Liam Mulvihill was recently part of the New Zealand under-16 men's Koru development team in the Australian Junior Country Basketball Cup in Albury.
As a result of his form, Liam has been invited to a regional camp for selection of the New Zealand under-16 team.
The Dunstan High School First XI boys cricket team was successful in winning the Vincent Cricket Association's senior reserve Partridge Cup recently. The team plays against mostly adult opposition and lost only two games.
Equestrian Callum Geddes won three major events and placed third and fifth of 70 senior riders at the South Island showjumping championships during the holidays, earning him a trial to represent Otago-Southland at Taupo in May. Callum has also been selected to travel to the UK to compete with five others over the winter.
Kyle Harris has been named as one of New Zealand's top under-17 rugby players and selected to attend a three-day regional development and selection camp in Christchurch in April.
Kyle has also been nominated for the national rowing squad.
The Dunstan High School rowing squad has been training hard towards the South Island schools regatta and the Maadi Cup to be held at Karapiro in March.
The under-15 girls eight rowed at its first regatta on the Oreti River in Invercargill and took first place, with two crews in the under-15 four finishing first and third.
At the recent South Island club championships, boys crews gained two gold medals and a silver. The under-16 double of Sam Galletly and Mark Duncan won its final, then combined with Isaac Scherp, Matt Enright and cox Ben Fisher to win a gold in the under-16 four.
The under-17 double of Kyle Harris and Shayne Fulton was 1sec away from gold in its race.
Finn Butcher, Robert Hervey, Matthew Arnott, Marcus Norbury, Geoff Johnson and Rachael McLellan travelled to Australia as part of the New Zealand under-18 kayak development squad. Finn won gold in his group and secured the Australian secondary schools title.
Back in New Zealand, the group spent two weeks travelling down through the North Island competing in selection races for the New Zealand team. As a result of these selection races, Finn and Robert have been selected for the world junior championships in the US in July.
Finn has also been selected in the New Zealand under-23 team, and as reserve for the New Zealand senior team, which means he will travel on to Europe after the junior worlds and will compete in a series of races there.
Cromwell College
The Maude O'Connell-coached rowing squad is working towards several events. The double scull crew of Alex Yarnall and Chris Drummond will be one to watch.
Josh Kahukura has been selected in the under-17 New Zealand softball team. He is also a talented golfer. Brad Pako was the youngest competitor to win a title at the recent South Island wood chopping championships.
National athletics
The Otago Girls' High School athletics team travelled to Hastings in December to compete in the national secondary schools championships. Bell Bloomfield qualified for the semifinals in the 800m senior girls, while Kiriana Wong ran a personal-best time in the 100m. Zoe Flockton qualified for the semifinals in the 80m hurdle.
Nikita White started her successful meet with gold in the AWD (ID) discus. The following day Nikita excelled as she added five further gold medals - the most by any athlete ever at this competition - in the 100m, 200m, 400m, shot put and long jump. She also collected the New Zealand record in the 200m in the AWD (ID) grade and was only 1cm away from the record in the long jump.
Davina Hamann, an exchange pupil from Germany, studied at Otago Girls' in 2010. Her specialist event is the heptathlon, but she was able to gain a bronze medal in the senior girls javelin.
The junior girls 4 x 400m relay team of Anna Cross, Alex Lesa, Zoey Flockton and Brigid O'Neill recorded an OGHS junior record of 4min 28sec in finishing fifth.
East Otago news
East Otago High School had nine pupils attend the national athletics championships. Eight school records were set and seven athletes recorded personal-bests.
Courtney Martin (13) finished sixth in the under-16 hammer throw and fourth in the discus. Jesse Porter gained a bronze medal in the under-16 javelin, the first medal the school has won at the nationals in 20 years.
Courtney also competed in the Colgate Games, taking silver in the discus and breaking her own Otago record twice in shot put, taking the gold with a put of 11.55m.
Micayla Brenssell, Paige and Sam Church competed well in the rodeo circuit, with Micayla and Paige earning several placings in the junior barrel racing and Sam in the junior steer riding.
Motocross rider Courtney Duncan won all her races in claiming both the 14-16 yrs 85cc class and the women's class at the Whakatane Summercross series.
Blue Mountain College
Gavin Stark was the school's sole representative at the New Zealand athletics. Gavin competed in the boys under-16 100m and 400m events. The 100m had 58 competitors and, after several heats, Gavin secured a berth in the final on Sunday afternoon which he won in style in 11.24sec. Just an hour later he ran the 400m final in a personal-best time of 51.90sec to claim bronze. His 100m gold is the first for Blue Mountain College at any New Zealand athletics championship.
King's news
King's High School athlete MacKenzie Haugh won bronze in the junior boys under-16 100m hurdles at the New Zealand schools athletics. MacKenzie was the only South Islander in the final, running a slick 14.55sec.
Matheson Hill, year 11, headed to Canada over the break. He was selected by the New Zealand Olympic Luge Association to train at the Whistler Ski Resort in British Columbia on the track used in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Matheson enjoyed 50 runs on the 16-curve course, reaching a top speed of 121.5kmh.
Columba update
Sophie Napper (netball) and Samara Dalziel (hockey) have been selected for the Academy Otago talent accelerator programme. This programme is for talented Otago athletes whom the selection panel believes have potential to get to the next level with specialised coaching and support.
Holly Cadzow was selected in the New Zealand under-18 koru basketball team and attended a tournament in Australia in January.
The newly formed Sports Council, under the chairmanship of Kelvin Carruthers, will hold its first meeting of the year this month to plan a golf tournament. lThe Sports Council will also work on producing a coaches' handbook and set goals and targets for 2011.
Queen's athletics
Three Queen's High School athletes travelled to Hastings for the New Zealand athletics championships. Sprinter Lauren Wilson picked up gold medals in the senior girls 100m and 200m. Nicole Bradley placed third in the senior girls shot put, was fourth in the hammer and sixth in the discus. Sam McAuley (13), who still has two years in the junior girls age-group, made the semifinals in the 200m and quarterfinals in the 100m.
Sam followed this with impressive results at the Colgate Games in Dunedin in January. She broke the Otago 100m grade 13 girls record, winning gold in 13sec and claimed the sprint double in the 200m in a personal-best 26.80sec. Sam was a member of the Hill City grade 13 relay teams that won bronze in the medley and 4x100m relays. Year 9 pupil Christina Ashton was fourth in the grade 13 girls 200m and fifth in the long jump.
Calendar
Today: Summer orienteering series starts, around Dunedin
Feb 17: Otago tennis qualifying, Dunedin, Balclutha, Cromwell
Feb 20: Waterski champs, Perkins Pond
Feb 24: Triathlon and multisport race, Cromwell
Feb 25: Otago tennis finals, Dunedin
Feb 27: South Island triathlon/duathlon, Oamaru
These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association Inc (OSSA) which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual.
Contacts: Des Smith, Otago Regional Sports Director, PO Box 6303, Dunedin. Ph 470 1337 Fax 470 1786 Email: des@osssa.org.nz Website: www.osssa.org.nz
