̽»¨ÊÓƵ

High Notes, Vol 26 No 29, September 19 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to all our competitors in the Combined High Schools Sports Association Athletics carnival held last week in blustery, wet and difficult conditions. High students had some good state-level results. The 14s 4 x100m relay (James Wong, Shawn Handoko, Ilyusha Tsoutsman, Tom Yang) won a silver medal (48.21). Lachlan Leung won a bronze in the 17+ long jump (6.37m). The Year 12s won gold in the 17+ 4 x 100m relay (Dylan Dutt, Lachlan Leung, James McLoughlin and Brenda Woo). The 16s 4 x 100m won silver (Liwen Dang, Tim Chen, Rohan Chan, Mark Yan). Ilya Tsoutsman won silver in the 14s 100m hurdles.

Athletics, Fencing and Rifle Shooting Assembly 2025

My speech to the Athletics, Fencing and Rifle Shooting Assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guests, Jayden and Luke Schofield (SHS-2016), Staff, parents, coaches, GPS athletics, fencing and rifle shooting representatives and students, good morning and welcome to our inaugural combined assembly for winter and spring sports. I acknowledge this morning the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the land, waterways and culture where we meet, and pay my respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to any First Nations people here today. Our purpose is to honour our teams who will compete in our name on Saturday at the GPS Carnival, as well as to introduce and acknowledge our rifle shooters and fencers, who have completed their winter seasons.

"Thank you to our Athletics and Cross Country, MIC Mr Kurt Rich, who has guided our athletics program so competently for many years. Kurt is assisted on the track by our ubiquitous Head Coach - Neil Song (SHS-2015), Ms Natalie Luu, Ms Lena Park and our Athletics captain, Dylan Dutt. The team has been tested at the recent CHSSA competition and should be in for a good meet on Saturday.

"This morning, we are honouring competitors in three of the pentathlon disciplines – fencing, shooting and running.  The other two are swimming and riding. Pentathlon was first contested at the Olympics in 1912. It was Pierre de Coubertin’s idea of a replication of a cavalry officer’s skill set. Apparently, in Paris, a German athlete, who was leading the point score, in a random draw of horses, drew a horse from the pool that wouldn’t jump, and the event cost her the gold medal. It was alleged that her angry coach punched the horse in retribution. Consequently, for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, horse riding will be dropped in favour of an American Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course. The other four disciplines for Los Angeles are freestyle swimming, fencing, laser pistol shooting and cross country running.

"In the sport of Fencing, Dat Huynh has served as MIC for more than ten years and has pioneered multi-weapon school competitions. Fencing is flourishing at High as a result. He is assisted by Lynnea Stewart and Richard Wong on Saturdays. Thank you to our coaches, for Sabre – Head Coach Leo Kershaw Kostic with Daniel Iliffe as captain; for Epee -Head Coach Thomas Elliott, captain Hudson Cai; and for foil, Head Coach Lachlan Blair with captain, Lyndon Chow. Thank you so much to our Fencing Parents’ Committee who make such a difference to the smooth running of the program. In particular, Rebecca Iliffe, Alok Sharma, Emma Pham, Helen He, Richard Ye and Binh Johnsun.

"Your support is vital to our sports program.

"In rifle shooting, long-serving MIC Daniel Comben has been outstanding in his dedication to the sport. He is taking a break next season, and his role will be taken up by Terry Fong, who is Head Coach along with Nathan Wong. Thank you to Michael Evans (SGHS) also for staff supervision. Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who assist so ably at our GPS camp and GPS Competition Days. Thank you to our Rifle Committee members, Kurt Dean, Alan Trinh, Paridhi Tyagi and Jocelyn Yem, for their dedication to our sport."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal