Year in Review- Term 3

Term 3 Sport starts in the cold of winter but finishes in the warmth of spring. The 2024 Basketball, Rugby League and Tennis seasons, combined with the AIC Golf Championships kept the action hot throughout the term. With historic seasons and increased participation numbers, Term 3 Sport in 2024 will be remembered by many for many years to come.

BASKETBALL
2024 witnessed a historic AIC Basketball season come to an end with both Iona and Villanova claiming historic victories in two different competitions.

In one of the largest and most popular sports played in the Association, achieving victory in the Aggregate Shield competition is a major accomplishment. This year Iona College was able to secure the prized shield for the first time in 16 years, and by doing so, halt the run of Villanova who have held the shield at Coorparoo since 2015.  The consistency of Iona teams across all aggregate divisions was the key to their success. Iona teams won the same amount of ‘Aggregate Premierships’ (three) as their closest rivals, with the difference being Iona able to claim a top 3 finish in 11 of the premierships that count towards the major trophy

St Laurence’s improved to second place in the overall aggregate with Villanova College claiming third.

Villanova made AIC history and became the first school to win 4 consecutive ‘outright’ First V Basketball premierships. The Villanova First V have now been undefeated in AIC competition since the shortened 2020 Covid impacted season.

Next year, Villanova have the opportunity to equal the AIC First V Premiership streak record of 5 in a row, currently held by Marist College Ashgrove who won the First V Basketball Premiership every year between 2002-2006. St Patrick’s finished 2nd in the First V premiership and how close the competition was highlighted by Marist College Ashgrove, Iona and St Laurence’s finishing in a tie for third place.

Premierships across the AIC divisions were shared amongst 6 different schools. St Laurence’s highlighted they should push Villanova in future years in the First V with premierships in the 2nd V*, Year 11A and Year 10A* premierships. Another school that looks to be building for success in future First V competitions is St Patrick’s, who claimed both the 8A and 9A premierships. The great depth of talent that exists at Marist College Ashgrove was shown with 7 premierships (3rd V*, 4th V, 11B, 10A*, 7B, 7C, 7D). With their success in the Aggregate competition, Iona claimed the premierships in the 2nd V*, 3rd V*, 11D, 9C, 8B, 8C, 8D*. Villanova’s 10B, 10C, 10D, 9D, 8D* and 7A teams joined their First V in achieving premiership success. St Edmund’s claimed the 9B premiership with an impressive undefeated season.

AIC primary school Basketball fixtures held on a Friday afternoon during the season, clearly displayed the future is very bright for the AIC Competition with a large number of enthusiastic and talented basketballers at each of our schools. It will be exciting for all involved in AIC Basketball to watch this talent develop in the years to come. The following primary school teams enjoyed undefeated seasons – St Laurence’s 6A & 6B and Villanova 6C, 6D, 5A, 5B, 5C & 5D.

GOLF
Keperra Country Golf Club again hosted the AIC Golf Championships in 2024. A beautiful, but also brisk, morning greeted the record number of students competing in this major event on the AIC Calendar. For the first time in AIC History, a full complement of 9 Secondary School teams that included the 8 AIC Member Colleges and AIC Guest College- Ambrose Treacy competed. Joining the secondary students, 7 Primary students would also battle it out for AIC honours.

The course and the weather created some very challenging conditions for the golfers to negotiate. The freezing early morning conditions combined with frequent wind gusts would challenge even the most experienced of golfers.

The AIC Golf Championships include both team and individual events. The major team awards for the day are awarded to Gross Team Champion and the Net Team Champion. The Net Team Champion’s Shield is named after the long serving St Laurence’s staff member – Mr Gordon Balharry who was instrumental in the introduction of Golf into the AIC calendar and coordinated the Championships for many years.

The Balharry Shield competition was the closest on record with the top 5 schools only being separated by three shots. After the top 4 players scores from both Ambrose Treacy and St Peters were combined- the two schools could not be separated and were tied at the top of the leaderboard with a combined ‘Net’ score of 303. The tiebreak would be the score of the remaining member of the team with Ambrose Treacy claiming the shield. St Peters were ever so close in defending the shield they won in 2023. Iona finished in 3rd place with a score of 304- incredibly only one shot behind both Ambrose Treacy and St Peters.

The Gross Team Champion shield was again won by Iona College, defending the title won in 2023. Iona (325) claimed a 12-shot victory which was built upon by consistent rounds by their team members. Villanova (337) finished second, just in front of St Peters (339).

The individual competition is always hotly contested across the three individual events- Secondary Gross, Secondary Net and Primary Net. A large number of students in the Association have single-digit handicaps. In the Individual Secondary Gross Competition, James Toscan (Iona) and Matthys Visser (SPC) could not be separated, both recording a 1-over par round of 73. Considering the incredibly challenging conditions these were excellent rounds of Golf from both boys. Tanna Catton (SPE) finished in third place, carding a 78.

The Individual Net competitions in both secondary and primary schools allows Golfers of different ‘Handicaps’ to compete against each other. This year the Top 10 Golfers in the Secondary School Net Competition were only separated by a total of 5 shots. Cooper Devin (ATC) won the Secondary Net competition with a net score of 69. James Toscan (Iona) finished second with 71 (net) and Lachlan Balfour (Padua) finished third with 72 (net).

The Primary Golfers produced a number of strong rounds including 3 primary golfers achieving net scores that would have claimed the top 3 positions in the secondary school competition. In another incredibly close competition Parker Honke (Padua) claimed the Primary Championship with a 65 (net). Jack Adams claimed second place, after a countback with Lochlan Butler (Padua-third place), both boys scoring 67 (net).

Rugby League
This year was the closest season in the short history of AIC Rugby League with the season coming down to a nail-biting conclusion. Going into the final round, both Marist College Ashgrove and Iona were ‘neck and neck’ in the battle for the Rugby League Champion School Aggregate competition. Elsewhere on the final day of the season, a number of premierships would be decided by games that were effectively ‘grand finals’ as undefeated teams opposed each other.

After over 280 fixtures during the season across the Association, it is incredible that Marist College Ashgrove claimed their first ever AIC Rugby League Aggregate Shield by the smallest of margins – a half a point over Iona College. Iona fell agonisingly short of retaining the shield that they had won each year since the launch of AIC Rugby League in 2019. Padua finished third in the Aggregate competition.

Iona College claimed a very well deserved First XIII premiership after completing an ‘Undefeated Season’. The Iona team was able to build on an impressive third place finish at the Confraternity Shield Carnival in Townsville in June, overcome some very challenging opposition in the AIC competition and handle the pressure of remaining undefeated to claim the premiership. The team’s success was built on a hardworking forward pack that were able to put the team on the front foot, which allowed their creative halves and speed laden outside backs to flourish. An outstanding overall team performance secured Iona’s second AIC First XIII Premiership.

Marist College Ashgrove First XIII were runners up in the premier division of AIC Rugby League, only suffering defeat to Iona in a very close Round 3 encounter. Padua and Villanova tied for third place in the First XIII premiership.

Marist College Ashgrove claimed a treble of premierships with first place finishes in the 2nd XIII, Year 10 and Year 9 Premierships. On the strength of these three results alone, the boys from Ashgrove will continue to be a force in the First XIII Premiership in years to come.

What could be argued as the most exciting and thrilling competition was the 8A premiership. St Patrick’s secured the silverware with what was literally the last kick of the season. An after the siren goal from the sideline secured a 2-point win and the premiership for the boys from Shorncliffe in the final game of the season against Iona. St Laurence’s claimed the Year 7A ‘Rugby Codes’ double by claiming the Year 7A premiership. The 7A Rugby League premiership trophy joining the 7A Rugby Union trophy St Laurence’s won in Term 2. Padua College secured the inaugural 7B premiership.

In 2024, the AIC Rugby League competition continued to grow in participation. This growth was highlighted by the inclusion of an entirely new division (7B) and for the first time in AIC history, St Peters entered two teams into the season. AIC Guest College, Ambrose Treacy also fielded 7 teams and hosted fixtures every week at their Indooroopilly Campus. With this expansion, the AIC Rugby League competition has grown from 48 teams in the inaugural season of 2019 to 84 teams in 2024. The promise of future expansion in 2025 lay on the horizon for AIC Rugby League.

TENNIS
A high- quality AIC Tennis Season was held during Term 3. Across the Association, 127 teams competed across divisions from Year 5 to Opens with 5 Colleges claiming at least 1 AIC Tennis premiership.

St Peters claimed the title of the ‘Champion’ AIC Tennis school again in 2024 after claiming the Aggregate Championship Shield, First IV Tennis Premiership and 7 Division Premierships. Across the 12 AIC premiership divisions, St Peters team finished in first or second place in all 12 divisions! This is an incredible benchmark that the Indooroopilly school has set for the rest of the competition. The St Peters community is incredibly proud of the Tennis programs achievements.

The St Peters First IV claimed their second successive AIC First IV Premiership, going through the 7 Rounds of the season undefeated. During the 7 fixtures, St Peters First IV won an incredible 51 out of a possible 56 matches across singles and doubles. With a number of the boys in the team returning in 2025, the St Peters First IV will be looking to claim a hat-trick of victories in this prestigious division next year.

Marist College Ashgrove continues to challenge St Peters for the title of AIC Champion Tennis school. This year, Marist College Ashgrove finished second in both the First IV premiership and the overall Aggregate Competition. Marist College Ashgrove were able to claim a share of the 9B premiership (with St Peters) and the 7B premiership. It will be exciting to see the competition build between Marist College Ashgrove and St Peters on the tennis courts in the coming years.

St Patrick’s displayed the biggest overall improvement in AIC Tennis results this season. This year, the Shorncliffe school claimed both the Year 8A and 8B premierships, as well as move to 3rd place in the overall Aggregate Championship. In 2023, St Patrick’s finished 5th. With a runners-up finish in the 10A division and a number of top 3 finishes in premiership competitions across a number of year levels, the future looks bright for St Patrick’s Tennis.

Villanova (7A) and Iona (4th IV) also claimed Tennis premierships this season. In primary school fixtures, St Peters (6A & 6B) and Marist College Ashgrove (5A & 5B) were able to secure “Undefeated” seasons.