THE NEXT LEVEL: (front) Isabelle Clarke-Randazzo, Rory Thornhill and (back) Emily Pell, Thomas Eyles, Lucy Clarke -Randazzo, Mikaylah Dukes, Annie Miller and Thea Allen.
St Mary’s Primary School is fast building a reputation as a cross country powerhouse.
Last Tuesday the school sent 25 students to Coolah for the Bathurst Diocese Cross Country titles.
Broken into age groups ranging from eights-nines to 12 years and over, the students pitted their endurance against a challenging course over the Coolah Golf Club.
And the results speak for themselves.
Eight St Mary’s students qualified for the NSW Polding Championships at Eastern Creek by finishing in the top eight of their age groups.
It was an outstanding performance from a school whose performances at the annual carnival have steadily improved over recent years.
“We just keep getting better and better,” teacher Cheree Pell said with obvious pride.
“It’s a long day and a tough course and the kids just did fantastically well.”
The eight students will now head to Eastern Creek on June 15, with the top six in each division to advance to the NSW State titles.
Student Annie Miller progressed to the state championships in 2011 via her sixth place finish at Eastern Creek, and is keen to repeat the performance this year.
“I’ve been training hard. I run every second day with my mum,” said Annie, who will complete the 3km course for the 11s age group.
Emily Pell finished third over the 2km eights-nines course at Coolah, and has been equally busy preparing herself for the step up in company by undergoing regular training runs with her dad.
Mrs Pell said a highlight of the day was the exceptional sportsmanship shown by the St Mary’s students.
“They were absolutely outstanding. Not only in their performances on the day, but in the way they all gathered around the finish line to cheer each other on,” Mrs Pell said.
“They’re an absolute credit to themselves and their school and we couldn’t be prouder of them.”