Awards night
The annual Kings High School sports presentation evening will
be held in the Kings-Queens performing arts centre on
Wednesday, November 4.
This function recognises the achievements of pupils in their chosen sport in 2009.
Service to sport, fair play and Otago and New Zealand representation are recognised and school sports trophies and first team badges presented, with the evening culminating in the awarding of the Salter Trophy for sporting excellence at year 13 level.
The guest speaker is Assoc Prof David Gerrard.
A Commonwealth Games swimming gold medallist, sports medicine specialist, sports administrator and prominent academic, his vast experience in the sporting world is second to none in New Zealand and should make for an excellent night.
Fencing
Otago Girls High School year 10 pupil Olive Butler competed
in several fencing events during the recent school holidays.
After fencing at the New Zealand under-20 event, Olive competed in the Otago foil championships held at the University of Otago.
The event was a mixed open event and Olive was the second-ranked woman at the competition and finished eighth overall.
Prior to this, Olive competed for the New Zealand Under-15 fencing team in Brisbane, with the team gaining third place overall.
Olive gained a ranking of 14th and her performance earned her selection in the Oceania team.
Netball star
Vanessa Noble has been a member of the Cromwell College
Senior A netball team for the past three years after having
been selected at age 14.
This year has been a great season for Vanessa, the captain of the school.
She led her team from the front as Cromwell College competed in the Central Otago premier grade for the first time in many years and finished fourth.
The team then went on to win the Otago secondary schools B grade tournament in Dunedin, followed by a creditable ninth at the South Island secondary schools tournament in Timaru.
Vanessa was selected for the Central Otago under-17 team, which she co-captained.
After leading her team well at the secondary schools tournament, Vanessa was named in the Otago tournament team.
Vanessa was asked by Netball Otago to attend a trial for the Netball New Zealand talent development programme along with 26 other Otago girls.
After trialling well, Vanessa was selected as one of 12 players identified to have the potential to represent New Zealand in the future.
Dunstan basketball
The Dunstan High School boys basketball team has just
returned from the national tournament for schools of fewer
than 600 pupils, held in Auckland.
Dunstan finished third, with Thomas Mulvihill and Joe Cooney being selected for the tournament team.
After qualifying at the South Island tournament in Westport, Dunstan travelled to the home of the New Zealand Breakers, the North Shore Events Centre, and stayed nearby at the Millenium Institute of Sport.
Pool play saw wins against Taumaranui High School (65-51), Stratford High School (74-71), Nga Taiatea Wharekura (81-64) and Paeroa College (71-67).
This meant the team qualified for the top three play-offs against Rotorua Lakes and Nga Taiatea Wharekura.
The first game against Nga Taiatea proved to be a nail-biter.
With three seconds on the clock, Dunstan led by a basket, but Nga Taiatea scored a three-pointer to seal the match 75-74.
There were tears all round on both sides, with an amazing haka presented to Dunstan by the opposition.
Dunstan then had to play Rotorua Lakes two hours later and despite playing well, succumbed 83-66 to finish in third place.
The team was: Simon Anderson, Josh Benck, Steven Checketts, Joe Cooney, Leigh Grieve, Sean Moran, Liam Mulvihill, Thomas Mulvihill, Sam Paulin, Scott Paulin, Lachie Rutherford.
Clay target
Four shooters - Jacob Reid, Glenn Duncan, Sharmaine Love and
Sam Everett - travelled to Hamilton recently to compete at
the North Island and national secondary school championships,
in which 360 shooters were entered.
Heavy rain on the first of three days of competition made conditions very unpleasant for shooters competing in the single-rise and points-score matches.
Day two was dry with a tricky breeze for single-rise, points-score and single-barrel matches.
Jacob Reid scored 171/180, qualifying him to shoot for the Otago Regional Fish and Game team the following day.
Day three's matches were shot in torrential rain.
The Otago team was placed fourth in the Fish and Game competition.
Jacob shot a possible 50/50 with three other shooters and gained the gold medal.
He also gained gold in the New Zealand skeet match.
Sharmaine Love gained silver medals in the North Island and New Zealand skeet matches.
Jacob was also a member of the South Island skeet team that beat the North Island.
Road cycling
A talented group of road cyclists represented Dunstan High
School at the national secondary school championships held in
Palmerston North.
The team, consisting of cyclists Gus Kerr, Liam Aitcheson, Ryan MacKay, Tom Vessey, Kate McDonald and Sophie Williamson, coached and managed by Liz and Martyn Williamson and Ian McDonald, finished the competitions with valuable experience.
Sophie Williamson was second in the under-16 points race, while Liam Aitcheson had a top-10 finish.
Tom Vessey rode assertively and made several breaks in his race, while Ryan MacKay also rode strongly.
Gus Kerr did particularly well against some stellar competition and Kate McDonald rode competitively at the front of the bunch.
Running concurrently with the national schools road championships was the Manawatu junior tour.
This tour attracts the top under-17 road cyclists from throughout the country.
Sophie Williamson, Dunstan's only entrant, did the school proud by finishing third overall.
The points racing on the final day was exciting despite the miserable conditions.
Sophie continued to race well and achieved a second placing to a very fast sprinter and made several efforts to break the bunch.
Kate's race was held in atrocious conditions, but she finished with a wonderful sprint finish, winning the final lap and gaining fourth points placing overall.
Ice skating
Dunstan High School skater Caitlin Lowe travelled to Auckland
last week to compete at the national championships, where she
skated in two events - technical and free skate.
Results are combined for a final score.
Caitlin was eighth out of 12 competitors after the technical, with the highlight being her third placing in the free skate, placing her sixth overall in the competition.
Mountain biking
Riders from Dunstan attended the South Island schools event
in Blenheim during the last weekend of the term three
holidays.
The weather for the event was abysmal, making the cross-country track unrideable and even almost unwalkable in places.
Despite this, Kate McDonald won the senior girls event and Josh Wight, without too much training behind him, came in the top 10 in the senior boys race.
The uphill event was run the following morning, with Kate winning the senior girls event and Georgia Wight finishing second.
In the afternoon, Georgia won the senior girls downhill title, with Kate finishing overall senior girls champion.
Georgia recently returned from the world mountain bike championships held in Canberra, Australia, with a fifth placing.
She has also had first placings in downhill racing in the national series, the national championships and the national schools championships.
Otago Girls High School year 9 pupil Bria Noble was fourth in the junior girls race at the South Island event.
Calendar
Today: Country coaching visit to Mt Aspiring College.
November 11: Special Olympics Athletics Meeting, Caledonian
Ground.
These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Assn Inc (OSSSA), which is proudly sponsored by the University of Otago College of Education. Contacts: Des Smith, Otago regional sports director, PO Box 6303, Dunedin. Ph: 470-1337, fax: 470-1786, email: des@osssa.org.nz [1] Website: www.osssa.org.nz [2]
Links:
[1] mailto:des@osssa.org.nz
[2] http://www.osssa.org.nz