Sport

Thursday’s wet weather presented a more challenging course for the GPS Cross Country Championship, but our efforts were not dampened. A concerted effort from all our boys—well done to the junior school team who came home as overall winners of the Junior GPS Championships. Round 5 away games at BBC proved more challenging for our tennis teams, and our football programme once again came out victors, with our First XI remaining unbeaten thus far.

GPS results

After another exciting GPS round four last weekend, we invite everyone to view the weekend’s results summary via myChurchie – GPS Sports and Activities.

Cross Country

On Thursday 16 May the Churchie Cross Country team completed a very successful season by competing in the GPS Cross Country Championships at Limestone Park, Ipswich.

Junior results

The junior team of the 10, 11 and 12 years boys performed very well, winning the Junior GPS Championships by a remarkable 10 points and winning each of the three age groups in a dominant performance.

10 years scoring team (1st): Archie Ellis (3rd), Nashton Walker (7th), Angus Richmond (11th), Sebastian Fitton (16th), Liam De Almeida (28th) and Max Broad (30th).

11 years scoring team (1st): Winston Rodgers (1st), Finn Platz (3rd), George Chandler (4th), Dorcen Walters (13th), Nate Keily (19th) and Michael Smee (23rd).

12 years scoring team (1st): Samuel Phipps (9th), Blaze Berlese (12th), Mitchell Kelly-Sammut (13th),  Henry Furness (17th), Jacob Choi (19th) and Matthew McMaugh (20th). 

Well done to all the boys in the junior team on a wonderful result.

Senior results

The senior team competed hard all day to finish in a very close fourth position, only one point behind Nudgee College in third place—a wonderful team performance.

13 years scoring team (6th): Archie Jackson (14th), Daniel Lane (16th), Joel Trouchet (21st), Robert Meehan (31st), James Turley (48th) and Ethan Jeremijenko (66th).

14 years scoring team (1st): Andrew McConnel (4th), Mac Chandler (8th), Caleb Watson (15th), Archie Reilly (19th), Max Miles (29th) and Tobias De Kievet (33rd).

15 years scoring team (5th): Zac Moore (1st), Freddie McDonnell (5th), Jay King (21st), Santi De Leon (36th), Aden Jeremijenko (51st) and Daniel Desmet (56th).

16 years scoring team (2nd): Lachlan Moore (1st), Nate Wallden (17th), Charlie Matigan (19th), Max Pope (26th), Aiden Manivong (27th) and Alec Easton (40th). 

Open scoring team (7th): Noah Tyne (17th), Hamish Barwick (22nd), Campbell McIntyre (32nd), Henry Peters (34th), Connor Rudman (43rd) and Liam Meade (54th). 

Outstanding results

Special mention must be made of some outstanding performances on the day.

Zac Moore won the 15 years race in an outstanding time of 12:10 (4 km) the fastest time ever over the Limestone Park 4 km course by a Churchie boy, a simply wonderful performance.

Lachlan Moore won the 16 years race in a time of 18:40 (4 km) almost a minute ahead of the second-placegetter in a dominant performance.

GPS Cross Country is a very high level of competition, and the success of these boys and teams is a result of great dedication and commitment to training over a long period.

Thank you to all the boys who participated in cross country this year. Your attitude and effort over the season have been outstanding.

Thank you also to the coaches and coordinators for their wonderful mentoring of the team this season.

We look forward to starting our preparation for next year with a premiership as the goal.

Michael Simes
Director of Cross Country

Tennis

Our round five matches were against the powerful BBC tennis programme, and the day proved to be as tough as we predicted. We played 27 GPS matches against the boys from Kensington Terrace and two supplementary matches against Brisbane Grammar.

Our undefeated Fourth IV continued on their winning streak and was our only successful team in the senior school. Our four Year 6 teams and our 5A and 5B teams all proved to be too strong for their opponents and flew the flag magnificently for Churchie. The strength of these teams gave Churchie the only six victories across the day.

Our Second IV continued to toil hard and battle each week and, as always, were very close to a win with a bunch of three-setters but unfortunately fell short.

Our First IV went down six rubbers to two but held themselves in high regard, especially at the end of the day. Our boys fought hard but were outclassed in the long run.

As we move into the back end of the season, all spectators are reminded that coaching, including any information, from the sideline is not allowed. We understand it’s difficult at times, but only encouragement is supported by the GPS rules. This rule is implemented in most tennis tournaments/competitions, with the exception of professional tours. If any Churchie supporters are uncomfortable with another school’s disregard for this rule, the appropriate channel is to advise the Churchie age group coordinator immediately.

This Saturday we play Brisbane State High School. Our junior teams will get a week off, but all other teams will be in action with our Years 7 and 8 teams the only ones not playing at a Churchie venue.

A reminder again of the end-of-season function for the Senior School students only and their families on 8 June. The online RSVP link is open until Friday 31 May.

Ian Malpass
Director of Tennis

Football

On Saturday 18 May, the Churchie boys made the short trek to Toowong to play BBC.

We ended up with an impressive 18 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses. A further five supplementary games were played, where we ended up victorious in four of the five games.

Our First XI team has made it five from five victories. The first 20 minutes was a very even affair with both sides holding their own. Mid-way through the first half, Zane North put in an inviting cross, which was superbly converted by Quinn MacNicol, who headed the ball into the back of the net. The second half began with Churchie’s dominance, which was rewarded by a clinical left-footed finish by Zane North who was very impressive in the second half with clever passing, mazy dribbles and great tackling skills. The game was wrapped up when Arden Hogan put the ball in the top corner to seal the game.

Josh Tanner was very impressive in goals. He made some very crucial interventions and saved at 1 – 0. Oliver Reid and Lucas Herrington proved to be rock solid in the centre-back positions.

Below are a few of the many examples of boys living by the Churchie Football values of integrity, discipline and determination in round four.

Integrity: George Samios (11A) leads by example and gives everything on the pitch. He is always respectful and brings positivity to the dressing room.

Discipline: Nate Strachan (7C) never gave up and persisted until the final whistle. He had to break up a lot of the opposition’s attack and continues to impress in a position he hasn’t played a lot previously.

Determination: Spencer Klimnick (11B) came back after breaking his arm two weeks prior and played with protection. He gave his all in defence and then moved forward to midfield before scoring a goal.

This week, we welcome Brisbane State High School to Churchie. It promises to be an action-packed day.

Alex Rados
Director of Football

Water Polo

The pool came alive last Friday at the Queensland Water Polo Championships, marking the exciting climax of the season for our Churchie Water Polo boys. We fielded teams in both the Senior and Junior divisions, competing against rivals from Gregory Terrace, Brisbane Grammar, Iona, Padua, Marist Ashgrove, Trinity Lutheran College, Brisbane Boys’ College, and Brisbane State High School (BSHS).

Senior division

The Senior boys started with a close match against BSHS but ultimately fell short. However, they bounced back with determined draws against both Gregory Terrace and Padua College. This secured them a spot in the fifth-place playoff against Trinity Lutheran College.

Churchie dominated much of the game, leading by a strong 4 – 2 margin. Unfortunately, a late technical foul awarded Trinity a penalty in the final minute, which they capitalised on to snatch victory by a single goal.

Junior division

The young guns in the Junior division, comprising Year 7 and 8 players, defied expectations by playing against teams with mostly Year 9 competitors. They started strongly with a convincing win over BBC White but faced tough losses against Trinity and the eventual champions, BBC Green.

Their resilience shone through in the crucial third-place playoff against Trinity. This nail-biting game went all the way to a penalty shootout, where our Churchie boys displayed nerves of steel and emerged victorious 5 – 4!

Congratulations to all our water polo players and coaches for a fantastic season and a thrilling finish at the championships!

Alan Greenbank
Director of Water Polo

Sporting achievements

Congratulations to Harry Makridakis, who recently placed first in both the regional and state Gymnastics championships earning him a position in the Queensland state team to compete at nationals. After two days of tight competition, Harry placed fourth overall, winning the vault event and placing second on the floor and parallel bars.  His Queensland team also placed first in the team competition. Harry will represent Churchie at the GPS Gymnastics Championships on Saturday 1 June.

Trent Goodrick
Head of Cocurricular