Queens High School year 12 pupil Emma Sutherland has done it again. Following her success at the Southland meeting, Emma has won double gold at the South Island secondary schools cycling championships held in Christchurch recently.
Emma's first gold was in the under-17 time trial, which was raced over a 3.4km circuit, tackling bitter weather conditions in a race against the clock. Emma won the race by 10sec after a nail-biting finish.
Day two proved to be just as fruitful for Emma, who won her second gold - this time in the road race by a comfortable 100m margin. She rode the last lap by herself, proving she was the strongest in her field.
Emma is undergoing testing at the University of Otago so her coaches have a better insight into her current form and can set training programmes to keep her dreams of competing on the world stage alive.
Logan Park successes
Logan Park High School pupils experienced recent success in futsal, fencing, life-saving, basketball, chess and hockey.
Ashleigh Brewer (futsal), Finn Butler (fencing) and Damon Cleverley (basketball) have been selected to represent New Zealand. Ashleigh will play for the New Zealand under-19 futsal team against Australia in September.
Finn has been selected for the New Zealand under-17 foil team, while Damon Cleverley played in the Australasian championships for the New Zealand under-18 basketball team in April.
A number of successes at Otago level have also been achieved. Max Corboy was named St Kilda lifeguard of the year.
Logan Park's chess team of Charlie Ruffman, Cam Vercoe Groenen, Patrick Dawson and Adam Scott won the Otago schools competition and will travel to Palmerston North in September to compete in the national competition.
At the end of term two, Logan Park High School travelled to Timaru for a sports exchange with Mountainview High School.
Logan Park successes were: boys senior A basketball, First XV rugby, boys football, theatre sports and senior debating.
Taieri pupils excel
Thirteen Taieri College pupils competed in the South Island secondary schools cycling championships during the first weekend of the holidays. The team performed well, only being beaten by Villa Maria which had at least double the entries of Taieri College.
Pupils to perform with credit were Caitlin Kelly (two firsts), Bailey Koppert-Duggan (second and fourth), Charlotte Kelly (second and third) and Brad Evans (second and third). In the team time trials, both the under-14 girls and boys finished second, while the under-16 boys finished fourth.
During the school holidays, a group of pupils represented the school in the South Island secondary schools wrestling championships in Rangiora. Pupils to stand out were Toby Hartigan, Madison Greaves, Michael Reeves and Ricky Welsford.
They will now prepare for the national club championships in Mosgiel on August 8, followed by the New Zealand championships in Mount Maunganui on August 21-22.
In the first week of the holidays, the Taieri rugby team travelled to Oamaru to take part in the South Island secondary schools girls tournament.
The girls were part of a combined team with Otago Girls, playing eight games over the three days of the tournament.
This young team performed well in the competitive environment, finishing a creditable seventh after narrowly missing out on the play-off for fifth and sixth. Natahlia Cochrane Darling and Stacey Morton were named in the tournament team.
Alicia Rosevear, Robert Murray, Jessica Bungard and Chrystal Jones represented Taieri College at the recent South Island secondary schools swimming championships in Christchurch.
There were 231 athletes from 46 South Island schools participating in the two-day meet. All swimmers did well, with Alicia gaining ninth place in the 100m freestyle 14 and over event and Robert finishing sixth in the 50m backstroke 14 and over.
Luge experience
Michael McCormack and Ryan Van der Lem, both of Kings, and Michael Williams, from Mt Aspiring College, attended the national luge championships held in Naseby recently. This natural ice luge is extremely popular in the northern hemisphere and will be the new sport at the next Winter Olympics.
The racing was at the end of a week-long training camp conducted by guest coaches Greg Jones, from Canada, and New Zealander Geoff Balme.
All three boys competed well in the junior men's championships with Michael Williams finishing first, Michael McCormack second and Ryan Van der Lem third. They are now looking forward to the next two rounds of the Naseby Cup.
Dunstan round-up
The South Island secondary schools clay target championships were held last month at the Waldronville range in cold and gloomy conditions.
Glen Duncan won bronze in the skeet with a score of 23/25. Glen then combined with Jacob Reid to gain second place in the two-person team shoot after a shoot-off with a score of 22/25.
Sharmaine Love won the Sunderland Cup at the Moa Creek Shoot after a shoot-off with four other more experienced shooters, finishing with 20/20. Sharmaine made history by being the first woman to win the Sunderland Cup in its 57-year history.
Jacob Reid and Sam Everett both shot 15/15 in the Presidents Trophy match. Jacob won the trophy after a shoot-off with Sam and two other shooters. The Moa Creek Shoot proved a valuable exercise and has helped with preparations for the New Zealand secondary schools championships to be held in Waikato in September.
Ashley Wilson was placed first and Caitlin Lowe second in the juvenile 12-and-over section of the recent Otago-Southland ice skating championships held in Dunedin. Ashley, Caitlin and Abby Washington also competed at the South Island championships in Gore with Ashley winning gold and Caitlin taking bronze.
Finn Butcher and Geoff Johnson are having the time of their lives in Ottawa, Canada, at a kayak whitewater training camp. While they have been in Ottawa they have competed in two different North American junior Olympic events, a whitewater freestyle competition and a whitewater slalom.
Finn landed a few impressive tricks during the freestyle competition and ended up with silver and bronze medals.
The slalom competition was held on an Olympic-style training course. Both boys were loaned boats to compete in, and a fair bit of fuss was made of the fact that they had travelled from New Zealand to take part.
Geoff missed a difficult gate and incurred a 50-second penalty which put him just out of medal range. Finn had a clean first run and an extremely fast second run with only a two-second penalty and won gold for his efforts.
Sophie Johns spent her school holidays in Australia playing softball for the Junior White Sox in the Friendship Series at Blacktown Olympic Park in Sydney.
Sophie's team, one of two from New Zealand, finished sixth in the nine-team tournament. Sophie is hoping to be selected in the Junior White Sox team to go to the World Series in South Africa in 2011.
Area Schools Rugby
The New Zealand Area Schools rugby team has been named and reflects the quality of the southern team that recently competed in Christchurch at the South Island Area Schools tournament.
Seven members of the winning southern team along with their coach have been selected to travel to Auckland on September 20. The team, which is funded by the New Zealand Rugby Foundation, will be based in Auckland for the week and will play games against the Harlequins under-18 team at Waikato Stadium and the Auckland Schools under-18 development team.
Rowan Tumai (Roxburgh) will captain the team, which includes schoolmate Crewze Kingi, Tim McMillan and Willie Miller (Maniototo), Ryan Egerton, Jack Egerton and Mitchell Smith (Tuatapere). Joe Donald, from Maniototo, is the backs coach.
The area school rugby teams from throughout New Zealand have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the national team, and to have a third of the squad selected from the South is a fantastic achievement.
CALENDER
• August 7: Otago-Southland skiing and snowboarding at Cardrona; Dunstan HS-Cromwell College coaching visit
• August 11: Caversham harrier relays at Kings HS
• August 14: Blue Mountain College-South Otago coaching visit
• August 18: Tokomairiro HS-Catlins Area School coaching visit
- These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Assn Inc which is proudly sponsored by the University of Otago College of Education.
- 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
