The Cromwell College under-16 coxed rowing four won the supreme award at the Cromwell Sportsperson of the Year Awards on Saturday night.
The crew of Brad Thompson (16), Jared MacLachlan (16), Ethan Edmunds-Scott (15) and Josh Drummond (15), along with cox Nick Drummond (14), had been named team of the year earlier in the evening, which qualified it for the top award, before its name was read out as supreme winner.
The boys' coach, Maude O'Connell, of Bannockburn, said she could not believe it.
"We just about fell off our chairs - and that included the parents. I'm just stoked."
The crew were popular winners, O'Connell said.
"People were happy to see them win.
"Cromwell is a little place and many people are aware of the boys' achievements.
"They know how hard the boys work, both on and off the water, from training to fundraising."
In April this year the Cromwell College crew was placed fourth in the under-16 coxed four final at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships at Twizel.
It came second in the final of the same event at the 2010 South Island Secondary School Championships and third in this year's South Island Championships.
It was placed in the finals of its event at the Otago and Canterbury Championships and won its event at the Southland regatta.
Daryl Ainsley was named senior sportsperson of the year.
Speedway New Zealand rookie of the year, during the past year, Ainsley also gained fourth place at a transtasman speedway meeting in Wellington, won the New Year grand prix in Cromwell and picked up other good results at speedway meetings in Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch.
Hockey player Annalyse Shaw (18) was named junior sportsperson of the year.
A Cromwell College pupil, she was a member of the Central Otago senior women's hockey team that came second at the Finch Rose Bowl tournament at Timaru in August.
She was also a member of the Cromwell senior women's team that came second in the Central Otago competition.
A member of the Otago under-18 women's team, Shaw played at the New Zealand under-18 premier girls tournament at Tauranga in July, where the team finished seventh.
The award for services to sport went to Graeme Buttar, for his contribution to the Cromwell Cricket Club and junior cricket in the wider Otago Country region.
Sparc board member Paul Allison, of Cromwell, who supported Buttar's nomination, said he should be called "Mr Cricket".
"It is no coincidence that Cromwell now boasts the best junior development programme in the Central Otago region," Allison said.
"This is single-handedly a result of Graeme's devoted efforts."
