Following some intense national competition, four Scotch College Year 10 students recently celebrated their third place win in the Teams Section of the Secondary School Sport SA (SSSSA) National All Schools Cross-Country Championships held in Perth, Western Australia, on Sunday 2 September.

Year 10 Scotch students Tim Pryor, John Langford, Edward Higginson and Sam Thompson represented South Australia nationally as the number one Under 16 Boys Cross-Country team in our state.

As a precursor to this national competition, the Scotch Cross-Country Under 16 Boys team previously competed in the SSSSA Cross-Country State Championship, held on 6 June, coming in first place against nine other South Australian secondary school Under 16 team place-winners.

The individual places achieved by the Scotch students during the state team selection process were Tim Pryor eighth place, John Langford thirteenth place, Edward Higginson fourteenth place, and Sam Thompson twenty-third place – out of a field of over seventy competitors.

The boys were presented with a plaque for display at Scotch College at the formal Sunday national presentation, and each student also received an individual bronze medallion. 

Scotch College Principal, Mr Tim Oughton, said that he was impressed with the enthusiasm and enjoyment the boys had shown in pursuing their training regime to actively reach their peak physical performance, as well as their fantastic team spirit, which was a great reflection of the ethos at Scotch College.

“Sport is an important aspect of the learning curriculum at Scotch College and the boys were supported and actively encouraged to pursue Cross-Country training by our Head of Boys Sport,” said Mr Oughton. 

“This was just one of the sports the boys have each chosen out of the wide variety offered by the College, because they have a real personal talent in long-distance running, which is important to cultivate.  The boys have all worked very hard to achieve this outstanding result,” he said.

Year 10 team members agree the national course was difficult: “We’ve had a lot of training in preparation, but Mr Horley our Phys-Ed teacher has been great, and we’ve been looking forward to doing well.  It was a really tough event – especially with an unexpected and exhausting 800m climb – and the other teams were good.  So we are really excited at what we’ve achieved, and can’t believe we’ve actually won bronze.”

This competition is a biennial event in which School Sport Australia selects a team to compete at the International Sport Federation Cross-Country Championship.