By Adrian Ceddia
HEATHDALE Christian College had cause for a double celebration as its handball and cycling teams were presented with state championships last week.
The college won the state handball title less than two weeks ago, while the triumphant cyclists were presented with their Victorian trophy on Friday after winning the championship last year.
Heathdale has enjoyed a stranglehold on handball at the state championships since the late 1990s, and came into this year’s competition expecting another encouraging result.
In 2001 and 2002, the college was crowned national champion and runner-up in successive years.
There was more drama in this year’s competition, but the result was the same nevertheless.
Heathdale came into the tournament needing to win all three of its preliminary matches to qualify for the final.
It only won two out of the three, but drew the other match and advanced thanks to a superior goal difference.
In the first match of the tournament, against Wantirna, Heathdale was kept to a 14-all draw, leaving the competition wide open. The team then backed up with a comprehensive nine-goal win over St Monica’s, though Wantirna also won by the same margin in its second round encounter.
Heathdale needed to eclipse Wantirna on goal difference in the last of the preliminary matches – a task it completed with ease following a 27-goal thrashing of Mt Hira.
Standing in the way of state glory was Epping Secondary College, which remained undefeated in the opening three rounds and came into the match as favourite.
Heathdale got off to a promising start, leading by four goals at half-time before an inspiring finish saw it stride to the line to win 21-12. “They produced their best game for the end, I think,” Heathdale Christian College physical education teacher Jim Graham said.
The college had extra reason to celebrate last week when it was presented with the winning state championship cycling trophy from the 2005 season.
Representatives from Cycle Sport Victoria were also on hand to present cycling jerseys in recognition of the college scoring the highest tally of points.
Heathdale was the best-performed school at the North West Metro Zone Championships, scoring a combined total of 64 points, 22 ahead of Salesian College.
The strong result saw 12 of the school’s students qualify for the final, held in Carlton, and enough points were accumulated to name the school state champion.
Kendelle Hodges won her race in brilliant fashion to pick up 20 valuable points in the final, while Maddison Ippolitio finished third in her race.
