St Joseph’s College Echuca students Nixon Lyle and Charlie Gotch have taken out the division three team snowboard giant slalom at the Victorian Interschools Snowsports Championships on August 24.
The pair won the event with a combined time of two hours, 17.90 minutes, calculated across two runs for each competitor, over the course at Mt Buller.
The St Joseph’s squadron beat out schools from all across the state, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact Lyle and Gotch competed as a duo.
The event allowed for three participants on a team with a trio’s final score calculated by the best two results from each of the two runs, meaning schools competing in a team of three have more opportunities to score an optimal time.
Lyle’s 30.62 first run was the fastest single run in the team’s event, and also helped earned him fifth overall in the individual event.
They have progressed to the national championships, currently ongoing in Perisher, where they will compete against schools from across Australia.
Lyle’s eighth-place finish in the snowboard cross has also earned him a spot in the national championships, while the pairing of Gotch and Lyle managed seventh in this event as a team.
St Joseph’s skier Melanie Francis also competed at the Victorian Interschools championship, representing the region in the alpine giant slalom and ski cross events.