Wesley tops the pool in APS school sport competitions
After a two-year hiatus where no sport was played, Wesley returned to the water, courts, tracks and fields in 2022 with a vengeance.
There were some unstoppable schools on the sporting field this year, with premierships coming in thick and fast. Wesley College was a clear standout, taking home eight titles for the season, the equal most of any school in the APS, with premierships in the following sports:
- Rowing (girls)
- Tennis (boys and girls)
- Volleyball (girls)
- Cross country (boys and girls)
- Soccer (girls)
- Athletics (boys)
A year to remember
Our summer season of sport was simply outstanding, with a premiership hat trick in three sports.
Celebrations began in February, with the Girls First VIII Rowing crew winning back-to-back Head of the River championships. This was only the third time in APS rowing history that Wesley has won this prestigious event.
History was made again the following month with the Girls and Boys First Tennis teams winning the APS premierships simultaneously for the first time. The Girls First team were outstanding, remaining undefeated all season to take out their third premiership in four seasons. The Boys First team also had a remarkable season, winning the premiership for the first time since 2006.
A win by the Girls First Volleyball team – our first ever APS volleyball championship – capped off a spectacular start to the year.
The changing of the seasons had little impact on our athletes, with the Girls Firsts Soccer Team winning the premiership outright in an undefeated winter season with just one draw. Notably, it was the first time that Girls’ Soccer has won the APS title for the College.
In Cross Country, records were smashed with our girls’ team winning a remarkable tenth consecutive APS premiership and our boys’ team achieving their sixth consecutive APS premiership in an unbeaten season.
But perhaps the biggest achievement of the year was the historic win for our Boys’ Athletics team in this year’s APS Athletics Competition - the first time we’ve lifted the Premiership Cup since 1947. 75 years is a long time between victories, and we congratulate our boys for their gritty performance.
While our team performances have been tremendous this year, there have also been some exceptional individual achievements, including Logan Janetzki’s record-breaking win in the Open 3000m, taking an incredible three seconds off the time set by a young Xavier College student named Robert de Castella in 1974, with a time of 8 minutes, 18.4 seconds.
Wesley also had four students - Elijah Tsatas, Matt Jefferson, Coby Burgiel and Bailey Macdonald, selected in the 2022 AFL National Draft. This follows the selection of two students – Zoe Savarirayan and Jasmine Fleming, into the AFLW earlier this year and is the largest number of graduating students to be drafted into the AFL and AFLW in a single year.
A huge thank you to our coaches and congratulations to all our student athletes for their amazing contributions this year. We look forward to another successful year for Wesley College sport in 2023.
