Cross Country ________________________Pages

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.’ It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative. - Steve Prefontaine, American middle / long distance runner and 1972 Olympian, who once held every national record between 2,000 and 10,000 meters and between 2 miles and 6 miles. This year saw the St Joseph’s College Cross Country team prepare for its inaugural participation in the Division 1 ACC Cross Country Championships. Last year’s fantastic result to win the 2nd division title had given the boys the chance to join the top 6 schools in the ACC and they were determined to prove themselves. Training for the event started in February and the addition of Mr Kemp to the coaching team saw them working harder than ever before. New levels of performance were reached with brutal speed endurance training sessions and hill runs up Aphrasia St but the pain was all worth it as this year’s results are the best the school has ever accomplished and have started a belief that we are capable of even better.

The City to Surf was the first big race of the year and the boys had another fantastic trip to Sydney in August. The conditions were amazing with light winds and sunny weather adding to the already amazing atmosphere that the iconic race produces. Everyone involved ran the 14km’s in an impressive manner with times improving dramatically from last year (see results below), the majority were able to stay below a 5min kilometre pace which is a great achievement considering the huge crowds and the infamous heart break hill. Jack, Michael, Harry and Alex

all finished the race under the 60min barrier, an amazing effort. When the race was done we headed to Bondi to enjoy a roof top lunch and a relaxing swim at the beach where we caught up with Harry “H” Nightingale from the Bondi Rescue team. I think of all the things the boys enjoyed, the knowledge that it was overcast and raining in Geelong while they were swimming in board shorts in Sydney was the top of the list! It was an extremely enjoyable trip and many thanks must go to the students for their outstanding efforts in training and their results and behaviour on the trip. Well done. I opened this article with a quote from the famous runner Pre Fontaine; he talks about a race being like a work of art and that a runner’s aim is to show something that they have never seen before. Pre’s sentiment sums up St Joseph’s ACC championships perfectly. The boys

Catching up with Harry “H” Nightingale from the Bondi Rescue Team at City to Surf

“New levels of performance were reached with brutal speed endurance training sessions and hill runs up Aphrasia St but the pain was all worth it as this year’s results are the best the school has ever accomplished and have started a belief that we are capable of even better.” - Luke O’Grady

produced performances that were amazing to watch and they achieved results that had not been seen by members of the Joey’s Cross Country team before. Harry HockleySamon started the day off with our first great individual result placing third in the under 13’s. Harry crossed the line strongly with a great finish and was only 4 seconds behind the first placed runner. In the next race Christian Davis went two better, storming home to win the under 14’s championship and our first division one win. Christians win was a fantastic result and it was joined by Hugh McMahon who crossed the line 9 seconds later in third place, the 1st and 3rd result caused a huge roar from the SJC tent with everyone thinking it would be impossible to top. In the under 16’s Jack Hockly-Samon and Jake Williamson proved us all wrong. Jack produced a commanding run of which Pre would be proud, finishing 1st in the 5km’s in 16mins, with a large 22 second gap before the next finisher, it was a work of art. Jake Williamson who is also a previous winner at the carnival came third by a very narrow margin of 5 seconds. Jack and Jakes efforts gave SJC another 1st and 3rd result and another huge roar of approval from the Joeys boys who were astounded by the running their team mates were capable off. With an overall placing of fourth, the boys have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with. The best results were from the under 13’s and 14’s who both won their age group championships and won the 1st division Junior Championship trophy! Both the individual and team results reflected an incredible effort from the members of the team of which I am very proud. I would also like to highlight the fact that many of the boys ran in older age groups on the day to ensure that we did not lose points and I would like to sincerely thank them for their service. Thanks must also go to Mr Kemp who is already planning our training for next year and to Mr Nicholls who is sadly moving schools, his enthusiasm and commitment to the boys will be missed. I look forward to further success with this great bunch of young men who train hard and earn their success. I truly believe that St Joseph’s is capable of winning the entire competition and I urge all boys with talent and determination to join our team.

Luke O’Grady - Cross Country Coordinator

ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS - 4th PLACE

U/13 CHAMPIONS U/14 CHAMPIONS U/15 - 4TH

NAME TIME

(3km) HARRY HOCKLEY-SAMON 10.16 MAX VISINTIN 10.5 FRASER MURRAY 10.57 DOYLE MADIGAN 10.58 LEWIS ANTONAC 11.01 SAMUEL WALSH 11.19 PAUL KANELLOS 11.38 BRODIE DENNEY 11.42 DECLAN FENTON 12.11 THOMAS KEAST 12.15 SAM CHRISTENSEN 12.22 DANIEL CORRAY 14.12 NAME TIME

(3km) CHRISTIAN DAVIS 9.54 HUGH MCMAHON 10.03 DAVID HANDLEY 10.34 MATT LING 10.36 HARRISON LING 10.46 LOGAN MITCHELL 10.56 JACK BROGDEN 11.07 MICHAEL KAVENAGH 11.16 BRAYDEN HAM 11.21 CHARLIE LANG 11.41 BAYLEY COCKERILL 20.21 THOMAS FORD 20.24 NAME TIME

(3km) ALEX CSOLLE 10.22 TOM FOLEY 10.23 TOM KIDD 10.23 CHARLIE FRANCIS 10.4 NED HARRIS 10.48 JACK BLOOD 10.58 ZACH BARR 11.05 THOMAS DIXON 19.16 SAM SIMPSON 19.21 PADDY CLIFFORD 20.23 ANDREW MCNEEL 21

U/16 - 4TH NAME TIME

(5km) JACK HOCKELY-SAMON 16 JAKE WILLIAMSON 16.27 BAILEY BIGGS 17.44 MICHAEL MCAULLIFE 18.32 EAMON ANDERSON 18.5 PATRICK KELLEHER 19.12 SAM HOARE 20 MICHAEL FAMA 20.03 NATHAN DILLON 20.19 U/17 - 6TH SENIORS - 6TH NAME TIME

(5km) JAMES EDWARDS 18.22 NICK BRANDIMARTI 18.59 ANGEL TARAVILLO 19.1 NICHOLAS KOZDRA 19.5 NAME TIME

(5km) JEAN-PAUL DUMONT 18.01 JAYDEN BRACH 18.25 LEVI WEST 18.5 CONOR GUINA 19.35 TRENT ARCHER 19.51 COREY JONES 20.12

RED TEXT HIGHLIGHTS STUDENTS WHO FINISHED IN THE FIRST THREE

CITY TO SURF RESULTS

NAME TIME PLACE

(14km) (Total 69,297) JACK HOCKLEY-SAMON 00:52:59 306 MICHAEL BONGIORNO 00:59:26 1,507 HARRY HOCKLEY SAMON 00:59:26 1,507 ALEXANDER CSOLLE 00:59:51 1,650 HUGH MCMAHON 01:01:05 2,111 MICHAEL MCAULIFFE 01:03:53 3,487 MICHAEL KAVENAGH 01:05:14 4,317 PAUL KANELLOS 01:05:41 4,592 CHARLES FRANCIS 01:06:15 5,000 DECLAN FENTON 01:06:52 5,500 NAME TIME PLACE

(14km) (Total 69,297) THOMAS KEAST 01:07:48 6,253 BRENDAN NICHOLLS 01:08:14 6,631 ZACHARY BARR 01:08:30 6,861 SAMUEL HOARE 01:09:07 7,440 MICHAEL FAMA 01:09:08 7,446 LUKE O'GRADY 01:09:16 7,575 NICHOLAS BRANDIMARTI 01:09:23 7,685 THOMAS KIDD 01:14:15 12,203 DANIEL CORRAY 01:19:22 17,667 JAKE WILLIAMSON 01:22:49 21,765 EAMON ANDERSON 01:22:49 21,773