High Table Cup returns to the “Top of the Hill”
“Sport is an important aspect of the Aquinas community. It is much more than just winning or being able to show off your talents. It provides an opportunity for us all to come together as one big family and show our love for each other, whether this is through playing, supporting, tryouts or celebrating our success.” James Ganley
The HTC campaign began back in March, and every junior and senior was determined to bring the cup back to the top of the hill. Our freshers were quick to learn what the High Table Cup means to Aquinas. The year got off to fast start with tennis, which left us with a heartbreaking second place. Swimming was up next, closely followed by debating where by the narrowest of margins we finished in 3rd place. This left us 3rd in the HTC rankings but after these few close loses, we were determined to turn this around.
Next came not only our first win for the year, but also our first illustrious HTC double. Our boys made history again winning the netball for an incredible 13th consecutive year, along with our girls netball team also became reigning HTC champions. These outstanding results came from the back of endless hard work and dedication from both teams and coaches. Hockey was next and which resulted in another strong performance. The girl had an amazing 19 goal win over Lincoln College in the final which was the first hockey win in 3 years. Our boys also performed strongly finishing 2nd, but unfortunately we missed out on sealing the hockey double.
The last event for the first semester was Football. This saw us amazingly achieve our first ever third consecutive double in Aquinas history. Both the boys and girls’ teams won comfortably, showing our strength, hard work, dedication and spirit here at Aquinas. The football victories also marked our second double success for 2017 and extended our HTC lead coming into the second semester and final 5 sports.
The second semester commenced with volleyball and a confident team of Loxton students who had practiced tirelessly and this all paid off as we came out with an exciting win. Basketball was next and we continued our success thanks to a lot of freshers stepping up into the two teams. Basketball excitedly marked our 3rd double for the year giving us a great lead in the HTC tally.
Following our basketball success, soccer followed and each team performed strongly with the girls a close 3rd with a 1 goal difference and a big improvement from the previous year. The boys came in 4th place and these results brought our lead back to 8 points, making the last two sports very important. With the chance to secure our HTC win, our Table Tennis team trained hard and fought their hearts out and devastatingly come 2nd on the night.
This loss didn’t dampen the Aquinas College spirit or the hope of returning the cup back to the top of the hill. It only strengthened our hunger as we endeavoured to win both the athletics cup but more so the coveted High Table Cup. The Aquinas spirit did not falter on the day with 139 Aquinians crossing the line in the 5 km run and earning valuable points for our College. Unfortunately, an athletics victory was not to be and we finished second. However, this did mean that after a long hard working year, we were all able to reach our goal and hold the High Table Cup aloft to the jubilation of the sea of red, black and white.
“James and I feel privileged to have been your sport secretaries this year. We would like to extend our warm thanks to every player, coach, helper and every single supporter that put on the black, white and red and being a part of our Aquinas community. You are all so deserving of this cup – it is your dedication and love of not only sport but of one another which is why all of you should truly be proud to call yourselves Aquinians. We are extremely proud to have brought the High Table back to its rightful place -at the top of the hill.” Kenidee McNamara
James Ganley & Kenidee McNamara
2017 Sports Secretaries
