Team captains Will Zahn and Baylee Holden truly led from the front, each claiming their Age Champions titles as Shalom College continued their total domination of the annual Surf Life Saving Queensland Secondary Schools Surf League (Wide Bay) at Nielson Park with another big win in the Overall Pointscore – Champion School.
Shalom amassed a whopping 420.75 points, more than the other seven competing schools combined, with St Luke’s Anglican School coming in second on 208, followed by Kepnock State High School (SHS) 89.75, Bundaberg SHS 38, Xavier Catholic College 31, North Bundaberg SHS 14.75, Urangan SHS 14 and Bundaberg Christian College (BCC) 13.75.
Dynamic all-rounders Will and Baylee took out the 16 years + Male and Female titles with 21 and a carnival-high 25 points respectively, while two other Shalom students were also champions in their categories, Baylee’s brother Kobi, in Under-15 Male with 18 points, and Jack Gaston, with 21 points in U13 Male.
St Luke’s produced the other two age victors in Annie Harris, with 24 in U15 Female, and Mimi Woods with 16 in U13 Female.
Mimi finished on equal-points with Shalom’s Ava McCaig, but was awarded the title on a countback.
Will won just event, the Board Race, but he also finished second to Joey Vella (St Luke’s) in the Surf Race, and team-mate and best mate Ben Wood in the Ironman, third behind Kepnock duo Bill Maule and Levi Davis in the Beach Flags, and sixth behind team-mate Brynn Harrap in the Beach Sprint.
Ben Wood also took second to Will in the Board and third in the Surf Race.
Baylee completed the Board Race, Ironmaiden and Beach Flags treble, and was also runner-up to team-mate Jaimie Krueger in the Surf Race, and placed fifth in the Beach Sprint, behind further team-mates Kharla Hills and Georgie Tuzes, who was also runner-up in the Beach Flags.
Kobi clean swept his Water events, the Surf Race, Board Race, and Ironman, beating team-mate Rohan McDonald and Ben Rudd (St Luke’s) into second and third respectively in each, while a further two Shalom students won the other two U15 Male events, with Hamish Nelson outgunning Bentley Rizzo (Kepnock) in the Beach Sprint, and Laswari Iboro edging out Bentley in the Beach Flags.
Annie Harris also achieved the Surf Race, Board Race and Ironmaiden hat-trick in her division, and was just pipped by Georgie Stephenson (Shalom) in the Beach Flags, and ran sixth behind C Taylor (Bundaberg SHS) in the Beach Sprint.
Max O’Brien, also of Shalom, notched the U13 Male Surf Race-Ironman double, but he was edged out for that age championship by Jack Gaston, who won just one event, beating Max into second in the Board, but also played second fiddle to Max in the Surf Race and Ironman, and to Tyson Rizzo, of Kepnock, in the Beach Flags.
Tyson also outgunned Levi Hack in a Kepnock quinella in the Beach Sprint.
Mimi Woods claimed the U13 Female Surf Race-Ironmaiden double, but had to settle for third behind Ava McCaig and team-mate Cassidy Parsons in the Board Race, while Ava also picked up second in the Surf.
Another St Luke’s rising talent Lola Wood showed her speed in racing to victory in the U13 Female Beach Sprint, in advance of Shalom duo Lana Grant and Casey Giles, who also grabbed the Flag.
St Luke’s also shared in the silverware, maintaining their long-running possession of the Overall Percentage Pointscore Champions with 8.67%, finishing ahead of Shalom 7.51, Kepnock 4.99, Xavier 4.43, Bundaberg SHS 3.80, and BCC 1.72.
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