Blue Mountain College to fore at nationals

Stark shines
Blue Mountain College had two pupils who excelled at the New Zealand secondary schools athletics in December.

Gavin Stark (16) was third of 53 competitors in the senior boys 100m, running 11.08sec. In his first competitive race in the open 300m hurdles he ran an outstanding 40.27sec, securing the silver medal.

Year 9 pupil Yvonne van Baarle threw 31.95m to claim silver in the junior girls section. She then competed in the 13-year-old section at the Colgate Games in Invercargill in January. Yvonne jumped 5.11m in the long jump and threw 10.07m in the shot put, winning gold medals in both events. She was also in the 4 x 100m girls under-14 relay team that won a bronze medal.

Mt Aspiring update
Dylan Bradley and Rob Harper competed in the New Zealand disc golf championships in Auckland recently. Dylan placed first and Rob second in the under-18 male section.

Morgan Allen and Cedric Stefani placed third overall in the Southland tennis junior (boys 14s) open doubles.

Canoeist Jessica Bailey returned from the Australian Youth Olympics in which she won a silver medal in the K1 women's race.

Finn Bilous has spent the past eight weeks racing in the USASA freeskiing series, taking gold in the halfpipe and slopestyle (13-15yrs) in Breckenridge, Colorado. He leads the Rocky Mountain series for slopestyle and is in second place in the halfpipe.

The final race in the New Zealand mountain bike cup series was held in Auckland. Janus Staufenberg, Alex Young, Luke Wright and Julius Staufenberg finished first, second, third and fourth respectively in the under-15 boys race. Paul Wright was second in the under-17 race.

The Aspiring athletes club had great success at the Colgate Games in Invercargill in January. Eight junior Wanaka athletes joined 800 athletes from all over New Zealand and Australia in the event. Oliver Jarvie won a bronze medal in the 14-year-old boys 100m hurdles, Ned Williams-Holloway claiming bronze in the 13-year-old boys 100m hurdles and Layne Opetaia won silver in the boys age 13 high jump.

New turf at Toko
Tokomairiro High School has bought a large quantity of artificial turf from Otago hockey, which is replacing one of its turfs to meet international standards. A community working bee was held in December, with about 40 volunteers helping to lay the turf. The area covered is equivalent to three netball courts and will be marked with netball, tennis and hockey lines.

Last year, Tokomairiro fielded a hockey team in the Dunedin competition for the first time in many years. The new turf will provide a great training area for this sport and many others as it is an all-weather surface.

The project was made possible by the generous support of local businesses which transported the five truckloads of underlay and turf to Milton, and which also provided machinery on the day. The project had also been funded from the Tokomairiro student council and the Tokomairiro PTA.

Bayfield numbers strong
Bayfield High School participation numbers are up on last year. So far, Bayfield has teams entered in futsal, touch, volleyball, water polo and cricket. Lessons for surfing are about to start as well as have-a-go days for squash and archery.

Bayfield year 10 volleyball boys finished as the top Dunedin team at the South Island championships in Blenheim, and the seniors have been preparing for the nationals this year in Palmerston North.

In sailing, Sharna Verhof and Emma Rogers-Bromley finished 13th in the open women's Sunburst class. They also claimed the cup for the top under-20 team as well as the top secondary school team in the country.

Success at Cromwell
Nikayla Bolch had success at the Otago-Canterbury swimming championships. She won gold in the 100m breaststroke, silver in the 50m breaststroke, and bronze in the 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke. Nikalya also had 13 personal-best times, and two more qualifying times for the national championships. She now has six swims in Wellington for the national age-group championships, as well as being included in two club relays.

At the same event, Jack Harrison won the boys 15 and 16 200m backstroke, and claimed bronze in the 50m backstroke. Jack also heads to Wellington for the national age-group championships.

David Beck participated in the Special Olympics Otago regional games in December. He won gold in each of his events: 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 100m freestyle relay and 100m medley relay.

Cromwell College had six pupils competing in the New Zealand schools athletics in Dunedin in December. Larissa Van der Hoeff gained her first national title in the AWD ID 400m with a record-breaking time of 1min 22.21sec. She was also second in both the 200m and the javelin.

Otago Boys' tour of Africa
South Africa, a land of game parks, circling sharks and cricket schools, recently became home to 14 OBHS cricketers and their parents.

More than a year of planning, preparation and fundraising paid off when the group took the long flight from Sydney to Johannesburg. Within 36 hours, the group had been billeted, visited the Johannesburg zoo, practised at altitude, visited the sombre apartheid museum, and won a game against Northcliff High School by 110 runs.

The next day involved a short bus trip to Pretoria and a game against St Albans College resulting in a last-ball win to the home side in what would be the only loss for Otago Boys' on tour.

An afternoon outing to a unique resort proved a huge contrast to the natural wilderness of the game reserve the day before. Sun City has everything to offer visitors from international golf courses to man-made beaches and waterslides. The team then travelled to Cape Town which was to be the team's base for the second week of the tour.

Sunday proved to be a day of huge contrast. From the luxury of a waterfront hotel, the team travelled a short distance to the township of Langa - a government-planned project to house hundreds of thousands of black Africans - where a twenty/20 game was won.

A day-night game against Bishops Diocesan College followed. The win by 85 runs featured a rare hat trick off the first three balls of the innings by opening bowler Sam Angus, who finished with six for 17 off nine overs.

Two days of rest and recreation included a boat trip to Robben Island, the former prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and a gondola ride to Table Mountain. Game five against Bergvliet High School resulted in a comfortable win after some very good bowling (five for 36) by Declan Sua, and equally sound batting under lights by Jarryd Taig (36 not out) and Taine Bayly (53 not out).

Queen's on podium
Queen's High School pupil Judah Kelly (year 10) competed in the national inline speed skating championships during the holidays. The outdoor event was in Palmerston North and the indoor event at the Wanganui Jubilee Stadium. Judah competed in 14 events in total and came away with 11 national titles and five national records. She was also presented with nine trophies, including the most outstanding performance.

Nine Queen's pupils competed in the national secondary schools athletics championships in Dunedin in December. Christina Ashton won the 80m junior girls hurdles. Kirsten Reid won the AWD 100m, 200m, 400m (record) and high jump. Maddy Witchell won the AWD 100m, 200m and long jump (record). Shontelle Evans placed second in the 100m.

Year 13 pupil Gabby Scott competed in the North Island surf rescue championships in December. She won a gold medal in the women's mass rescue and silver medals in the under-21 single rescue and the premier mass rescue.

Medals for Columba
Columba College athletes won six medals at the New Zealand secondary schools athletics championships. Sian English claimed silver in the senior girls road race and was selected in the New Zealand secondary schools athletics team. Maddy Spence won bronze in the junior 80m hurdles. The senior 4 x 100m relay team of Analise Cowie, Laura Saville, Zoey Flockton and Maddy Spence won a silver medal, running a slick 49.61sec.

The Columba College sports council welcomed eight new members at the annual meeting. An initiative for the Sports Council in 2013 is before-school Zumba classes. A total of 75 pupils participated in and enjoyed the classes. Elite fitness sessions will also be starting before school.

Grace Carruthers, Olivia Wilson and Phoebe Steele have been selected in the Otago under-21 women's touch team. These three girls were also selected in the Otago under-17 team and the South Island under-17 tournament team. Kate Fowler and Georgie Wood were also selected in the Otago under-17 team. The under-17 team won the South Island tournament and will compete at the national tournament in Tauranga. Phoebe is captain of this team. Emma Wylie was selected in the Otago under-15 team and the Otago mixed team.

Rose Johnston was selected in the Otago under-21 women's cricket team.

These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA). Contact Nicki Paterson, Otago Regional Sports Director, PO Box 6303, Dunedin. Email: nicki@osssa.org.nz