TOMAREE High School have created some type of record in the Port Stephens region with six students receiving a sporting Blue from the NSW Combined High Schools Sports Association.

Outstanding golfer Amy Squires, touch football titans Ali Mitchell and Ava Forster, sprint queen Summah Harrison, first grade cricketer Lucas Vincent and AFL Sydney Swans Academy find Hudson Roche collected their prestigious medals at a recent ceremony at the Murrook Cultural Centre at Williamtown.

It is the most number of Blue medals issued in the one year to athletes at Tomaree High since the school was founded in 1998.

A Blue is an award earned by athletes for competing at the highest level and having achieved outstanding achievement in the sporting arena.

Tomaree High School has produced an impressive array of top calibre athletes throughout its proud 25 year history, with the ‘Class of 2023’ arguably the finest collectively to represent NSW.

Sports Co-ordinator and PDHPE teacher Zac Rediger told News Of The Area that the depth of talent at the school this year was “phenomenal”.

“We have an exciting crop of high performance athletes that have represented their State with distinction across a variety of sports,” exclaimed Rediger.

“For a school to have just one NSW representative is a huge honour but to produce six in the one year is a tremendous feat and a record that we are all proud of,” he quipped.

Amy Squires, the newly crowned Australian All Schools Girls stroke champion, confirmed her status as one of the country’s outstanding young female golfers with a string of tournament victories this year.

Teeing off at the Palmer Lakes golf course on the Gold Coast, Amy posted rounds of 68 and 72 to clinch the National All Schools title by three strokes and was a key member of the all conquering NSW squad that won the Teams Championship.

In recognition of her deeds, the gifted golfer from Boat Harbour was one of five girls selected in the Australian Schools Merit Team.

Amy also chalked up victories in three Jean Derrin events – the Pacific Dunes Bowl, Newcastle Hunter District Ladies Championship and Nelson Bay Ladies Classic before winning the Jack Newton Fayde Matchplay at Magenta Shores and is currently weighing up offers from universities in the United States to further her education from 2025.

Touch football sensations Ali Mitchell and Ava Forster demonstrated their skills while representing NSW Combined High Schools Open team at the National Under 18 Youth Championships on the Sunshine Coast.

Ali is an outstanding link player with a bright future in the sport.

The Shoal Bay speedster has been a regular in NSW CHS sides since the age of thirteen and last year earned selection in the Australian Under 15 Merit Team.

At the recent State Cup Touch Football championships at Port Macquarie, sixteen year old Ali showed her wares for Newcastle in a 4-2 Grand Final loss to Manly-Warringah in the Womens Open A division.

The mercurial winger also shone with the Hunter Rugby Sevens outfit and Wildfires and along with her close friend Ava will represent the NSW CHS (2) Rugby Sevens squad on a tour of New Zealand in 2024.

Ava, a promising middle and tricky runner from Anna Bay, has also made an impact with the Hunter Hornets touch football rep sides, Hunter Rugby Sevens team and Wildfires.

Summah Harrison capped a memorable 2023 when she claimed bronze medals in the Under 18 Girls 100 metres and 4 x 100m Relay finals at the recent Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth.

‘The Corlette Express’ stamped herself as one of the fastest seventeen-year-old sprinters in the nation with her top three finish behind Western Australian flash Olivia Dodds and Hawks Nest native Keira McGregor at the WA Athletics Stadium.

It followed her superb gold medal victories in the NSW Under 18, NSW Combined High Schools and NSW All Schools 100 metre championships and being crowned the State’s Champion of Champions Sprinter.

Lucas Vincent of Salamander Bay will represent the NSW Combined High Schools cricket team at the 2024 State Championship round robin series in Maitland while fifteen-year-old Hudson Roche, a Sydney Swans Academy prospect, turned in skilful performances as a midfielder for the NSW CHS Opens AFL team.

By Chris KARAS