BALLARAT Grammar is basking in the glow of a national rowing championship following success in at Lake Barrington in Tasmania.<\/p>\n
Gold to the senior boys division 1 coxed four capped an outstanding overall performance by the school, with crews racing with determination, resilience and great team spirit.<\/p>\n
The win earned the persistent and hard-working crew – Hugh Myers (stroke), George Magee (3 seat), Bella Jenkins (cox), Jack Howard (2 seat) and Rex Brennan (bow) – the tag as \u2018Australia\u2019s fastest\u2019 at the level.<\/p>\n
In an historic moment for the school, Ballarat Grammar had two crews in a senior A-final for the first time, with both the senior girls and senior boys achieving this milestone.<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s head of rowing Marty Francis said the performance of the senior crews set the tone for a remarkable championships across the board for Ballarat Grammar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys was a great result for us, but there were also some good results with our girls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth crews we took down made A-finals, which is pleasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m really excited for that div one crew, who have been close and at times disappointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were disappointed at Head of the Lake. We\u2019ve had a couple of close battles with [Ballarat Clarendon] College…so it was nice to get the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a bunch of boys who have come through the program from the start, it\u2019s a nice reward for staying the distance and plugging away.<\/p>\n
\u201cA national championship \u2026. what do you say? It\u2019s a great way to finish up for the boys and girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good fell in the shed having everyone down there helping us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senior boys division 2 coxed four also impressed, adding to the momentum by finishing fourth in the A-final.<\/p>\n
Both senior girls crews qualified for the A-final, with the division 1 coxed four finishing sixth and the division 2 coxed four finishing seventh.<\/p>\n
There were two more top-tier finishes for Ballarat Grammar.<\/p>\n
The intermediate girls under-17 finished fourth in the B final, while the intermediate boys under-17 eight finished second in the B-final.<\/p>\n
Francis hailed the division one boys\u2019 success as a win for persistence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a slow burn,\u201d he said. \u201cI came into the program three years ago, and don\u2019t have a lot of perspective in terms of what happened before then, but it\u2019s been a combination of a lot of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome kids just maturing a little bit later than others, and obviously the more time they have spent together, the better it\u2019s become from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The senior boys ranks have certainly swelled in recent years, up from three two years ago to its current number of five.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes a difference \u2026 when you are all pushing from below up for the next group.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on retention within the program and have been lucky with the girls \u2026 it\u2019s been strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a glimpse of what the boys could do last year \u2013 a really good year 10 cohort coming through.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving success and a strong senior program across the board speaks volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sixth for the girls capped a \u2018consistent\u2019 season for the crew.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a pretty open race. We had a few changes in the boat following the Head of Schoolgirls (regatta) \u2026 we wanted to try something different and I think it reaped some awards,\u201d Francis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve stayed the course of time and we\u2019ve had a strong second crew.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BALLARAT Grammar is basking in the glow of a national rowing championship following success in at Lake Barrington in Tasmania. Gold to the senior boys division 1 coxed four capped an outstanding overall performance by the school, with crews racing with determination, resilience and great team spirit. The win earned the persistent and hard-working crew […]<\/p>\n