Cross Country

On Saturday August 31, Morgan McDonald (12/MO) competed in his fifth Australian Cross Country Championship in Launceston, Tasmania. Morgan won the U18 years event which is an amazing third national Cross Country title for him. Whilst the conditions were cold, wet and muddy, Morgan ran a tactical race, taking the lead at the start of the second 3km lap. He went on to win by just over 20 seconds.

Morgan was happy with his race and this latest victory adds to his impressive distance running record.

Basketball

The Australian Schools Sport National Basketball championships were held in Perth, Western Australia from 17 – 23 August 2013. Newington were represented in the NSW All Schools team by Captain Jack Jones (12/PR), Jack Haddrick (12/MA) and Chier Maker (11/FL). The week turned out to be a gruelling affair with nine games in six days against the best in the country. In the gold medal game NSW beat Queensland 81 – 51 with the margin of victory only being sorted in the final quarter. With NSW going undefeated throughout the week our three boys were rewarded with Australian Schoolboy selection as well as Chier Maker being awarded the Championship Most Valued Player award while Jack Jones claimed the Most Valued Player award for NSW.

Sport Staffing Update

Matt Nicholson, Director of Cricket (K-12) will be finishing up with us at the end of Term 3 after four years of service at Newington. He leaves to take on a new and exciting challenge away from school cricket and to be closer to his young family and home on the Northern Beaches. Matt is recognised as one of Australia’s leading cricket coaches and his knowledge and expertise has been the basis for Newington’s recent improvement and has set solid foundations for future success. During his time at the College he also worked closely with our elite level students as part of the Talented Athlete Support Program (TASP) where he mentored boys on various issues relating to their unique circumstances. We thank Matt for his contribution and wish him all the best with his new direction.

Mike Little, Coach Athletics/Cross Country (ex Director of Cross Country) resigned from Newington last week after 5 years of service to the Athletics and Cross Country programs. Lachlan Little, Mike’s son (and Captain of Athletics 2012), finishes Year 12 this year and Mike will move on to focus on club related coaching. We thank Mike for the many hours he has spent working with our boys to improve their running.