Stanmore A jump into the record books The Newington Athletics team headed to the AAGPS Championships with plenty of confidence and competition across the three divisions was close. After 82 events, the Junior team finished in second place behind The Kings School and the ntermediateI team finished fifth in a tightfield, with The Kings School taking out the division. In the Seniors, Newington, Kings and Scots were locked in a three-way battle for the championship, with Scots winning in one of the closest finishes in recent years. Whilst the GPS athletics competition is very much about the team, there were a Captain of Athletics James Roach anchoring the U17 4x100m relay team. Photo: Paul Seiser. number of individual highlights, including: •Renato Pane breaking the AAGPS U14 Self-discovery through sport Long Jump record with a jump of 6.28m (the previous record of 6.19m Newington’s badminton competition was set in 2007). against The King’s School this season •Tolu Koula recorded the fastest 100m allowed players from both schools to time at the meet, clocking an U16 compete in a series of matches against Newington record of 10.97 secs. a range of competitors. The competition •The Newington Junior 4x400m team – not only challenged our players but also Aiden Love, Ben Hazell, Bili Robertson, played a pivotal role in unifying the Nicholas O’Shea – broke a long-standing squad as a team. Newington record with 3min.51 secs. Every session, players discover something •John Ballard set a new Newington new about themselves or the sport – a record in the U16 200m with a sport where an individual’s intellect, blistering 22.75 secs. agility, flexibility, fitness and aggression are all put to the test on a regular basis. •The U14 4x100m relay team – Stefano Congratulations to all the boys for their Ottavio, Renato Pane, Siteni Taukamo, commitment at training sessions and James McGregor – set a new games throughout the season. Newington record of 45.62 secs Ben Fan smashing the shuttlecock back and winning the point. Mr Jimi Randall Mr Mark Dickens Photo: Jared Leibowitz (ON 2013). Director of Badminton Head of Sport Juniors win cross country The cross country season finished with and whole-hearted attitude to training, the GPS Championship at Newington’s racing and athlete encouragement. spiritual home, Sydney Park. With the While not all athletes are at the elite Seniors racing over 8km, the Under 16s level, it’s the team as a whole that over 6km and the Juniors over 4km, the helps individuals achieve and win. day was set for challenging racing, with Congratulations to all athletes for their many of the accumulated point scores efforts, particularly James and William for the final win being extremely close. Smith for their consistency over the The Junior team went into the event with a season and Bailey Habler for his good lead and every member stumped up determination to help the team. Bailey for some of the best runs of their season, was injured and couldn’t run to his placing in higher positions and achieving potential, but he turned up and walked personal bests, bringing them across the the course just to make sure his line as 2018 point score champions. previous points counted towards All age groups responded to the securing the championship. leadership of Archie Cuttance and the Mr Symon Astley Mr Symon Astley, William Smith, James Smith Year 11 athletes, and their mix of humour Director of Cross Country and Archie Cuttance (Captain of Cross Country). 24| NEWS SPRING 2018| GRATITUDE