FOUR Swan Hill Specialist School students will run in State School Victoria’s cross country competition next month.
Jessica Ilsley, Claire Barr, Jess Burge and CJ Gross qualified for the event thanks to strong showings at the state specialist school competition in Melbourne last weekend.
Ilsley finished third in the 17-18 age group, Barr ran fourth in 13-14 demographic, Burge crossed the line in third place for the 15-16 event and Gross was runner-up in the 9-12 category.
Forty-five specialist schools from across Victoria fielded 600 competitors, with 14 making the trip down from Swan Hill.
It was the most the Swan Hill Specialist School has taken to the annual event and the commitment paid off with seven finishing in the top 10 for their age group, with a range of about 40-70 runners in each event.
The four students invited to participate in the SSV event — to be held at Bundoora Park on July 16 — will have the opportunity to earn a spot in the national competition in August.
“That’s the pathway for our kids. They started at our school cross country, where they had to get in the top 15, we took them to [the state specialist schools run] and now they go on to [the SSV cross country],” specialist school teacher Virginia Allen said.
Allen said a new teacher at the school, Danny Fraser, had been important in helping the students prepare.
“Between us we’ve been training them and we’ll continue that over the holidays which will be great,” she said.
“It’s about doing their best, but when they do at this level you want them to go one step further.”
