD
Heather Muir QLD
Rebekah Sunley VIC
Senior Boys
Riordan Dose SA
Ian Lawford ACT
Kurt Neumann QLD
Oliver Poland ACT
Full results for both days available here.