Tennis HWMHS champs star

In sunny crisp autumn weather last Thursday, 19th May, Hay welcomed and hosted teams from Albury High School, Wagga High School, Kooringal High School and Murrumbidgee Regional High School, Griffith, for a carnival incorporating the Riverina semifinals and finals of the Floris Conway Cup for Girls knockout tennis and the Stan Jones Trophy for boys’ knockout tennis.

There were many firsts in this historic occasion. Hay girls had made the Riverina semi-finals only three times in the last fifty years and the boys had got through to the semi-finals once before. No Hay team had ever made the Riverina finals.

In 2022 both the Hay WMHS Boys and the Hay WMHS girls won their way through the semifinals into the Final. The Boys had a great 8 sets to 0 sets win over Kooringal in the morning to qualify for the Final.

The girls had to work really hard in a very evenly matched contest against Wagga High School and after a marathon three-hour match finally won 5 sets to 3 sets to ensure their place in the Final.

The Final matches were both played against teams from Albury High School. Our Boys, Jensen Hargreaves, Brad Callaghan, Alexander Haidy and Kenneth Hargreaves won their way to Riverina Champions in a strong victory, 6 sets to 2 sets. Our girls, Sophie Curtis, Indyanna Wilson, Ruby Cattanach and Katie Howard all played well but were defeated by the very strong Albury High School team. Hay WMHS girls are the Riverina runners-up for 2022.

The Boys will continue their ascent towards the State championships. This is the first time the Riverina final has been held in Hay and our wonderful Hay Tennis club, excellent courts and the great work done behind the scenes by Tony Callaghan and coach Stuart Callaghan and other HTC members all contributed to a very successful day of tennis for the 32 students playing. Visiting school players and staff were all highly complimentary about Hay’s facilities and organisation