Articles compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Assn Inc (OSSSA)
Athletics championships
About 530 athletes competed in the recent Otago secondary school track and field championships. Twelve athletes broke individual records in the blustery conditions, many by athletes ranked highly at a national level in their specialist events.
These included Nicole Bradley and Lauren Wilson (Queen's), Ilse Rietberg (Logan Park), Rebekah Greene (St Hilda's), Megan McPhail (Waitaki Girls'), Chris McNoe and William Scorgie (Otago Boys') and Toby Batchelor (John McGlashan).
Athletes who do not regularly compete in athletics but excel in other sports also impressed.
Andrew Whyte (South Otago), who gave up competing in competitive track and field after primary school, won the senior boys 400m in a record 51.34sec.
He beat New Zealand schools representative Ben Jowsey (Kavanagh) into second.
Thomas Johnson (Kaikorai Valley) and Liam Mulvihill (Dunstan), better known as basketballers, dominated the under-14 grade field events, with Thomas first in the javelin and third in the discus, and Liam first in the discus with a throw of 38m, 1m short of the Otago record.
Kane Russell, a New Zealand representative hockey player, won the senior boys javelin with a throw of 51.45m.
Isak Gunnarsson (St Kevin's), an Otago representative rugby player, won the under-14 200m in 26.31sec and was second in the 100m in 12.73sec.
Catlins students involved
At The Catlins Area School's recent athletic championships, Quentin Gare, Reuben McLay and Georgia Mason were the stand-out athletes.
In the Otago secondary schools athletics championships, Nicole Cuthbert was first in the under-16 long jump and second in the triple jump, and Reuben McLay was first in the under-15 javelin.
Bowls proving popular
Over the past three weeks, Bowls Dunedin has been holding a summer league for secondary schools.
The pupils have been playing at the Andersons Bay and Kaikorai bowling clubs, using the new format for playing pairs.
The following players have been chosen to represent the Dunedin Centre in Oamaru on Monday. -Girls: Brooke Craik (singles, St Hilda's), Rosalie Scrivener (singles, Bayfield), Sophie Stone and Ruby Imlach (pairs, St Hilda's), Sarah Robertson and Grace Oh (pairs, Columba).
Boys: Cameron Craik (singles, Otago Boys), Bradley Torrance (singles, Kings), Elliot Mason and Oliver Mason (pairs, Otago Boys), James Bishop and Greg Bishop (pairs, Kavanagh).
Cameron Craik, Bradley Torrance and Greg Bishop have earned a place in the under-19 kittyhawk competition and will be playing in Auckland at Easter.
James and Greg Bishop won a bronze medal at the national championships last year.
South Island junior rowing
Otago school crews competed in Twizel on March 6-7 against crews from all over the South Island and gained some notable results.
The St Kevin's under-16 girls coxed four of Bethany Robertson, Jo Kearney, Caitlin Kearney, Lauren Sexton and Sophie Moynihan (cox) won gold in 7min 49.39sec, nearly 2sec clear of Rangi Ruru and Marlborough Girls.
St Kevin's gave a big push at the 750m mark and, once in front, was able to put the pressure on and move steadily away.
This four was announced as the crew of the day.
The four girls then teamed up with schoolmates Eilee Robinson, Lucy Fauth, Brittany More and Lauren Haggerty in the under-16 girls eight.
Rangi Ruru was leading for most of the race but, as the girls had done in the four, they dug deep in the final 500m to win by 2.02sec in 7min 6.01sec.
In the under-17 girls singles, St Kevin's sculler Stacey Hore was leading Avonside rower Jacinta de Hass through the 1000m mark when de Hass began to move up on her.
The two then fought it out until de Hass put on a final burst through the 250m.
Hore finished second in 8min 54.24sec, 3.51sec behind de Hass.
In the girls under-16 double, the Dunstan combination of Caitlin Lowe and Leah Morait finished just ahead of the Kearney sisters from St Kevin's.
Dunstan High School's under-15 boys four of Isaac Scherp, Mark Duncan, Sam Galletly, Matt Enright and Alex Fisher (cox) was second behind St Bede's in 7min 25.85sec.
The Otago Boys' under-17 coxed four was also impressive, with Lachlan Landels, Brodie Hume, Cooper Gilmour, Ken McLellan and cox Aaron Woodhead second in 7min 11.72sec.
Hume and Landels then combined in the under-17 double to win gold from Christchurch Boys' in 7min 27.41sec.
King's athletics
King's High School's athletic sports were held recently at the Caledonian.
Andrew Harper is the senior boys champion with a hat trick of age-group titles.
In the under-16s, Kane Attrill was dominant with five titles while MacKenzie Haugh won the under-15 championship.
MacKenzie also broke the day's only record, adding 1cm to the under-15 high jump record of 1m 70.
The under-14 title went to Will Meiklejohn.
Other stand-out performers were Daniel Stevens (under-14) who achieved the sprint double, Blair MacKenzie (under-14) who won two titles, David Sorensen (under-15), a true all-rounder with placings in hurdles, 3000m, 800m and 100m.
Jayden Dovey (under-16) gained three titles and looked keen and strong in sprints, jumps, hurdles and middle-distance events and Anthony Trainor (under-16) was one place off completing the difficult 800m-1500m-3000m treble.
Otago Boys' qualifies
Otago Boys' High School has won through to the South Island secondary schools tennis finals by beating John McGlashan College 5-1 in the Otago district boys final this week.
Matt White, playing No 1, led the way for OBHS with a straight-sets win over Henry Caird.
Wyatt Purdon and Henry Hailes gave OBHS a strong advantage going into the doubles with their singles wins over Andrew Dysart and Paddy Ou.
Oliver Reid grabbed the only win for McGlashan against James Bourne.
Both doubles eventually went to OBHS.
OBHS, along with St Hildas, South Otago HS and Dunstan HS, compete against the other South Island district champions in Timaru later this month.
Kavanagh College rowing
Kavanagh College novice scullers Zoe McBride and Hannah Duggan only started rowing last July when they joined the Otago Rowing Club under the guidance of John Parnell.
They showed their potential early on and since then have made steady progress.
Their best performance was at the South Island junior championships on Lake Ruataniwha recently when they won the bronze medal in the girls under-15 double sculls event.
Even more remarkable was the achievement of 14-year-old Zoe McBride in gaining fifth in the A final of the girls under-17 single sculls.
South Otago HS swimming
Students from South Otago High School who are members of the strong Clutha United Swim Club attend many swim meetings.
Three students shone at the South Island Country and Town Meet in Invercargill. -Reagan Hunter: first in the 100m individual medley, 100m breaststroke, 50m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 100m freestyleMorgan Ramsay: second in the 200m individual medley, 3rd in the 100m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke.
Hope White: second in the 50m freestyle, third in the 200m back stroke, 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly.
