On May 14, two senior teams and one junior team headed to King's High School to take part in the annual Caversham road relay.
The senior A team of Ed Davies, Chris O'Connell, Robert Jopp and Joe Beamish won for the third year in a row in a combined time of 22min 58sec, beating King's and Otago Boys' High School.
The senior B team was fourth in 25min 11sec. That team was made up of Sam Guest, Joe Allison, Wilson Mitchell and Charlie Hantler.
The junior team of Rory Ferguson, Charlie Baker, Guilluame Bennanni and Oli Chignell was third in 24min 38sec.
Joe Beamish and Oli Chignell recorded the fastest times in their respective sections. Oli's time was 5min 37sec for the 2000m, and Joe's time was 5min 24sec.
Robert Jopp competed in the recent Oceania athletics championships in Tahiti and won the open 400m in a personal-best 48.44sec. His relay team also won the 4x400m relay.
King's report
King's High School has had a busy start to the winter season with hundreds of pupils taking to the fields, roads, tracks and stadiums throughout the region.
Interschools against Otago Boys' High School and Waitaki Boys' High School offered early-season competition in the traditional team sports. Jonah Smith successfully retained his Otago secondary schools senior duathlon title in the wet and cold conditions on the Taieri. Malachi Buschl finished second in the individual junior race.
Connor Jamison has been selected in the Otago under-19 golf team. Connor was third in the South Island under-17 section and fifth in the under-19 section.
The Otago orienteering championships were held over Anzac weekend. Malachi Buschl featured, winning two events as well as picking up a second and fourth place over different courses. Michael McIntosh and Daniel Wilden also featured on the podium.
A large contingent of King's pupils entered into the first race of the cross-country season, the Logan Park road race. Jonah Smith was second in the senior boys race and his younger brother, Andrew, was third in the junior boys race.
Camble Mann, Malachi Buschl, Felix McDonald, Ben Kiore and Jacob Granger all placed in the top 10 out of a field of 34 runners in the junior race. The senior and junior teams each finished second in the Caversham relay.
Josh McCombie has been selected to compete in the downhill at the world mountain biking championships in South Africa in August. Josh is a modest young man who is an inspiration to all King's pupils.
St Hilda's success
Tessa Jopp and Polly Inglis represented Southern at the national under-21 hockey tournament in Whangarei. Southern placed a creditable third overall. Tessa was then selected in the Junior Black Sticks squad for a five-match series against South Korea. The New Zealand team won the series.
Tessa benefited immensely from experiencing the fast-paced games of hockey. She was later named as a non-travelling reserve for the junior world cup in Germany in July.
Tessa, Caitlin Blakely, Mallory Cooper, Polly Inglis, Annabel Girvan and Pip Dingle all made the Southern under-18 A team for the national age- group tournament in Hamilton in July. Catherine Parata made the under-18 development team to attend a tournament in Palmerston North.
Hannah Perkins and Grace Schrader have been training at the Otago Amateur Weightlifting Association for the past year. They receive specialist coaching and have been rewarded with some great results during the year.
At the Olympic championships held recently, Hannah established three provincial records in the 53kg junior class, hoisting 38kg for the snatch and 47kg for the clean and jerk, a total of 85kg.
Grace was second in her category with a 45kg and 60kg, for a total of 105kg. Grace was also named most promising lifter. They have both qualified to compete at the national secondary schools championships.
The following St Hilda's girls have been selected in Dunedin representative netball teams: Kate Holden, Maggie Burns (under-17 A), Paige Cotton, Ali Cooper, Libby Jones, Meg McKay (under-17 B), Kim Paisley, Georgia O'Malley (under-15 A), Melina Palmer (under-15 B), Leonie Palmer, Meisha Cochrane, Joccoaa Palmer, Mikayla Thorn, Meg Timu (under-14 A), Abbey Johnston, Libby Morris, Libby van Harselaar, Holly Armstrong, Molly Johnson, Josie Cook, Sam Casse (under-14 B).
Otago Girls' report
Eight pupils competed in the Twizel wall climbing competition recently. All competed in both the top-roping section on Saturday and the lead climbing section on Sunday.
In the top-roping, Ashley Everett won the 16-17 year girls section, with Kelsey Howells second. Rosie Craven was second in the 14-15 year girls, and Millie Bray and Alana Donkin were second and third respectively in the 12-13 year girls.
On the Sunday, in the lead climbing section, Kelsey and Juliette McMullan came first-equal, with Ashley second in the 16-17 year girls section. Rosie was second in the 14-15 year girls.
Climbing has been a sport at the school since 1996, and we have had our own 12m wall since 2000. Climbing has grown significantly during this time with two after-school groups and an elective clubs group running, as well as climbing being a significant component in our outdoor education and sport curriculum courses.
The First XI football team recently played a qualification game against Marian College from Christchurch.
The game was played in Timaru and Otago Girls' won 2-0 on penalties after the scores were tied 1-1 at fulltime. Year 9 goalie Jade Middleditch produced a wonderful performance, and saved a penalty.
Year 9 pupil Maddy Campbell has been selected in the Dunedin under-14 A netball team and the Otago under-15 basketball team. Holly Paterson has been selected in the under-14 B netball team.
Sydney Evans-Tobata, Hinamoki Rewi, Kiana Pelasio and Michaela Day have been selected in the Dunedin under-15 A netball team, and Emma Ward, Ella Anderson-Cahill and Maddy Dixon in the under-15 B team. Kate Crawford has been selected in the Dunedin under-17 netball team.
Otago Girls' runners have performed well recently. Senior pupils Sophie Deschka, Rianna Mitchell, Larissa Peyroux and Margie Anderson placed second in the senior girls race at the Milton relay and the junior team was fifth. Sophie ran the sixth-fastest time of the 44 senior girls and Margie the ninth.
Logan Park
Logan Park High School finished the summer sports season on a high with successes in futsal, orienteering and yachting.
In futsal, Logan Park had more than 90 pupils participating in the Dunedin competition. Successes included the senior girls team, which won the Dunedin schools competition for the third year in a row and was second in the Otago championships.
The senior boys No 1 team was second in its grade and the senior boys No 2 and 3 teams each won their grade.
Alice McNoe had a very successful season in orienteering. Alice won the summer school series in the junior girls section and was first in the Otago schools championship junior section.
Logan Park also had two yachting teams competing at the South Island secondary schools Sunburst competition. Kyle Cuthbertson and Frances Barnett won the non-spinnaker division and Jasmine Seifert-Simpson and Bruno Willis won their group on handicap.
Dunstan High School
Two students made a 16-hour haul up the country, to Rotorua to compete at the NZSS Multisport Championships on June 2. The race consisted of a 4.5km paddle around Blue Lake, a 15km mountain bike ride through mighty redwoods and finished off with a gruelling 5.5 km trail run.
Sam McCulloch finished first in the under-16 division and fourth overall, while Emily McGimpsey finished second in the under-19 girls section and third overall.
Kia Wales won the under-14 girls section at the recent Otago secondary schools cross-country championships at Peter Johnstone Park in 11min 20sec over 3 km.
• These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA) which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Trust.
