09/04/2026
It was another day of ‘learning to play and playing to learn’, with mostly perfect weather and a fantastic venue, as 517 students competed in the Riverland Sapsasa Track & Field Carnival at Loxton High School! The students competed hard too, but the sportsmanship was even better than the effort.
This year we had an expanded program:
💪🏽Standalone multiclass events were held for the first time in recent history with 10 students running the 100m in front of a large cheering crowd an absolute highlight.
👟9 year olds also had their own events for the first time, competing in a come and try environment with no ribbons or records. There were great numbers in these events; these students will be rearing to go as 10 year olds next year.
Our winners for the day were:
🏆Loxton Lutheran School - Large School Shield Winners - With a big score of 458 they finished ahead of Waikerie PS, who have been in the top 2 or 3 for the last few years, and Loxton PS, who have won the last 13 large school shields.
🏆Cobdogla - Medium School Winners for the 2nd year in a row with 231 points, 40 more than last year’s tally. Barmera were just 17 points behind.
🏆Ramco PS - Small School Shield Winners for the 4th year in a row with 124 points.
🏆Glossop – Most Improved Shield winners – Glossop did not have any competitors in 2025, so to bring a crew and win this award was a huge effort! St Joseph’s Renmark were 2nd in the improvement tally.
We also had three records on the day. Well done to:
🏅Chloe Golding (Waikerie) – 12F 1500m - Chloe now holds all 3 1500m age group records, her time of 5:43 beating Emy Ahmed’s 2023 mark of 5:54.36.
🏅Zac Liebich (Waikerie) – 12M 1500m - Zac clocked the very impressive time of 5:26.81, beating Mitchell Johnson’s 5:28 from 2021. Zac had to leave straight after to head to a road cycling racing event in Victoria!
🏅Maya Uren (Loxton Lutheran) – 10F Long Jump – Maya has got springs in her legs, jumping 3.55 metres, hitting the sand 11cm ahead of Sasha Hopkins’ record from 2018
Some other notable mentions go to the below students, who all gained the maximum possible 30 points (10 per first placing) in individual events:
🥇🥇🥇Maya Uren (Loxton Lutheran) – 1st in 11F Long Jump, 100m & 200m
🥇🥇🥇Zara Bullock (Loxton) – 1st in 11F 200m, 800m & 1500m
🥇🥇🥇Chloe Golding (Waikerie) – 1st in 11F 1500m, 800m & 200m
There were a number of other students who finished in the top 3 for all their events! All results are available at rss.resultshq.com.au, whilst photos and further information on the day will be posted on the Riverland School Sport page.
A Riverland team will be selected by our athletics panel, with details on training to come in term 2 in the lead up to the state championships on Thursday, September 3 at Adelaide Athletics Stadium.
Many thanks for this event must go out to the following people:
• Loxton High School, led by Sport Coordinator Skye Beauchamp, who along with staff and students did a massive amount of work to get the venue sorted for us, including setting up all equipment needed. This was a double set up this year, as we were not able to back the event on to the high schools’ carnival. They were there packing up at the end of the day too, easing the load on our officials, and most of it was done before our volunteers got a chance to even ask what was next!
• Anne-Marie Riley, who coordinated many aspects of the event, including the scoring & information for officials.
• Christine, Chris & Results HQ, along with Danielle Buzza & Richard Coote at the finish line with stellar help as well from Greg Platt, Greg Platt and a big crew of Loxton High School students
• Berri-Barmera Council, who allowed us to use their picket fence for the event. It made for a perfect barrier between the track and school area, and looked great!. Thanks to Greg Platt for collecting it, and Berri Regional Secondary College for the trailer loan.
• Marty Barber, Carol Morris (marshals) & Mac Grummett (starter). It can be a long day constantly keeping things flowing, but we managed to get every block of track events started on time, finishing the day early enough for everyone to stay for presentations.
• Ellie Gray and her year 12 Loxton High School Sport Studies Class, who were the officials at most field events and did such a professional job. In a bonus this forms a part of their assessment for the subject. Thanks also to Ellie and Skye Beauchamp for roaming around and helping sort any issues or assistance needed at the field events.,
• All of the other officials and helpers! There are too many to mention, and they include parents, school staff members and community volunteers such as Rita Modlinski and Judith Howie (announcers) and Nadine Hennig (recorders/scorers), along with those already mentioned. Without these people an event like today would not be possible.
• Riverland Media for their coverage
• Meditactix, who looked after all of our first aid requirements
• All our sponsors, with special mentions to:
o Nippy’s, who have a long association with this event and had Matthew attend to present awards.
o Occasion Event Management, whose marquees the schools took shelter under during the day! In an extra bit of help, the marquees stayed up for the 2 weeks between the RSSA Sports Day and this carnival, with Occasions only charging the one fee to be split between the two events.
o Berri Hotel, who provided free accommodation for our travelling officials
o Tri State Graphics, who made all the ribbons we gave out and give a discount as part of their sponsorship!
o Little Miss Daisy, who in addition to catering for the huge crowd, provided free food and drink for our officials as part of their sponsorship.
• All of the students, whose enthusiasm and efforts are what the day is all about and the staff for organsing and training them.
• Sorry if anyone has been forgotten, but great work all. Your efforts, knowledge and assistance are greatly appreciated.
