Clarendon, Zwartkop crowned Top Schools squash champs

East London school Clarendon and Zwartkop High were crowned the national girls’ and boys’ champions when the annual Top Schools squash tournament was played in Maritzburg recently.

Clarendon won the title for the second time in three years, while Centurion outfit Zwartkop took their second title in a row.

The East London girls blew through their competition in section one, dropping only three games while winning 20 in their matches against St Anne’s, St Mary’s Waverley and Westerford.

They were joined in the top four by St Mary’s, who defeated St Anne’s 17-10 in the key tie of the group.

Section two belonged to Midstream College, the defending champions, who defeated Epworth, Eunice and Paarl Gymnasium.

They were, though, given a hard run by Epworth before eventually winning 15-9.

Claredon recorded a 16-8 win when the section winners met and repeated that result against Epworth, while also outplaying St Mary’s.

Midstream got the better of Epworth to secure second spot, with the Maritzburg girls finishing third and St Mary’s fourth.

Zwartkop faced Michaelhouse, Selborne and Bishops in section one of the boys' competition and had few problems cruising to top spot, dropping only five games in their three victories.

Selborne, one of the top squash schools in the country, defeated Michaelhouse 17-8 in their key fixture to finish second.

Section two was much more tightly contested, but KES came out on top, ahead of St Andrew’s School, Midstream and Maritzburg College.

St Andrew’s comfortably secured second place with wins over Maritzburg College and Midstream.

Zwarries showed their superiority when they downed KES 17-4 in the cross-pool playoffs, which was as close as anyone got to beating them.

KES, in turn, beat St Andrew’s School and Selborne, while Saints beat Selborne 16-10 in a hard-fought tie to claim third place. — SuperSportSchools.com