Newcastle's Alvin Craig and Big Foot's Ewan Shingler have capped a tremendous week by being named in the all-Australian schools orienteering team for 2017.
Alvin, still only in Year 7, had a first and two seconds in the Long, Sprint and Relay respectively. Ewan (far left in the picture) earned his first green-and-gold selection after finishing third in the sprint and teaming with Alvin for second place in the relay.
ACT retained the shield for champion state, while New Zealand retained the trophy for trans-Tasman supremacy against the Australian states.
ACT's dominance of the three days of competition was reflected with seven students gaining all-Australian honours out of 16 places.
Congratulations to these orienteers selected:
Senior Boys: Patrick Miller (ACT), Tristan Miller (ACT), Noah Poland (ACT), Aston Key (Victoria)
Senior Girls: Tara Melhuish (ACT), Meredith Norman (SA), Rachel Allen (Tasmania), Ellie de Jong (Queensland)
Junior Boys: Alvin Craig (NSW), Ewan Shingler (NSW), Andrew Kerr (ACT), Ryan Gray (Queensland)
Junior Girls: Zoe Melhuish (ACT), Ella Cuthbert (ACT), Joanna George (SA), Mikayla Cooper (Tasmania)
Following the presentations, guest speaker and dual Paralympian Michael Milton gave a fascinating and thought-provoking address about coping with and triumphing over adversity.
There was also a special presentation to School Sport Australia representative Rohan Hyslop, St Stanislaus College grounds manager Brad, and Joanna Parr and Airdrie Long who were in charge of looking after the 160 schools team members and staff for the whole week. A big thank you also from all of us.
