Luke Plapp claims 3rd National title

When Luke Plapp was a student at Maribyrnong Sports Academy his vision was quite clear, become a World Champion.  Since leaving MSA and entering the professional ranks of the cycling world, Luke has become so much closer to achieving that dream.

Luke started at Maribyrnong Sports Academy in 2015 as a year 9 student and came to the school under the cricket program.   He began cycling at the age of 12 to help him stay fit during the Football and Cricket seasons, and to also ride with his dad on the Sunday morning coffee run.

Strength and Conditioning coach at MSA Todd Carlon worked daily with Luke during his 3 years at the college and says he has never seen the leg strength that Luke displayed by any junior. “Luke's greatest advantage was his want to do more work than everyone else. Luke used to have a quote that he would use to motivate himself saying "Send It"“

Luke deferred his VCE year in 2018 to concentrate on the Junior World Championships, a decision which proved to be very fruitful.  Luke won the Junior World Championship in both the points race and the Madison, and took silver in the Time Trial.  This was the breakout year that was about to propel Luke into the stratosphere.

In 2020 he became the U23 National Time Trial champion and followed that up the following year by winning the open National Time Trial. In 2021 Luke was a part of the Australian Cycling Team participating at the Tokyo Olympics in the Team Pursuit winning a Bronze medal.  In 2022 he was signed as a fulltime rider to the Professional team Ineos Grenadiers.

Luke has now changed professional teams and has signed for the Australian UCI WorldTeam, Team Jayco – AlUla.  We look forward to keeping an eye on Luke’s performance on the World tour and we hope he will once again make his presence felt in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The Score 070224

We start off the new year with a look at some of the amazing performances over the summer break. 

Cycling

Luke Plapp has won his third consecutive National Road Race title.  Luke now joins a select few riders who have win the National title 3 or more times.  It was also Luke’s first win for his new professional team Jayco AlUla.

Plapp and teammate Chris Harper won in a way never seen before over 21 editions of the race in Ballarat, a teammate one-two finish, with Harper crossing the line together with Plapp for the silver medal, 103-kilometres after the two went it alone at the front of the race.

As the two cruised down the final straight celebrating in tandem, it was Harper who drifted behind Plapp, allowing the two-time defending champion to become the fourth Australian to win a trifecta of elite road race national championships.

Golf

Steph Bunque finished at 4 over in the Victorian Open played at 13th Beach Golf Course.  Steph started the 4-day tournament 2 under after a solid 70 on the first day but a day 2 score of 80 sent her down the leader board.  Steph showed great resilience to recover on the final two days with a 71 and 72 finishing 16 shots off the winner.

Seabill Leong also competed in the Vic Open as a 15yo amateur after winning the Victorian Ladies Order of Merit.  Seabill finished 9 over after the first 2 rounds and missed the cut.

Cricket

Fergus O’Neil had a fantastic summer finishing with a major in at the Australian Cricket Awards.  Fergus took out the Young Cricketer of the year award, played the BBL Season with the Renegades and capped it off the season by taking 5 wickets for the Bushrangers in their Shield Match against South Australia.  Tom Rogers also played in the BBL Competition with the Stars as an opening bat.

Congratulations to Pearl Kapoor and Mia Gordan who played for the Vic Metro Under 16 Girls cricket team over the summer break.  The team won the National Championships.  Mia won the MVP for the tournament while Pearl was the Vice Captain of the team.

Baseball

Robinson Smith and Jayden Kim were part of the Gold Medal winning team at the Baseball Australia National Youth Championships claiming the U18 title.  Victoria defeated WA 5-4 in the final game to win the title with Robinson catching the final out of his own pitching.  Both player have also been selected in the Australian U18 squad to play a series of games in America in September and October.

Soccer 

Connor Metcalfe has been playing for the Socceroos over the past few weeks in the Asian Cup.  Australia was knocked out in the quarter final stage losing to Sth Korea 2-1.  It was Connor’s first major tournament with the Men’s national team.

Hockey

Connor Otterbach and Cooper Burns have made it onto the squad of 19 for the National Development Hockey Squad.  The Men’s National Development Squad (NDS) has expanded for 2024 with four more spots added in preparation for what will be a huge year, headlined by the Olympic Games in Paris.

Jayden Kim becomes a Pirate

Year 10 MSA Student Athlete Jayden Kim has signed a Major League Baseball contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates after impressing again at the U18 World Cup.  

Jayden arrived at Maribyrnong Sports Academy 2 years ago, after living the first 14 years of his life in Sth Korea.  Jayden's father David who had a 7 year professional baseball career in Sth Korea, sourced out MSA for his son due to its ability to have a have a focus on sport as well as education.

Since Jayden has been at MSA he has made two Australian U18 World Cup teams, and has been a strong performer for Victoria in the National Youth Championships.  Jayden praising MSA for the role it has played in his career. " Maribyrnong was very good for me, as it tought me the disciplne of getting up at 6am two mornings a week for training.  It basically gave me the experience that I would have had at a college."

“From the very beginning of my baseball journey, my goal was always to become a professional baseball player,” says Kim. “I have worked hard towards achieving my dream and as I got older i had more scouts and teams looking at me, it then made me think that my dream could come true.”

Jayden begins his Professional Baseball Career in the Dominican Republic in February.  "I will play around 70 games of rookie ball in the Dominican Republic and hopefully impress enough to then start working my way through the minor leagues."

Jayden's now joins rare company as one of just 26 Australians who currently possess an MLB-affiliated contract. Former MSA and Maribyrnong College student Declan Speirs is also in the Dominican Republic having signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.