Festival

St Stithians makes history in the water, this year’s national aquatics organiser, Natasha Panzera, reports

adopted. Hearts and ribbons adorned the aquatics centre and the visiting schools were treated to a duet sung by Anastasia Schröder (from St Stithians Girls’ College) and Jordan Carr (from St Stithians Boys’ College) during the opening ceremony.

The gala was closely contested between St Stithians Girls’ College and St Mary’s Waverley with St Stithians narrowly winning at the end of the day.

Our Lady of Fatima and C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje finished in third and fourth places.

The other schools that swam were Durban Girls’ College (5th), Clarendon High School for Girls (6th), St Mary’s DSG Kloof (7th), Eunice High School (8th), Durban Girls’ High School (9th) and Pretoria High School for Girls (10th). The water polo took place on Friday and Saturday with Clarendon High School for Girls’ and St Stithians Girls’ College qualifying for the final.

The match was a nail-biting affair with Clarendon scoring a goal in the last second of the game for an 8-7 win. The other competing schools were Roedean School (SA) (3rd), Durban Girls’ College (4th), St Mary’s School Waverley (5th), St Mary’s

DSG Kloof (6th), Durban Girls’ High School (7th) and Pretoria High School for Girls (8th).

The diving competition took place on Saturday morning and standards were very high, St Mary’s School Waverley eventually won the team competition, a mere 4 points ahead of St Stithians Girls’ College with Pretoria High School for Girls finishing third. The other positions were Brescia House (4th), St Andrew’s School for Girls (5th), Roedean

School (SA) (6th), C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (7th) and St

Mary’s DSG Kloof (8th).

St Stithians College Aquatics Centre was the perfect facility to host a festival of this nature with competitors being able to support and compete in all of the disciplines at one venue.

The festival was a huge success and showcased the high standard of aquatics at girls’ schools.

Head of sport at St Mary’s School Waverley had this to say:

“Thank you for a superbly organised event. We had a fantastic two days and express much gratitude to St Stithians”.

The festival will be hosted by St Mary’s DSG Kloof in 2021.