Diving

On Wednesday 4 March, the Senior School diving team participated in the inter-high diving competition which is a highly prestigious event. The competition comprised of a Junior B team event, a Senior B team event and an A team event.

The divers had been preparing all term for this event and they produced some excellent results. Special congratulations are extended to both the Junior B team and Senior B team as they won both events.

The results from the competitions were as follows:

Junior B team results:
1st St Mary’s
2nd St Andrew’s
3rd St Stithians
4th Kingsmead
5th Brescia
6th Roedean

Senior B team results:
1st St Mary’s
2nd St Stithians
3rd St Andrew’s
4th Parktown
5th Kingsmead
6th Roedean

The individual results for the A team are as follows:

U15
2nd Zalika Methula
4th Caitlin Kersten

U16
2nd Tannah Proudfoot
7th Sacha Bray

Open
3rd Kerry-Leigh Morrison
5th Alexandra Kirstein

Overall results of the A team competition:
1st St Stithians 109
2nd St Mary’s 103
3rd Kingsmead 76
4th Brescia 70
5th St Andrew’s 63
6th Pretoria 61
7th Parktown 58
8th Roedean 52
9th St Dominic’s 23

Kate Shepherd
Head of Diving

Swimming

The Premier inter-high gala, as well as the A inter-high, was held on Thursday 5 March at Ellis Park swimming pool. What makes this gala unique from other galas is definitely the support for the swimmers by their respective schools. The energy created throughout the day from the St Mary’s spirit squad inspired our swimmers to “swim to the max”. A big thank you is extended to all the supporters for getting behind both St Mary’s teams throughout the day.

The Premier inter-high gala was exceptionally close with the lead changing hands a couple of times. Unfortunately, at the end of the morning, we were pipped in the very last race by St Stithians, finishing second by a mere two points.

Results of the inter-high Premier gala are as follows:
1. St Stithians 376
2. St Mary’s 374
3. St Andrew’s 280
4. Holy Rosary 279
5. Roedean 225
6. St Dominic’s 223
7. Kingsmead 210
8. Parktown 137
9. Assumption 134
10. St Teresa’s 76

After the Premier gala, the inter-high diving points are added to the inter-high swimming points to determine the overall winner. This year was extremely close. St Mary’s lost the diving to St Stithians by six points. This difference is then halved, so going into the swimming discipline our swimmers needed to beat St Stithians by more than three points to claim the overall honours.

Unfortunately, as the results above indicate, St Mary’s fell five points short of winning the overall inter-high trophy. The overall inter-high results are as follows:

1. St Stithians 430
2. St Mary’s 425
3. St Andrews 311
4. Holy Rosary 279
5. Roedean 251
6. Kingsmead 248
7. St Dominic’s 234
8. Parktown 166
9. Assumption 134
10. St Theresa’s 76

After all the excitement and disappointment of the Premier gala, the B team swimmers put on an impressive show and finished as deserving winners of the A inter-high gala, retaining the trophy they won in 2019. The results of the A gala were:

1. St Mary’s B 388
2. Jeppe A 315
3. Potchefstroom Girls A 288
4. Brescia A 281
5. St Catherine’s 260
6. St Andrew’s B 225
7. Kingsmead B 220
8. Holy Rosary B 96
9. Assumption B 91

These galas mark the end of another successful swimming season. A big thank you is extended to coach Michelle Zumpt, for all the time and effort she puts into swimming at St Mary’s. We are lucky to have someone with her passion and knowledge guiding our swimmers.

Cindy Brown
Head of Swimming