A super no. 7 for Clarendon and Selborne at Top Schools Squash Tournament
Clarendon High School for Girls and Selborne College, both from East London, won the girls’ and boys’ titles for a seventh time each at the 40th annual Top Schools Squash Tournament. hosted at Epworth School, in Pietermaritzburg, over the weekend.
At the event, the massive contribution of the doyen of girls’ squash in South Africa, Sally White, who has been a part of the Top Schools Tournament since its start, was also recognised.
SA Schools’ Squash presented White with a Meritorious Service certificate, which read: “SA Schools’ Squash acknowledges with grateful thanks, forty years of highly commendable, dedicated and loyal service to SA Schools’ squash, as pioneer and custodian of the SA Top Schools’ Squash Tournament.”
Under White’s tutelage, Epworth has long been one of the leading squash-playing schools in the country and has won the Top Schools title an eye-popping 21 times, including nine times in succession between 1991 and 1999.
In recognition of her outstanding service to Epworth’s squash programme, the school’s squash courts were renamed the Sally White Squash Courts.
On court, the girls’ defending champion, Clarendon High School for Girls, was ever so slightly less dominant than when they won the 2024 Top Schools title, but they were, nonetheless, the far and away the class of the field as they powered their way to a seventh Top Schools title.
Clarendon’s toughest challenge came from the hosts, but they beat Epworth 15-7 in their group clash before repeating that result in the cross-pool playoff.
Epworth finished second in Section 2 behind the East London school, but then handily dealt with the Section 1 winner, Midstream College, beating the 2024 runner-up 16-6 to move up one position from their third place finish of last year.
Midstream dominated Section 1, recording convincing wins over Eunice, Paarl Gimnasium, and Rustenburg Girls’ High, with Bloemfontein’s Eunice going on to finish in fourth place.
In the boys’ competition, the 2024 champion, Hoërskool Zwartkop, missed out on qualification for the Top Schools tournament, with Die Hoërskool Menlopark, succeeding them as the champion of Northern Gauteng. Menlo did a good job, but they had to settle for fifth place overall.
It was, instead, Selborne College, one of the traditional powers, who went all the way, comfortably winning all of their matches. There was little doubt that the East London school was the team to beat.
With their seventh title, Selborne is second only to Pretoria Boys High‘s nine titles in the history of the Top Schools event.
While Selborne winning the tournament was not unexpected, the runner-up was a surprise, with Maritzburg College achieving the school’s best-ever finish at the Top Schools Tournament.
After finishing in a comfortable second place to Selborne in Section 1, College won against Grey High and St Andrew’s School, two of the other traditional powers, in the cross-pool playoffs to end in the silver medal position.
Grey High, the winner of Section 2, took third place, with St Andrew’s School in fourth.
RESULTS
GIRLS
Section 1
Midstream 17-4 Eunice
Midstream 18-3 Paarl Gimnasium
Midstream 20-1 Rustenburg Girls’ High
Eunice 4-17 Midstream
Eunice 18-5 Paarl Gimnasium
Eunice 14-7 Rustenburg Girls’ High
Paarl Gimnasium 3-18 Midstream
Paarl Gimnasium 5-18 Eunice
Paarl Gimnasium 6-14 Rustenburg Girls’ High
Rustenburg Girls’ High 1-20 Midstream
Rustenburg Girls’ High 7-14 Eunice
Rustenburg Girls’ High 14-6 Paarl Gimnasium
Section 2
Clarendon 15-7 Epworth
Clarendon 20-1 St Mary’s Waverley
Clarendon 20-0 Collegiate
Epworth 7-15 Clarendon
Epworth 20-0 St Mary’s Waverley
Epworth 20-0 Collegiate
St Mary’s Waverley 1-20 Clarendon
St Mary’s Waverley 0-20 Epworth
St Mary’s Waverley 19-6 Collegiate
Collegiate 0-20 Clarendon
Collegiate 0-20 Epworth
Collegiate 6-19 St Mary’s Waverley
Cross-Pool (1-4)
Clarendon (1st)
Clarendon 17-5 Midstream
Clarendon 20-1 Eunice
Clarendon 15-7 Epworth
Epworth (2nd)
Epworth 16-6 Midstream
Epworth 7-15 Clarendon
Epworth 16-6 Eunice
Midstream College (3rd)
Midstream 5-17 Clarendon
Midstream 17-4 Eunice
Midstream 6-16 Epworth
Eunice High (4th)
Eunice 4-17 Midstream
Eunice 1-20 Clarendon
Eunice 6-16 Epworth
Cross-Pool (5-8)
St Mary’s (5th)
St Mary’s Waverley 16-11 Rustenburg Girls’ High
St Mary’s Waverley 19-5 Paarl Gimnasium
St Mary’s Waverley 19-6 Collegiate
Rustenburg Girls’ High (6th)
Rustenburg Girls’ High 11-16 St Mary’s Waverley
Rustenburg Girls’ High 14-6 Paarl Gimnasium
Rustenburg Girls’ High 18-7 Collegiate
Collegiate Girls’ High (7th)
Collegiate 7-18 Rustenburg Girls’ High
Collegiate 6-19 St Mary’s Waverley
Collegiate 14-9 Paarl Gimnasium
Paarl Gimnasium (8th)
Paarl Gimnasium 6-14 Rustenburg Girls’ High
Paarl Gimnasium 5-19 St Mary’s Waverley
Paarl Gimnasium 9-14 Collegiate
BOYS
Section 1
Selborne 18-6 Maritzburg College
Selborne 18-3 Rondebosch
Selborne 20-0 Strand
Maritzburg College 6-18 Selborne
Maritzburg College 19-4 Rondebosch
Maritzburg College 20-0 Strand
Rondebosch 3-18 Selborne
Rondebosch 4-19 Maritzburg College
Rondebosch 16-6 Strand
Strand 0-20 Selborne
Strand 0-20 Maritzburg College
Strand 6-16 Rondebosch
Section 2
Grey High 17-6 St Andrew’s School
Grey High 20-2 Menlopark
Grey High 20-0 St John’s
St Andrew’s School 6-17 Grey High
St Andrew’s School 15-6 Menlopark
St Andrew’s School 20-3 St John’s
Menlopark 2-20 Grey High
Menlopark 6-15 St Andrew’s School
Menlopark 19-3 St John’s
Cross-Pool (1-4)
Selborne College (1st)
Selborne 15-8 Grey High
Selborne 18-6 Maritzburg College
Selborne 20-1 St Andrew’s School
Maritzburg College (2nd)
Maritzburg College 6-18 Selborne
Maritzburg College 17-8 Grey High
Maritzburg College 14-7 St Andrew’s School
Grey High School (3rd)
Grey High 8-15 Selborne
Grey High 8-17 Maritzburg College
Grey High 17-6 St Andrew’s School
St Andrew’s School (4th)
St Andrew’s School 1-20 Selborne
St Andrew’s School 6-17 Grey High
St Andrew’s School 7-14 Maritzburg College
Cross Pool (5-8)
Die Hoërskool Menlopark (5th)
Menlopark 17-4 Rondebosch
Menlopark 18-5 Strand
Menlopark 19-3 St John’s
Rondebosch Boys’ High (6th)
Rondebosch 4-17 Menlopark
Rondebosch 16-6 Strand
Rondebosch 15-10 St John’s
St John’s College (7th)
St John’s 3-19 Menlopark
St John’s 10-15 Rondebosch
St John’s 16-6 Strand
Hoërskool Strand (8th)
Strand 6-16 Rondebosch
Strand 5-18 Menlopark
Strand 6-16 St John’s
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