Top performances on and off the water

Mt Aspiring success
Mt Aspiring College has had an outstanding start to the sporting year with top results in the following South Island events:

Rowing: Riley Bruce, Nathan Redai, Olivia Pearce, Bridie Hurley, Maddy Ball, Helena Crawford, Alex Mitchell all competed in Twizel. Results included: A grade, Riley Bruce first in U16 Singles and U17 Singles;Riley Bruce and Nathan Redai, first in U16 double sculls; B grade, Olivia Pearce, Bridie Hurley, first in U16 double sculls.

Adventure racing: Jayden Fisher, Teegan Vink, Craig Murray, Paul Wright, Harrison Brown, Campbell Russell, Nick Toepfer, Joseph Wilson, Hank Bilous, Finlay Nolet, Niko Schikker and Kyran Gray. Thirty teams of four compete completing an 8km run, 8.5km kayak, 18km trek, abseiling, 5km kayak and a 30km mountain bike. MAC seniors Jayden, Teegan, Craig and Paul claimed first place in 8hr 11min.

Multisport/triathlon: Julius Staufenberg, Paul Wright, Alex Young, Nick Toepfer, Janus Staufenberg and PhoebeYoung all competed well. Janus was first in intermediate boys, and Phoebe was first in junior girls.

Queen's High School
Sport on the track has dominated the past month but Queen's has also had girls performing on water, on courts, on touch fields, on off-road trails and at a neighbouring primary school.

With second place in the U16 single, Riley Homan was the most successful of the QHS rowers at the South Island secondary schools championships at Lake Ruataniwha on March 8-9. The squad is now looking forward to competing in the Maadi Cup.

The school athletics day saw two records broken: Ella Scott in the U14 800m and Madre Mostert in over-16 shot put, while Lyric Newman equalled the U16 high jump record. Thirty athletes progressed to the Otago secondary schools championships, where Christina Ashton won the senior girls 100m, 200m and 100m hurdles. Had the wind not just exceeded the maximum allowable, she would have broken the 100m hurdles record with a time of 14.84sec. Christina was invited to compete in the Australian junior championships in Sydney.

Bayfield athletics
The athletics season has been extremely successful for year 13 athlete Anna Grimaldi. Having taken up athletics just five months ago, Anna has her eyes set on representing New Zealand at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Competing in her first major competition in December at the New Zealand secondary schools championships in Hamilton under the AWD-PD classification T47/F46, Anna placed first in the 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump. In each of these she set secondary schools and national records. Anna recently returned from the Queensland championships, where she was competing to get international classification for her disability. She gained a silver medal in the long jump, beating her own New Zealand record with a jump of 4.84m, and placed fifth in the 100m final, again beating her own New Zealand record with a time of 14.00sec.

Other outstanding Bayfield results include Daniel Roger-Bromley's record-breaking effort of 1.70m in the under-16 boys' high jump at the Bayfield championships. He followed up with a first place at the Otago secondary schools championships. Rowan Lewis placed third in this event. Aaron Anderson placed first in both the senior boys 1500m and 3000m, Tori Clearwater placed second and 3rd in the 100m and 200m respectively, and Britta Hamill placed second in the 400m and open 300m hurdles, and third in the 100m hurdles.

Tokomairiro High School
Tokomairiro athletes performed well at the Otago secondary schools athletics. Linette Tatupu was second in the senior girls javelin with 23.63m. Terri Thomas finished second in the senior girls triple jump. It was only her second triple jump competition and her first at the Caledonian. Also in the top six were Toni Hall in the long jump (sixth), and Karta Hewitt (fifth) in the high jump.

The Tokomairiro senior mixed touch team qualified for the South Island secondary schools tournament in Christchurch at the end of March. This tops off a great touch season for Toko, with the senior boys team winning the senior men's B grade in Balclutha, with a promotion to the senior men's A grade next season. The senior girls placed second in the women's B grade. Playing in the Mosgiel competition this year, both the senior mixed teams have made it through to the finals in their respective grades.

Blue Mountain successes
Blue Mountain College had five skiers compete at Perkins Pond in the Otago-Southland secondary schools water-skiing championships. Year 9 pupil Tom Hancox won the junior boys U13 section followed by Nick Stark, while Sam Perkins was second in the boys 16 and under championship grade. Blue Mountain College placed second out of 10 teams.

At the annual athletics, year 7 pupil Harry McKenzie ran superbly, breaking records in the 200m, 400m and an old 1976 record in the 800m. Yvonne van Baarle also excelled, breaking under-15 records in 100m, long jump, shot put, discus and javelin.

At the Otago athletics championships, year 9 pupil Maddy Calder threw an outstanding 20.93m to win the under-14 javelin, while Yvonne van Baarle won her shot put and long jump events. Year 11 pupil Ben Rea threw a personal best of 41.89m to finish second in the boys U16 javelin.

The NZ Shield and NZCT girls cricket teams were both defeated in their semifinals, against Arrowtown Primary School and a very talented St Hilda's team.

Columba rowing
Columba College had its best performance in a decade at the South Island secondary schools rowing championships. The novice eight won its A final over St Margaret's and Rangi Ruru. The girls led from the start and won by more than three lengths.

This was followed up by the under-16 eight having a very strong race and coming third in the final, with just half a length covering from first to third. Emma Winders continued her fine form, winning the under-18 single comfortably.

The junior and senior teams won the recent South Island triathlon event in Oamaru. The senior team had Caitlin Deans swimming, Bailey Saville cycling and Charlotte Cahill running. In the juniors, Gabby Trotter swam, Anna McLachlan cycled and Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan ran. Two girls - Holly Barclay (senior) and Ella Harris (under-16) - competed as individuals and won silver medals.

An exceptionally strong Columba team competed at the recent Otago athletic championships. Lydia Shirley (U16) won all three throwing events. In the under-14 grade, Ellie Duncan (100m and 200m) and Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan (1500m and 3000m) claimed two titles each, as did Charlotte Cahill in the senior 1500m and 3000m events. Chenoa Metua and Lilly Cunningham ran strongly to win the 400m events in their respective U14 and 16 grades. The 4x100m relay teams ran strongly to win the U14 grade and place second in U15 and senior races.

Otago Boys' cycling
Last year, Lachie McGregor had a strong showing at under-17 level at the national track cycling championships and won silver medals in both the individual pursuit and points race events. This resulted in an invitation to join the New Zealand junior track training camp ahead of the Oceania championships in November. An untimely injury a week before the camp meant Lachie could only join the camp as a spectator, ruling out the possibility of his first national selection. With a great deal of time spent at the physio and only three weeks back on the bike, Lachie was able to enter the Oceania championships as an Otago representative. He was the leading New Zealand rider in the under-19 3km individual pursuit, winning the bronze medal for his efforts.

Just days after the Oceania event, Lachie left for Perth, where he trained with the Western Australian junior track squad for eight weeks, returning to New Zealand in late January. He competed in the New Zealand under-19 omnium championships two weeks ago, and has just been in Cambridge competing at the national track championships. He reached the bronze medal ride for the individual pursuit, missing out by a second on taking his first national medal in the under-19 age group. Lachie is coached by Brian and Glen Thompson (former OBHS and national representative cyclist).

Kavanagh cricket
As the 2013-14 cricket season draws to a close, the Kavanagh College First XI can look back on a season with many highlights.

The First XI played in the men's second grade competition. The school is proud to be the only co-ed school that has been able to maintain a team competing at this level. The boys have trained hard all season and have made big improvements, which have led to several wins.

One highlight was an overnight trip to Oamaru. On day one, the team played St Kevin's in the annual interschool. Outstanding bowling saw St Kevin's bowled out for 50, and the game was won easily. On day two, Kavanagh played two twenty20 Gillette Cup games. In the first game, Kavanagh again beat St Kevin's. The second game was against Waitaki Boys'. In what was probably the best result of the season, Kavanagh won the game convincingly. It was a great all-round performance.

A second highlight of the season was the January trip to Brisbane to compete in the Christian Brothers tournament. The 10-day trip included six days of cricket, and watching Australia play England in a one-day match at the Gabba.

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