These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA) which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Otago Boys' High School
Liam Turner more than justified his selection for the Oceania Athletic Regional Championships by coming home with three gold medals and one bronze.
He finished first in the 400m, 800m and youth 4x100m relay. He competed in the senior relay over the same distance and his team finished third.
Year 12 student Hamish Walker, who competed in an under-21 curling tournament in Europe over Christmas, has been selected for the New Zealand Sports Academy which allows him access to all the sports sciences and workshops at the Otago Academy.
Ewan Syme took part in the National Club Road Cycling Championships over the holidays. Syme took a risk in opting not to start the under-17 boys time trial but his gamble paid off handsomely when he crossed the line first in the road race ahead of a team-mate from Cycling Southland and an Auckland rider.
The first XV created history by being the only team to beat Varsity Blue prem colts in a competition match. It received the Sale-Thomson Memorial trophy. After leading 14-7 at halftime, the team was able to play some very impressive attacking rugby in the second half to come away with a 32-26 win. Preparation to defend its South Island title and make the top four in New Zealand is going well.
The under-15 blue team has also started its season well with a commanding 65-0 win over John McGlashan College under-15.
In the second XV's match against John McGlashan 1st XV, the final score was 29-24 to to John McGlashan, a very courageous first-up performance against a highly regarded opposition.
Columba College
Congratulations to year 10 pupil Zara Galliven who will represent New Zealand in gymsport.
Hannah Cross and Sophie Cochrane have both been selected in the New Zealand under-18 ice hockey team. Congratulations to the rowing crews on fantastic results at Maadi Cup: a gold medal in the under-18 lightweight coxed four, (Sara Griffin, Heidi Wright, Sophie Anderson, Millie Wright, coxswain Margot Darling); silver in the under-18 novice coxed eight (Sophie Anderson, Clora Quinlan-Thompson, Milly Nesbit, Heidi Wright, Callie Turner, Ella Smillie, Abby Anderson, Grace Small and coxswain Margot Darling); bronze in the under-17 coxed eight, (Sophie Anderson, Quinlan-Thompson, Nesbit, Wright, Turner, Smillie, Abby Anderson, Small and coxswain Darling). Three rowers gained a South Island trial - Wright, Quinlan-Thompson and Nesbit. Wright competed for the South Island in an eight and a pair, gaining gold in the pair.
Caitlin Deans gained two gold and three silver medals, Devon Familton a silver and Meg Sycamore a bronze. Deans has also been selected in the New Zealand youth development squad.
The senior A water polo team gained third place at the recent South Island tournament in Invercargill. Kate Turnbull, a year 11 pupil, was selected in the tournament team.
At the South Island athletics championships, Jamie McAuslan (senior high jump), Charlotte Wheeler (under-15 hammer), the 4x100m relay team (Shannon Inch, Lily Cunningham, Meg Breen and Ellie Duncan) and the 4x400m relay team (Meg Sycamore, Lily Cunningham, Meg Breen and Ellie Duncan) gained silver placings. Audrey Hayes (under-15 3000m), Ellie Duncan (under-16 200m), Lily Cunningham (senior 400m) and Shannon Inch (300m hurdles) also performed well.
The rugby sevens team was entered at the inaugural South Island event, many players experiencing sevens for the first time.
The senior A and junior A netball teams competed in an international netball tournament in Brisbane with great results. The junior A team won the under-15 grade and the senior A team was fifth. The first XI hockey team travelled to Timaru for an Anzac tournament in the holidays, gaining second place.
Blue Mountain College
The school had seven students compete at the recent South Island secondary school athletics in Timaru. Three of these students excelled, under-14 pupil Laura Weller jumping 1.53m to finish third in the high jump. Fellow year 9 pupil Mikairi Beauchamp-Moore threw a 29.80m in the javelin to secure a well deserved second placing. Under-16 pupil Rachael Kummer jumped 1.51m in the high jump to finish second overall.
At the Otago secondary school swimming, Jack Clayton competed well to gain 12th in the 50m butterfly, 10th in the 50m backstroke, 11th in the 50m freestyle and 15th in the 50 breaststroke.
South Otago High School
What a busy term! You name it, it happened - athletics (SOHS, Otago, Otago-Southland & South Island), triathlon (Otago, South Island, & national), swimming (Otago), touch (top in Otago, then second in the South Island), tennis (Otago & South Island), golf, two interchanges, a sports prefect workshop, visiting Queensland team games (rugby and netball) and, of course, weekly cricket.
Add into this, the trials and trainings for the winter sports is about to start. This term is shaping up to be just as busy. The first major event is the swimming sports on May 20. There are records to be broken, and personal bests to be set. The school also has two interchanges, against the traditional foes of Taieri College & Gore High. The weekly winter sports competitions are starting up this week and next, going right through until term three - rugby, netball, hockey and basketball, football are all represented in secondary school and club competitions across Otago.
Queen's High School
Queen's held its annual fun run and cross-country at Kettle Park during the last week of term 1. The top junior runners were all from year 9: Eva Te Hiwi, Aqua Spiers and Holly Brodie. The seniors were led by year 11 students Ella Scott and Molly Stephenson followed by year 13 Judah Kelly. Following on from this, there is an enthusiastic group preparing for the upcoming interschool cross-country events.
Congratulations to all the rowers who attended the Maadi Cup regatta in Twizel. In particular, congratulations to the under-18 quad, which finished sixth in the B final, and Hayley Kettings, who placed sixth in the A final.
Redlands School, from Sydney, visited Dunedin during the first week of the holidays and, while its boys played football against Kings, the footballers and netballers played against Queen's. The visitors were more prepared for winter sports than the hosts, but both matches were competitive and the social interaction over lunch was enjoyed by all.
The senior A volleyball team travelled to Christchurch during summer tournament week.
The team competed well and had some very close games against schools from Christchurch, Nelson, South and Mid-Canterbury.
Training for the June Icebreaker is under way for a small number of year 10 students. They have taken up the opportunity to join the Fire'n'Ice Rangatahi Waka Ama programme and have been learning the intricacies of paddling and water safety while following the kawa of waka.
Kavanagh College
It has been an extremely busy end to term one and start of term two. The school finished off the term with the senior sports tournament in Gore, where it competed in five sports with schools from St Peter's College, St Kevin's College, Verdon College and Roncalli College. This year they finished third out of the five schools. Some notable performances were both the girls and boys football team who finished unbeaten. The senior A netball team has made good improvements this year and competed well, as did the girls basketball team. The hockey teams also performed well in what is a rebuilding year for them.
Year 11 pupil Josh Hook was selected in the New Zealand level 1 Hawks AFL team to play against teams from New South Wales over the holidays. Since taking up the sport only eight months ago Josh has made great strides and has a big future in the sport.
In other news ,the first XV started its campaign with a patchy win over Taieri College 15-14. The senior A netball team continues to make good improvements and is unbeaten so far.
