East Otago curling
After a successful South Island secondary schools championships in which it came fourth, the East Otago High School curling team decided to enter the national championships.
This young team, made up of year 11 pupils Cameron Bartrum and Liam McKenzie and year 10 pupils Josh Ollerenshaw and Bob Martin, did not have a lot of curling experience.
Cameron had been curling for two years but Josh and Bob had only given it a go in the July school holidays and Liam had never done curling before.
Naseby curling identity Sam Inder offered to coach the boys for this event.
A month later, the East Otago boys were playing Maniototo in the final of the national championships.
They won this game, and now hold the title of New Zealand curling champions.
Logan Park High School
Tayla Ward has been selected for the New Zealand junior women's luge team for world cup events in Italy, Germany and Austria.
At the New Zealand rhythmic gymnastics championships, Stephanie Devereux was first in clubs level 7 and third in the hoop.
At the national taekwondo championships in September, Lily Menzies won a gold medal in the pairs and a silver medal in the teams event.
At the South Island diving championships recently, Ben Deaker won the 1m and 3m springboard. He came third overall and is competing in the New Zealand championships next year.
In football, during the holidays, Joseph Araya competed with the Otago 13th grade team at the Queenstown tournament. Solomon Liesbeth played for the 15th grade team in Timaru.
Former pupil Rafaela Rubas has been awarded a hockey scholarship to the University of North Carolina in the United States, beginning in 2015.
Punn Ruayruen has been competing with the Otago under-15 badminton team in Invercargill this month.
St Hilda's success
Annabel Evans has been selected to play for the Otago women's golf team at the South Island interprovincial this month. This is a wonderful achievement as Annabel is only in year 9.
The following girls have recently represented Football South in representative teams: 14th grade, Olivia O'Neill, Kate Higham, Lili Clouston-Cain and Georgia Mitchell; 17th grade, Beth Fitchett, Jess Harwood and Holly Wright.
The St Hilda's basketball team competed at the national secondary schools championships. The first day featured tough losses to eventual semifinalist Westlake Girls' and St Peter's. On the second day, St Hilda's recorded its first win, over Massey, followed by a win over Hutt Valley Girls' with some excellent fast breaks and shooting. After losing to Western Heights, the team finished fourth in its group and crossed over against Hamilton Girls'. It used its fast break to build a lead as Zoe Richards ran the floor for 27 points. The result was a 20-point win and guaranteed a place in the top 12. St Hilda's then played Christchurch Girls', a team it has never beaten. The team played its best game of the tournament, pushing the tempo and locking down the opposing guards on defence for a double-digit win. The playoff for ninth and 10th, against Fraser, was a tense affair as neither team could pull away and the game was tied with 3min to go. A couple of timely baskets and defensive stops pushed the lead to four as the clock expired, much to the relief of coach Dean Ruske.
Roxburgh Area School
Roxburgh had four teams at the Otago schools duathlon at the end of last term. The mixed team (Brooke Johnston and Alex Darling) gained a first place. The junior boys (Daniel Arneson and Tiaan McKinnel) placed second, and the boys team (Anton Fitzgerald and Jesse Moore) placed fifth.
Years 7-10 pupils were fortunate to have the OSSSA sports coaches visit last week and practise their skills in volleyball, cricket and touch in preparation for the Otago junior tournament in November.
John McGlashan College
Peter Hartono has been invited to compete in the Masters Invitational tennis tournament. He is ranked No 1 in New Zealand in the under-14 grade. His brother, Thomas, is ranked No 5 in his age group.
Seamus Leahy and Padraig MacKenzie have recently returned from Taipei, Taiwan, where they represented New Zealand in the under-16 grade for ice hockey. Cam McDowell competed in the New Zealand schools mountain biking championships held in Dunedin. He placed first overall in the South Island under-17 grade and second overall in the New Zealand under-17 grade. Footballer Bradley Holdridge won MVP at the South Island federation tournament, where he was one goal off winning the Golden Boot.
The relay team of Lochie Chittock, Woody Kirkwood, Alex Timmings and Bradley Leydon placed first in the Otago indoor rowing championships. Ben McDonald was first in the junior 2000m event.
Wilson Mitchell placed first in the Otago-Southland secondary schools duathlon. At the Otago event, Ben Mitchell and Cameron Moran were first in the junior teams with James Millar the third individual home.
Hamish Cotter has returned from Hawkes Bay after representing Otago in the men's grade for futsal.
Our trap shooters continue to flourish at national level. Shane Sanders was first in the national single-rise after a 70-target shoot-off. Harry Russell was third in South Island point score. Arthur Chapman-Cohen and Shane represented Otago in the Fish and Game inter-regional national shoot and gained third place. Shane was third-top shooter in this event for all New Zealand.
Otago Girls' High School
A highlight for Otago Girls' was in the first weekend of the school holidays when the curling team defeated Maniototo Area School to win the girls' section of the national secondary schools championships.
The Icentric ice-skating team of Nina King, Grace Hurring, Emily Dickie and Charlotte Forbes placed first in the junior synchronised section at the New Zealand championships.
Holly Johnstone, Tabitha Seaton, Jessie Clark-Grant, Alex Clark-Grant and Jade Middleditch were members of the Football South women's team which played against the Northern women on October 12.
Emma Takapi was selected for the South Island secondary schoolgirls' rugby team while representing Otago at a tournament in the holidays. Holly was a member of the Otago under-17 girls football side which won the South Island tournament in Methven during the holidays. Juliette Lequeux won the under-16 2000m, 500m and 100m races at the Otago secondary schools indoor rowing championships. Becky Paterson has been selected in the Otago Metro under-15 touch team, while Kiana Pelasio and Teigan Parish have been selected in the Otago Metro under-17 touch team.
King's High School
During the recent highly competitive national secondary schools basketball tournament, King's established itself as the fifth-best basketball team in the South Island and placed 21st in New Zealand.
The first XI football team participated in a satellite tournament called the Trident Cup. The team grew in stature as the tournament progressed and after beating Wellington College 4-1 in the quarterfinals, was unlucky to lose its semifinal against Marlborough Boys' in the dying seconds. However, the team regrouped and won the bronze medal match 5-1 against St Bede's College.
The first XI hockey team played in the Johnson Cup in Greymouth. After winning the first game against Greymouth, the team then played well against Pukekohe, leading 1-0 right up till the last 5sec of the match before conceding a goal. The team then had to face the top seed, Waimea College, and performed well in a 1-0 loss. Clearly disappointed, the team regrouped and ensured it won all remaining games to finish ninth.
The King's smallbore shooting team won the South Island tournament in spectacular style, culminating in John Brosnahan and Morris Stevenson being selected to shoot against the North Island team, which they duly dispatched. Both John and Morris were then selected for the New Zealand under-21 team to shoot off against its British counterparts, which the New Zealanders won.
Ben Kiore has been selected to play in the New Zealand under-17 football team, and Calum Booth has just won the New Zealand under-16 downhill mountain biking championships.
Taieri College
Taieri has a record eight teams competing in the Taieri Plains touch module, with the top team going into town to compete at the Oval. Many have trialled to get into the Taieri touch teams to go to the Otago trials next weekend. Taieri College has traditionally had a good representation in the Otago touch teams and we expect that trend to continue. We also have two cricket teams competing and our junior year 9 team has made it through to the second round of the national competition.
Taieri College had a strong team compete at the recent South Island schools motocross, with Jake McLeod finishing second in the 85cc class. Other riders had top-10 finishes.
Gemma Bonney represented Taieri College at the recent South Island and New Zealand shooting championships in Christchurch. She finished third in both competitions, made the South Island open women's team and also got an award for one of the top-three scores over the whole weekend, gaining automatic entry into the national adult competitions.
Danielle Veenvliet was a member of the RASA School of Dance team ''Explicit'' that placed first at the NZCAF national hip-hop competition. It also won the most outstanding performance award.
• These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA), which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian Trust.
