Tokomairiro High School
Tokomairiro High School pupils donned house colours last Wednesday to compete in the athletics sports day.
Several records were broken, including a mark from 1969 when Ethan Walker threw 11.97m in the under-14 age-group shot put. Ethan also broke the under-14 javelin record with a throw of 31.65m. In the 11-year-old girls age-group, Jade Kyle broke the shot put record with a 7m throw. Myra Matthews, also 11 years old, broke the long jump record with a leap of 4.19m.
In junior cricket, Kaleb Hill was selected for the Dunedin year 8 team and Jake McClean for the Otago Country year 8 team.
Bayfield High School
The Bayfield junior girls cricket team made a promising start to the NZCT secondary school girls competition but narrowly lost to Lawrence. Year 9 student Libby Hayday took three wickets for 10 runs. Bayfield scored 79 runs, Hayday scoring an impressive 40 not out. The next game against Otago Girls' High School looked like a close contest but was rained off.
Bayfield students competed in the Otago secondary schools triathlon in Cromwell recently. Tim Schellhammer, Duncan New and James Riach came first in the senior boys multisport team event. Sam Spiers, Kirsty Little and Mark McCormack were third in the senior mixed team triathlon and Jakob Morgan was seventh in senior boys triathlon. Bayfield High School student Ben Hayward competed superbly for St Clair Surf Life Saving Club at the Southern region junior championships at New Brighton Beach in Christchurch recently, finishing first in the under-14 beach sprints, first in the under-14 mixed beach relay and first in the under-14 flags.
South Otago High School
Already we have had pleasing results in the triathlon in Cromwell, with five teams competing. The team of Cassidy Robertson, Paris Skipper and Sharnay Henderson came second in the junior girls section, and Ella-Rose Lawrence, Jake Lyders and Frank Hill won the junior mixed section.
The boys and girls cricket teams have been playing in the NZ First XI Cup tournaments. After a win and a loss, the girls did not make it through, but the boys are through to the next round after two wins. Again this year two SOHS teams attended the Otago qualifying tennis tournament. The mixed team of Abby Edwards, Ashton Tourell, Mason Tourell, Hannah Botting, Isla Pringle and George Rutter won its section over Taieri College and is heading to Timaru next week for the South Island tournament. Touch remains a popular sport in South Otago, with many SOHS reps in the Otago teams that played in the national tournament last month. The SOHS mixed team also won the Otago qualifying tournament last weekend, so it is preparing for the South Island tournament in Christchurch. The side is ably coached by Leyhana van Vugt, and captained by former New Zealand representative and sports prefect Atawhai Hotene.
Queen's High School
The Caledonian was ablaze with colour and enthusiasm at the annual athletics and house day on February 17. More girls entered competitive events than in recent years and five records were broken: Annabelle van Heezik (under-14 javelin), Mereani Taana (under-14 shot put), Serena Evile (under-15 javelin), Molly Stephenson (under-16 400m), Lara Wall (under-16 long jump). Congratulations to the age-group champions: under-14, Zara Beauchamp; under-15 Annika Ludlow; under-16 Molly Stephenson; 16 & over Judah Kelly.
Shani Ayson recently won both the under-18 and open women's surfing titles at the Otago championships. Heaven Samson-Loffley is busy fundraising for two trips to Australia for softball - one as a member of the International Academy team and the other with the Mainland under-17 team. The rowers are reaping the benefits of their hard training over the summer, with Hayley Kettings winning the senior single scull in division 1 at the Otago Secondary School Championships and placing second with Gemma Clydesdale in the double.
Both futsal and volleyball are thriving at Queen's. Two more teams than last year, from both disciplines, have entered the weekly competitions. Interhouse Wednesdays have started again. These lunchtime activities are about fun while earning house points for participation.
Otago Boys' High School
Over the Christmas break, Hamish Walker (year 12) travelled to Finland with the New Zealand under-21 men's curling team to compete at the world junior B championships. The team finished 15th of 24 teams.
Sam Cornfoot and Oliver Palmer Hargreaves (both year 13) won the Wakatere Trophy on handicap points at the New Zealand Sunburst championships at Naval Point YC Christchurch.
Liam Turner (year 12) has been selected in a 20-strong New Zealand athletics team to compete at the Oceania Regional Games in Papeete, Tahiti, in April. Liam's disciplines will be the 400m, 800m and the 4x400m relay.
Recognition must be give to three cricketers. Year 9 student Cameron Elliot made a century against Kaikorai Valley College, Hunter Kindley (year 13) scored 84 for the NEV senior team and Taine Bayly (year 13) was selected for the Willows XI to play against the Governor-General's XI in late March.
Year 11 student Jordan Hand has recently been named in the New Zealand under-15 mixed touch team while year 10 students Cameron Porteous and Oliver Bugden have been selected for the New Zealand Touch Academy.
Columba College
Ella Harris (year 13) has been selected to represent New Zealand in cycling in the under-19 team to ride at the Oceania road championships in Bendigo, Australia.
Meg Sycamore has been named in the New Zealand under-15 mixed touch team to travel to Australia in September.
Columba was second at the recent Otago touch championships and has secured a place in the South Island championships.
Congratulations to our triathlon teams which had fantastic results in Cromwell recently. The three senior teams placed first, second and third while the junior team was first.
The annual athletics day was held in perfect conditions at the Caledonian Ground. Records went to Ellie Duncan in the under-16 200m, Jaime Reid (year 7) in the 800m and 1500m, and Caitlin O‘Brien (year 8) in the 1500m. Championship winners were: senior, Lily Cunningham; under-16, Ellie Duncan; under-15, Meg Breen; under-14, Olivia Fowler. A big team has been selected for the Otago championships.
The novice coxed four of Milly Nesbit, Abby Anderson, Amber Cunningham, Millie Wright and cox Margot Darling won the South Island rowing championships.
Kavanagh College
The boys first XI cricket team travelled to Brisbane in mid-January to participate in the 38th Christian Brothers cricket tournament week, hosted by Nudgee College. In the pool games, the team scored good wins against Nudgee College, St Laurence's 2, St Columban's and St Edmunds. The highlight of its loss to Gregory Terrace was Josh Lucas taking four wickets for seven runs. That left the side with four wins from five games after the round robin but three other teams in the division had the same amount of wins so it went to run rate and Kavanagh missed out on getting into the final. A huge thank you must go to Dave Eathorne, Ant Harris, Ross Parata, Anne-Marie Eathorne, Chris and Joanne Henderson for not only their fabulous organisational skills but also for making sure the boys were all fed and watered during their time away.
The college held its athletics sports recently and there were some outstanding performances. Three records were broken: Raphael Naufahu broke the over-16 discus record throwing a massive 34.67; Holly Trainor-Uluakiola broke the under-14 long jump record with a jump of 4.86m; Melena Lam Cheung broke the under-13 shot put record with a throw of 8.82m.
Mount Aspiring College
Mount Aspiring College students have had a busy summer competing in New Zealand and overseas.
The year started with 15 athletes competing at the Colgate Games, most achieving personal-bests and many placing in the top six. The medallists were Molly Barham, Georgie Bruce, Abby East, Jack East, Jack Findlay, Isla Gellatly, Ryan Schmack, Zach Smith and Ryan Young.
At the Otago swimming champs, Jaime Toepfer came second in the 200m butterfly and Jasmine Murray was third in the 800m freestyle. At the Southland age-group champs, Jasmine won the 200m butterfly and Jaime was second in the 200m freestyle. Four swimmers qualified for the New Zealand junior championships - Jack Findlay, Ben Silipo, Ryder van Lune and Sam Cottier. They swam well and recorded personal-best times.
Triathlon is a growing sport in Wanaka, and this was reflected in a record 31 participants at the Otago secondary school triathlon in Cromwell. Several students made the podium. A few students travelled around the country to compete in the Sovereign tri series, with podium finishes for Julius Staufenberg, Janus Staufenberg and Phoebe Young.
Mikayla Harvey has had a successful build-up to the national road cycling champs in April. She competed in the elite criterium nationals, finishing second in the open women, an impressive result for a 16-year-old.
Mount Aspiring College freeskier Finn Bilous claimed New Zealand's first and second Winter Youth Olympics medals. Finn won a silver in the halfpipe and a bronze in slopestyle. He was also the flag-bearer for the New Zealand team. Manu Barnard and Alistair Garland succeeded in their respective races at the freeride junior tour. Manu won in Tahoe and Utah, while Alistair was third in France.
On the water, Meg Harraway won silver in the slalom and finished fourth in a highly competitive field in the jump in the under-14 grade at the New Zealand-Australia waterskiing championships in Cambridge.
• These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian
