These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Bayfield High School
Summer sports finished strongly at Bayfield, with many individuals and teams finishing their seasons well.
Congratulations to the Senior A girls' volleyball team, which finished second in its competition. Thank you to the year 13 girls who are leaving the team. Their service and commitment is much appreciated and will be missed.
Congratulations to Jackson Gallagher and Thomas McEwan came first and second respectively in the Otago secondary schools petanque competition, with Jackson also winning the Frost Cup.
Bayfield would like to wish Ben Green good luck with his upcoming trip to Northern Ireland. Ben has been selected to play football in the 36th Super Cup Competition, formally known as the Milk Cup. It is a well-respected and prestigious competition and we look forward to hear how Ben gets on.
Eva Hofmans has continued her rowing success this season with her selection in the South Island under-18 team. Other Bayfield Otago sporting representatives recently were Isaac Hobbs, Ruby Anderson and Alex Clarkson, who were part of the Otago table tennis team that beat Southland during the holidays.
The futsal teams did well, with the senior boys' team winning its division, and basketball is well under way with the senior A girls travelling to Alexandra recently for pre-season games against Dunstan High School.
Bayfield pupils will travel to Timaru this term to compete against Mountain View
Bayfield has won the last two exchanges and is hoping for three out of three this year.
Columba College
Congratulations to Ellen Foley, Amber Cunningham and Millie Wright for making the South Island under-18 rowing team. The team travelled to Lake Karapiro in the holidays to race against the North Island team.
Also well done to Meg Sycamore and McKayler Moore who were selected for the New Zealand under-18 girls' touch team to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in August to compete at the Youth World Cup.
Winter sport is now in full swing with teams finalised, practices under way and games kicking off next week, and it is sure to be another great season.
Thank you to all for the ongoing support the Columba College teams have received throughout the beginning of this term.
Columba will travel to Christchurch to play St. Andrews College in a winter sports exchange.
Arriving on May 27 and staying two nights, the pupils will compete in basketball, hockey, netball, football and debating before returning home on May 29.
Following this tournament, the Columba College swimming sports will be Tuesday, June 27, at Moana Pool along with the annual school cross-country on July 3 at Bishopscourt. Pupils are excited to join in, gain house points and make the most of these full school events.
Kavanagh College
Towards the end of term one, Kavanagh College participated in the annual Catholic Schools sports tournament in Gore.
Schools participating were Verdon College, St Peter's College, Roncalli College and St Kevin's College. Kavanagh College had a great tournament, tying for overall winner with St Kevin's, the boys hockey team winning all its games, the boys football team winning all its games, and the senior A netball team performed really well with two wins, a draw and a loss.
Both the senior A boys' and girls' basketball teams gained good wins at crucial times which helped the overall points. The first XV rugby team also had some pleasing results, although only winning one game, the other games were all very tight affairs.
Kavanagh College has partnered with the Otago Polytechnic in running fitness sessions for senior pupils every Wednesday.
The sessions have started really well, attracting a good cross-section of pupils who play competitive sport and others who do not.
The pupils have been doing a mix of cardio and strength work and have been pushed hard, which is great.
All the very best to all the winter sports teams that have been training hard over several weeks.
Mount Aspiring College
Arguably NZ's only high school event of its kind, the MAC mountain bike championships drew 85 riders. The closest battle of the day was between top-class senior riders, Ty Sarginson and Julius Staufenberg. Nose-to-tail all the way, the battle was finally won in an exciting sprint finish, with Ty edging out Julius by 0.01sec. Phoebe Young was overall winner in the girls' race.
A team of six pupils competed at the NZSS whitewater kayak champs at the Hawea whitewater park. The event included canoe slalom, freestyle kayak and boater-cross events. The young MAC team performed extremely well, with all paddlers winning a medal in at least one event. They followed this up with success at the NZ Canoe Slalom champs in Tekapo, where Madi Gainsford, Aden Cassaidy and James Suddaby all won gold.
The futsal team took part in the NZSS champs in Wellington, where it made it into the top third for the first time, finishing in 11th place. While the team is young, it has developed greatly over the past year and most have another two years to attend this tournament.
Individual students deserving of recognition for recent successes include:
Meg Harraway, third in under-17 girls jump & slalom at the NZ Australia Waterskiing Champs; Kalani Muirhead, first in under-16 girls' downhill at the NZSS mountain bike champs; Bella Fraser, first in women's 18A long distance at NZ orienteering champs; Alistair Garland and Manu Barnard; second and third overall for Europe-Oceania at the Freeride Junior Tour.
Otago Boys' High School
Just before the end of term the swimming sports were held. In the senior division Jack Divers won and in so doing was within a half second of two long-established records.
In the intermediate section, Hayden Scully edged out Nachi Kanno while in the junior division Ryan Dey dominated.
In judo, congratulations to Dylan Murcott who won gold in the cadet men's Open (all Eight Grades) and a bronze in the under-90kg junior men's competition.
Grason Veitch, Regan Turner and Jabari Vink rode in the Southland Secondary Schools Sport motocross championships in Mandeville recently and all won gold medals.
In the South Island Orienteering Championship in Wanaka, Max Cunningham finished a creditable third in the competitive boys' grade and Braydon Foote finished fourth in the intermediate section.
While all these results were coming through, the winter codes were busy sorting out teams for the coming term. This is a huge job but well done to all concerned and now we hope for success in the different sports and grades they play.
Queen's High School
The summer season finished on a high with the softball team winning its competition for the second year in a row, the water polo team going unbeaten in the division two grade in its first season and the futsal team winning the senior division 1 competition.
During the holidays, the aerobics team competed in Invercargill. Amberly Orr placed first in the level four individual and Emily Trevithick placed second. Emily also won the level four pairs with Emma Green (Tahuna Intermediate). All of these girls gained the qualifying mark for nationals in October.
The annual House Cross Country was held at Kettle Park on May 3. Ella Scott was impressive in winning her third senior cross country in a row. Abigail Paton won the Intermediate Cup and Mereana Martin won the Junior Cup.
Four pupils are taking part in the Otago Sports Academy, athlete development workshops and Zoe Thomas has been selected for High Performance New Zealand's accelerator academy.
South Otago High School
Winter sports are in full swing and rugby finally got under way last weekend, the first XV playing Otago Boys' first XV in the Forsyth Barr Stadium. It was a great spectacle for the team to play in the stadium. OBHS won the game, 87-5.
Girls' rugby started last week with sevens - it will move on to 15-a-side later. Girls rugby has a strong presence at the school and the girls, coaches and managers are very committed, having to travel to Dunedin every Wednesday to compete.
The cross-country will be held next Tuesday and is compulsory for all pupils, with a fun run or walk available for those who do not want to take things too seriously.
Interchanges are important part of the sporting culture at SOHS and there are two winter exchanges coming up. The Taieri interchange is on May 30 and the Gore interchange is on June 19.
The teams involved all enjoy the day of sport.
