Winning an Astley Cup is something not all students get to savour and Bathurst’s Josh Lawler expects his victors to remember this 2017 success long after their school years are over.
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Bathurst high School got its hands back on the Cup on Friday, winning two of the fours sports on offer while scoring a 1-all draw win the boys soccer, to defeat Dubbo College 479-321 overall.
Dubbo’s only win on Thursday came in the rugby league, where a Luke Gale hat-trick led the side to a 26-18 victory.
“It will be something they remember for the rest of their lives,” Lawler said as the Bathurst students celebrated.
“We’ve even had kids come back from years and years ago who used to participate come back and they’re all keen to see them win as well and we won’t hear the end of this for a while.”
For Dubbo, it was a similar tale.
The dominance in the rugby league goes on, winning in both ties again this season, but heavy losses in both tennis and hockey are becoming a common occurrence.
There has been some real strides made in soccer and the boys’ side would feel hard done by drawing 1-1 with Bathurst after dominating much of the match.
Despite that, Dubbo sports coordinator Craig May was proud of not only his school’s effort on the field but also the support and sportsmanship shown off it.
“Unfortunately the results didn’t go our way but … the kids competed in a good manner, presented themselves well, the sportsmanship has been at a good level and it’s great to be part of,” he said.
“Nothing builds school spirit like the Astley Cup and it continues to do that and I’m sure it will for a long time to come.”
It will be something they remember for the rest of their lives.
- Bathurst High sports organiser Josh Lawler
While Dubbo has not won the Cup since 2011, Bathurst has got its hands back on the time-honoured silverware after it spent just one year at Orange.
“We gave it to Orange for a year, then got it back, then they had it for a year and now we’ve got it back so it’s a bit of an arm wrestle at the moment but I just want to say Dubbo put in an absolutely unreal effort,” Lawler said.