Coolock claims Championship House title at St Xavier's athletics carnival

ST Xavier’s Primary School students put their speed, strength and determination on display at the school’s annual athletics carnival recently, held at the Donnelly Playing Fields.

Clancy Baker and Kingsley Mallon.

After a closely contested carnival, Coolock claimed the Championship House title, while Fatima was recognised for its enthusiasm and teamwork, taking home the Participation Trophy.

Theodore da Silva, Valentine Brady-Smyth, Samuel Wark and Lleyton Byrnes.

Individual achievements were also celebrated with the presentation of Age Champion awards.

Wyatt Shorter.

This year’s champions were Darcy Griffin and Rory Fouracre (5/6 years), Zahra Scott and Olly McIlveen (7 years), Rosie Galton and Arvie Keynes (8 years), Alma Ceeney and John Finlay (9 years), Reeva Ceeney and Slade Magnay (10 years), Millie Lyle and Hugo Bradford (11 years), and Eloise Launders and Wyatt Shorter (12 years).

Evee Luxford.

Runner-up Age Champion honours went to Macey Wicks and Zac Hickman (5/6 years), Heidi McDonald and Arlo Nelson (7 years), Eleanor Finlay and Crue Jolliffe (8 years), Talhia Sheridan and Mak Campbell (9 years), Hope Welsh and Theodore Byron (10 years), Zoe Riordan and Chase Berry (11 years), and Elodie Warren and Georgina Grimm, who shared the girls’ 12-year runner-up title, alongside Banjo Fitzgerald.

Otto Duff, Jimmy Ftizgerald, Benjamin Kook, Arlo Steele and Samuel Crawter.

Several outstanding performances saw school records rewritten.

Fatima 11-13 boys’ relay team were among the record breakers on the day. Ari Mallon, Oscar Sheridan, Chase Berry and Banjo Fitzgerald.

Reeva Ceeney broke her own 8–10 years girls’ 800m record, finishing in 3:06.86 and improving on her 2025 time of 3:09.89.

The 11-13 girls’ Coolock relay team also set a new record. Annabelle Crawter, Eloise Launders, Millie Lyle and Anna Beer.

Zahra Scott also etched her name into the record books, winning the 7 years girls’ 50m in 9.33 seconds to edge past Chloe Perkins’s long-standing 2009 record of 9.34 seconds.

Record breakers in the 8-10 years girls’ Carmel relay team were Hope Welsh, Alma Ceeney, Faith Welsh and Reeva Ceeney.

The relay events also produced memorable performances.

Lewis Mainey, Edwina Goddard, Savannah Campbell and Elodie Warren.

Carmel’s girls’ 8–10 years 4x100m team of Reeva Ceeney, Hope Welsh, Faith Welsh and Alma Ceeney set a new benchmark with a time of 1:07.73, eclipsing the previous record set in 2019.

Coolock house captain Thomas Beer with the champion shield. Absent from picture Sophie Martin. Photos: Hayley Hausfeld

Coolock’s girls’ 11–13 years relay team of Millie Lyle, Eloise Launders, Anna Beer and Annabelle Crawter broke a record that had stood since 1986, clocking 1:03.07.

Fatima house captains Alexandria Martin and Oscar Sheridan.

Fatima’s boys’ 11–13 years relay team of Chase Berry, Banjo Fitzgerald, Oscar Sheridan and Ari Mallon also made history, becoming the first team to break the one-minute barrier with a time of 59.96 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 1:01.02 set in 1986.