MSA Alumni WE 290123

Our MSA Past and Present students have been hard at it over the summer months with some amazing results across all sports.  Here are some of their efforts.

Cycling

Congratulations to MSA Alumni Lucas Plapp on winning his 2nd consecutive National road title after powering clear of his rivals in a thrilling contest in Ballarat.  Lucas seemed to be struggling midway through the race but found his second wind to power home past Simon Clarke and Michael Matthews.  The win means Lucas becomes only the second rider to win consecutive National Titles in the Road Race.

Lucas now heads back to Europe to prepare for a big season ahead with his professional team Ineos Grenadiers.

Football/Soccer

In matches over the weekend here are how our A-league Men and women went.

Rhys Bozinovski came on for Western United in the 79th min to help his team take a 2 all draw against Macarthur.

Matty Bozinovski started for the Melbourne Victory who lost 2-1 to Sydney United.

Naomi Thomas Chinnama helped Melbourne City take a 1-0 win over Adelaide United.

Aimee Medwin started in Western United’s 5-0 defeat of Canberra.

Polly Doran’s Crystal Palace was knocked out of the 4th round of the FA Women’s Cup in a 3-0 loss to Durham.

Connor Metcalfe started for FC St Pauli in their 1-0 win over Nurnberg.  Connor was subbed off at the 59 minute.

Also congratulations to current Year 9 Student athlete Olivia Nicolazzo who was identified as one of the best performers at the Futsal Nationals over the summer.

Athletics

Celeste Mucci ran a 12.90 (Wind Assisted) 100m in her first race of the year in Canberra winning the ACT Open Championship. It was Celeste’s first time under 13 seconds.

Volleyball

Luella Greer and her doubles partner came 3rd in U23 National Beach Volleyball competition over summer in Newcastle which is amazing off the back of a very difficult 2022. She has just returned from the AIS where she took part in a beach volleyball training camp and tournament.

Para Table Tennis

MSA Alumni Nathan Pellissier has been named a co-captain of the National Para Squad for a third year in 2023.

Nathan will Co-Captain with Lina Lei for the next 12 months using their wealth of experience to lead the Australian National Para Team.  2023 is set to be another big year for Nathan with 2023 being the qualification year for the 2024 Paralympic Games

Nathan telling tabletennis.org.au that he is proud to be named a leader of his country’s team again.  “I’m really looking forward to leading this team alongside Lina again in 2023,” he said.

“We have built a really strong foundation leading into this year, so it’s really exciting to see what the team can achieve”

Tennis

Bridget Mihulka played in the Australian Open junior qualifying event held in Traralgon.  Bridget lost to her Chinese opponent in 3 sets.  Bridget has a WTO ranking which reached 930 a couple of weeks ago.

Meanwhile Diordan Macababbad showed tremendous resilience to play though a tournament in New Zealand with a fractured foot.  While he didn’t win the tournament he has now improved his ITF world ranking to 670 in the world.

Cricket

Former MSA Cricket athlete Farzan Chowna averaged 53.5 during the U19 National Cricket tournament hitting a top score of 111 against Queensland Country.

Victorian state player Fergus O’Neill has taken 10 wickets for the Bushrangers in his debut year, playing 6 Sheffield Shield matches so far this summer, while current year 11 student Bailey Toseland bowled well at the U17 National tournament. Former Maribyrnong College student Tom Rodgers had a solid season for the Melbourne Stars in BBL 12.

Don Deeble Sports Star Award

The Sunshine and Western Region Sports Club presented their Don Deeble Sports Star Award during the Holidays, and once again MSA Students rose to the top

This night is a celebration of the Don Deeble Rising Star Award (monthly) recipients as they are acknowledged for their outstanding sporting performances throughout 2022.

Eight MSA student-athletes were finalists, and our congratulations to Louise Baliton (Golf) who was announced as the 2022 Don Deeble Rising Sports Star.  

The following MSA student-athletes also received awards:

Don Deeble Encouragement Awards:

Charlotte Baskaran (AFL)

Jayden Kim (Baseball)

Om Neelam (Badminton)

Louise received $5,000 for being named the winner for the 2022 award, after being selected from the 10 monthly nominees.

Baliton telling Star Weekly that winning the overall award had come as a big shock.

“It’s very exciting,” she said “I’m shocked honestly.

“It’s just a big opportunity for me and I’m so grateful for all the support that I’ve gotten from friends and family, especially from everyone that is involved from this Don Deeble award.”

Louise said when she was first nominated it was exciting, as it was another opportunity to get her foot in the door and get her name out there.

MSA Alumni WE 111222

Another good week for our MSA alumni here at home and abroad.  Check out what they have done.

A-League

Congratulations to Matt Bozinovski on his debut for the Melbourne Victory.  Matt came onto the ground in the 71st minute in Victory’s 1-0 win over Macarther FC. 

Rhys Bozinovski started in Western United’s 2-1 loss to Perth Glory.

A-League Women

Naomi Thomas Chinnama played for Melbourne City in their 5-1 win over Newcastle Jets

MelindaJ Barbieri started for Adelaide United in their 1-0 win over Western Sydney

Badminton

Congratulations to Jacob Schueler and Gronya Somerville who have been selected in the Australian team for the 2023 Oceania Mixed teams championships in New Zealand next February.  Also selected for the Junior tournament the week before is Year 9 MSA Student Shrey Dhand

NCAA Football

Congratulations to MSA Alumni Adam Korsak capped off his illustrious college football career with a well-deserved honour.  The greatest punter in Rutgers football 153 year history was recognized as the best punter in the nation last week when he was named the winner of the 2022 Ray Guy Award. Adam became the first Scarlet Knight to earn a major national award.

Korsak leads the NCAA record books in three categories: career punts (349), career punting yards (15,318) and net punting yards in a season (45.25 in 2021). In 2022, he ranked third nationally in punts (75), led the Big Ten in fair catches (35), pinned 32 kicks inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and gave up -11 return yards on the season. Korsak never had a punt blocked in his career, and at one point, kicked 150 consecutive punts — a stretch spanning four seasons — without giving up a touchback.