Their triumph over Orange High School on Friday means Bathurst has won the cup for a 26th time and fifth time in seven years. 

Bathurst High went into day two of its tie against Orange High School with a 106-point lead.

Knowing that Orange had some of its best sports coming up, Principal Ken Barwick said that Bathurst was aiming to keep the scores close and come away with just one win.

“All the sports [Friday], from the basketball to the netball to the hockey, they knew they had a job to do and that was to keep the scores close for the rugby boys and they did that job,” he said. 

As predicted, Orange shone early in the day at the Basketball and Netball, narrowing Bathurst's lead to 36 points. 

A solid performance in the rugby, where the score was 28 to 12 in Bathurst's favour, put the defending champs in a much better position with a lead of 76 points. 

“The rugby league boys really played their hearts out and really controlled the game,” Mr Barwick said.

That left just the hockey, a sport that Orange has a history of dominating.

Bathurst lost four to zero, but the distribution of points and the lead going into the last sport meant the school had done enough to win the Astley Cup.

However, if the score had have been six to zero, the tie with Orange would have been a draw. 

Adding to the success, Bathurst’s debating team won the Mulvey Cup on Thursday night when they argued the negative in response to the topic ‘Social media has killed our social skills’. 

“Our girls were very meticulous in unpacking and diluting the other team’s argument,” Mr Barwick said.

Winning both the Mulvey Cup and the Astley Cup was a fantastic result, particularly to do so in consecutive years.

“We are super proud of the kids,” Mr Barwick said.

He also wanted to congratulate the teachers for their contributions and ongoing support to students throughout the campaign. 

With Bathurst’s win, that means next week's tie between Orange and Dubbo College will be to determine second and third place.