St Andrew’s College and Clarendon Girls’ showed their mettle on their way to clinching top honours at the Woodridge Stayers water polo tournament recently.
The event took place over four days at the Thornhill school last weekend, culminating in the finals on Sunday.
In their run to the boys’ title, St Andrew’s were unbeaten in their pool, while Clarendon also proved too strong for their opponent in the girls’ section.
The boys from Makhanda defeated Glenwood House 8-4 in the final, while Clarendon sneaked past Pearson 6-4 in their title decider.
St Andrew’s were drawn in pool D where they faced Paarl Boys’ and a Nelson Mandela Bay Invitation team.
From the start, coach Grant Mackenzie’s team hit the ground running, winning their group games emphatically. They defeated Paarl Boys’ 14-2 in their opener, cruised past Pearson 15-1 and outplayed the Invitation team 23-2.
They met one of their toughest opponents in the quarterfinals in the form of Hudson Park, a side that finished third in pool A behind Selborne and Glenwood House.
Still, St Andrew’s eventually took control to win comfortably 13-2 to set up a date with Selborne in the last four.
They found far tougher opposition in the KuGompo City crew and had to tough out a hard 6-4 win.
That saw them through to the final against Glenwood House, who had beaten Grey High on penalties in their semifinal.
In another tightly contested game, St Andrew’s held on for the win to lift the title for the second time, after also winning in 2024.
In the girls’ competition, Clarendon had to overcome some adversity in the early rounds to go all the way.
It was a far from smooth ride for coach Hannah Muller’s team, who finished the group stage in third place behind DSG from Makhanda and Pearson.
They, however, peaked at the right time, playing smart, enterprising water polo in the knockout rounds.
In the quarterfinals, Clarendon came up against KuGompo City rivals Stirling and outmuscled them to register an 8-5 victory.
They faced Glenwood House for a place in the final and had a more convincing victory of 8-3.
In a nervy final, Clarendon held on for a 6-4 win over Pearson to claim their maiden Woodridge Stayers’ title after their third-place finish last year. – SuperSportschools.com
