The Otago Daily Times looks back on the year in
secondary sport by naming our top 10 athletes and others who
excelled.
THE TOP 10
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Duncan Croudis.
Duncan Croudis (golf)
Otago Boys High School
Grant Waite, Craig Perks, Michael Long. . . and now Duncan
Croudis.
The Otago Boys High School pupil joined some elite company
when he became the first Otago winner of the Cobham Cup at
the New Zealand under-19 championships at the North Shore
club in September.
Croudis shot 70 in the last round to win the tournament.
He went on to represent New Zealand at the Aaron Baddeley
International Junior Championship in China, where he shot a
69 on the final day to finish second in the 17-year-old
division.
Croudis then scurried home to play for Otago in the men's
interprovincial tournament, where he was unbeaten and helped
his province finish fifth.
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Sophie Williamson.
Sophie Williamson (cycling)
Dunstan High School
Pedal power runs in the Williamson family - and the youngest
member is a star on road, track and dirt path.
Sophie Williamson continued her rise in cycling with a busy
year highlighted by her performance at the national track
championships in Invercargill in March, where she won the
under-17 points race and finished third in the scratch.
She added a gold medal in the under-17 time trial at the
national club championships near Nelson in October, won the
under-17 section of the Cycle NZ junior selection tour, and
won the road race and the criterium at the Australian Capital
Territory provincial championships.
Williamson also won the three-day Te Awamutu junior tour and
was third in the under-17 section of the junior Tour of
Southland.
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Samara Gallaher.
Samara Gallaher (basketball)
Kavanagh College
She plays many sports but Samara Gallaher has looked most at
home on the basketball court this year.
Gallaher, the daughter of Basketball New Zealand president
John Gallaher, was remarkably plucked out of school to join
the Tall Ferns squad to prepare for the Oceania
championships.
She was also in the New Zealand under-21 team and captained
the New Zealand under-18 team.
Gallaher was also involved in netball, volleyball and
athletics.
She was named Kavanagh's sportsperson of the year, and will
be the school's head girl in 2010.
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Rebekah Greene.
Rebekah Greene (athletics)
St Hildas Collegiate School
Records are made to be broken and Rebekah Greene has smashed
dozens this year.
The tenacious runner won a 3000m silver medal and was the
best-performed Otago competitor at the Sydney Youth Olympic
Festival in January.
She won the 3000m at the Pacific Games and the New Zealand
secondary schools championships, and broke Otago and South
Island records in several age grades.
Greene was third in the national schools cross-country
championships and a member of the St Hildas team that won
both the three-man and the six-man titles.
In April, she will run for New Zealand at the world schools
cross-country in Slovakia.
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Phoebe Williams.
Phoebe Williams (swimming)
St Hildas Collegiate School
Things just keep getting better for Phoebe Williams, the
queen of Otago swimming.
Williams made big waves when she broke the long-standing
Otago senior 1500m freestyle record in 17min 3.12sec in
Christchurch in August.
She competed in the transtasman series and finished with a
silver medal in the 800m freestyle in Canberra, and she won
seven individual titles at the South Island championships in
Invercargill.
Williams also won a silver (800m freestyle) and two bronze
(400m medley and 200m butterfly) medals at the national age
group championships, and won three gold medals in the 16 age
group at the national spring championships.
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Anna-Lisa Uttley.
Anna-Lisa Uttley (athletics)
Bayfield High School
Everyone who watches Anna-Lisa Uttley run notes her maturity,
her intelligence and her determination.
Uttley had double success in Wellington in March when she won
the 16-and-under 3000m at the New Zealand club championships
and then broke Otago women's records for 16-18 year olds in
winning the aged-16 3000m in 9min 54.06sec at the national
athletics championships.
She added the 16-and-under title at the national
cross-country championships in Christchurch in August.
Like training partner Greene, Uttley is heading to Slovakia
next year to run in the world schools cross-country
championships.
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Courtney Duncan.
Courtney Duncan (motocross)
East Otago High School
She's the fastest thing on two wheels - and she takes special
pride in beating the boys.
Courtney Duncan, a pocket rocket, has had an extraordinary
year in the intensely loud and dirty world of motocross.
Her highlight was competing in the world junior championships
in Taupo in August, where she finished sixth in the 85cc
class and was the first New Zealander to the line.
Duncan finished fourth (first girl) at the Australian junior
championships, cleaned up the New Zealand Grand Prix and time
trial events, and was named most promising off-road newcomer
at the national motorcycling awards.
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Kane Russell.
Kane Russell (hockey and athletics)
Otago Boys High School
Whether it is a hockey stick, a javelin or a relay baton,
Kane Russell knows how to handle it.
The multi-talented athlete had another fine year in his No 1
sport, hockey.
He again earned national age grade selection, he was a key
player in the Otago Boys team that played in the elite Rankin
Cup in Dunedin in September, and he made the Southern Men
national league side.
Russell was also a South Island schools athletics champion in
both the javelin and the 4x100m relay, and found time to play
for the Otago under-17 cricket team.
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Libby Scott.
Libby Scott (tennis)
St Hildas Collegiate School
You know a young Otago athlete is talented when she is
recruited by an Auckland club.
That's what happened this year to Libby Scott, Otago's
brightest tennis prospect since Dianne Hollands, when she was
picked to play for the Parnell club in Auckland's
professional Caro Bowl.
Scott dominated local tennis in 2009, winning the Otago Open
and playing at No 1 for both Otago and Southern teams.
She also won four of her five games at the national 16 and
under teams event, and was third in the national junior
championships in April.
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Matt Faddes.
Matt Faddes (rugby)
South Otago High School
The most promising outside back to come out of the South
since Jeff Wilson? That might be stretching it, but Matt
Faddes has certainly grabbed people's attention this year.
The talented 18-year-old played for the Otago Country senior
team, made the preliminary New Zealand Schools squad and
inspired his school's First XV to an outstanding year in the
inaugural Highlanders competition.
Faddes, whose progress will be monitored closely in Dunedin
next year, also played for the Otago under-18 cricket and
touch teams.
