Cross Country Sport
T
his was an exceptional year for Trinity Cross Country, going undefeated in all events, winning the State and National Titles and being selected as the Australian Team to head to Prague in 2008. Coupled with this was the fight-back to win the Junior competition Mr Phillip Jurjevich after dropping two events in Senior Cross Country Coach the last four and coming back to win comprehensively. The Senior teams’ combined time for the top fifteen runners was the fastest since 1998 before which the competition was run in a slightly different format. This guide to our speed indicates the depth of strength displayed this year and our ‘Grand Final ‘ against an also undefeated Scotch looked to be going badly when we were behind by 140 points on the first lap. The rally that followed showed the spirit of this group; on Scotch’s own course the team ran a negative split to win by 43 points. Mr Mark James said it was the most courageous display he has seen from a Trinity team in his time at the College. Ms Kristen Campisi, Mr Roland Nelson, Mr Mark James and Mr Geoff Jamieson were essential members of this team in modelling the fastest relay teams, booking buses and encouraging individuals at the front and the back of the pack. Josh Nicholas, Josh Hicks, Aaron Gregory, Ken Duggan, Eamon Costello and Nick Lee won the All Schools’ National Title, with Chris Dale injured and unable to run
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after helping the team win the State Title. In the Under 14 race Dylan Dewsbury and Tim Pitcher were the first two West Australians in and, with Michael Radice, Sam O’Connell, Terry Price and Dylan Dewsbury, are training on as reserves for the Australian team. Cross country is an exciting event involving individual runners wrestling lactic tigers, coaches and parents adding up numbers on their fingers and the fact that every runner’s place counts means an improvement in even our slowest runner will help determine our success. Under the leadership of Captain Josh Hicks in Year 11, Dean Foley and Brendan Murray Vice Captains, this team displayed great spirit, jogging back to encourage each other in after they had finished their own race when they really just wanted to comply with gravity and hit the ground. The boys are now the proud owners of land in Swanbourne, Wembley, McGilvray and Manning; the result of a rampaging group of alpha males that pushed their boundaries and impressed themselves with their new best times and places. To me, Dave Scott and Nicholas McKenna were symbolic of the team; running on Fridays in the Juniors, running on Saturdays in Seniors and running on Sundays on their own at Jacobs Ladder, with a style that was the most unnatural of the pack, carrying several injuries from refusing to stop training and an intent that was frightening. Well done boys; we were all very impressed with your commitment to achieve this fine result that has taken you all the way to the Australian Team! If you work hard you can do anything. Mr Phillip Jurjevich Senior Cross Country Coach
