These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association, which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Kaikorai Valley College
Kasib Murdoch is excelling at boxing and has recently attended the Road to Buenos Aires Camp on April 19-27 at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. He is one of two to be selected from New Zealand, and this is the first step on the path to being selected for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018.
Six KVC pupils have been selected for Otago table tennis representative teams. These teams will compete in the South Island team tournament at Queen's Birthday weekend. They pupils are Jasmine Ngatae, under-18 girls A team; Emma Dingley-Crawford, under-18 girls B team; Jeremy Meldrum-Harris, under-18 boys B team; Aidan King, under-15 boys B team; Paige Patrick and Jessica Power, under-13 girls B team.
Tessa Brownlie and Seth Moore travelled to Christchurch recently to compete at the Canterbury Open judo championships. Seth won a bronze medal in the under-55kg senior boys category. Tessa entered the cadets under-63kg (age 14-17), the cadet open all weights, the junior women under-63kg (aged 15-20) and the junior open women. She made it to the bronze-medal fights for the cadet opens and the under-63kg junior open women and won a silver medal in the junior open women.
Roxburgh Area School
Many pupils competed in various events over the holidays:
Daniel Arnesen competed in the under-19 South Island golf champs in Cromwell where he was 30th of 95 entrants.
Brooke Johnson was sixth in the under-17 Mounted Games nationals and was selected for the New Zealand under-17 Mounted Games team. Brooke has also passed her C+ pony club certificate while Caileigh Forbes, Danae Wales and Paige Robb gained their D+. Danae was second in the Central Otago Pony Club one-day event in Cromwell last weekend.
The start of term has been busy with preparation for the area school tournament hosted by The Catlins Area School in Owaka on May 17-19 . Pupils participated in a range of events from a school item in opening ceremony through to the main sports of rugby, netball, basketball , volleyball, ki O rahi, golf and football. Caileigh Forbes, Kaela Muir, Lauren Kitto, Daniel Arnesen, Brooke Johnston, Tiaan McKinnel, Jesse Orchard, Erin Vernon, Shanae Forbes, Ethan Kitto, Caitlyn Johnston and Josh Reid were selected to attend to the New Zealand area school tournament in Whangarei in the July holidays.
King's High School
Winter sport is now in full swing with teams competing across all winter codes. The school has contested two of its annual winter interschools in the past two weeks.
First up was a 9-4 win over Waitaki Boys High. The event featured wins for the first XV, under-15 and under-14 rugby teams. Kings also won the senior and junior football and first XI hockey. The smallbore shooting team had a resounding 905-847 win and the junior badminton team won 6-0.
OBHS then beat King's 9-4. The first XI football game had added spice to their fixture as this also doubled as a NZSSSF qualifier, Kings drawing a tight game 1-1 with the junior football also a draw 4-4. The hockey 1st XI won 2-1 and the smallbore shooting team also had a good 760-714 win. The junior debating team also had success. The rugby games were shared with the under-15 Panthers prevailing 17-10 in a tight game and the first XV losing to OBHS 1st XV 32-5.
Corey Symon and William Sowerby won the bronze medals in the New Zealand under-15 men's foil competition. Corey then won the gold medal and the national title in the under-15 men's sabre competition.
Tame Govaert has been selected into the 2017 national development swim squad.
Elliot Brown has also been selected in the four-man New Zealand junior surfing team to compete at the world champs in Hyuga City, Japan later in the year.
Josh Duff last week went to Australia to play both Japan and Australia as part of the NZ Open men's touch team.
Logan Park High School
Sunny McCabe (year 10) was in the Otago under-15 boys table tennis team which won against Southland 10-2 this month.
The OSSSA cross-country series started on May 9 with the Logan Park road race. Rebecca Dalphin (year 10) was second in the junior girls division. Tomorrow, two strong teams from Logan Park will travel to Milton to compete in the Otago-Southland relay race. Rebecca Dalphin is looking very strong for the Otago cross-country championships in early June.
Jack Wright is an Otago representative player in snooker-pool. He was fourth in second tier in the open men's competition.
Three teams recently competed in the Otago futsal championships, the senior girls team coming third.
There is real development in netball, football, hockey and basketball and it is pleasing to see the increase in junior school participation. There is a co-ed winter sports tournament next month.
The junior boys football team has won both its games.
The netball teams have also started strongly with good wins for all teams.
For the first time, a curling team is entered in the Dunedin competition.
Taieri College
Winter sport at Taieri College is well under way with great numbers participating across a range of sports. This is helped by the the Taieri College indoor training centre having its recent upgrade.
It is a fantastic warm venue for a wide range of our sporting teams and community teams to use as a training facility.
Netball boasts the biggest number of participants and is off to a great start. The year 9 A and 10 A have had some impressive wins. The senior A team competing in the Premier B section is in the middle of the pack.
There has been a significant growth in hockey with six teams being fielded. All teams have had wins in their competition rounds.
At the Caversham Relays, Taieri was first in the junior mixed event with Cameron O'Connell and Gabby Kakahi finishing second in their junior section for overall time.
Both of the junior rugby teams have managed to secure their first wins and are looking forward to their annual interchange with South Otago. The 1st XV and colts are yet to experience a win
Otago Girls' High School
Otago Girls' is enjoying the recent success of the cross-country teams. Rebekah Hill was first in the junior girls section of the Logan Park individual road race. At the second race in the cross-country series, the Caversham Harriers interschool road relay, the junior cross-country team of Rebekah, Becky de la Harpe, Caitlin O'Donnell, and Jess Tyrell won the girls team section. Not only was it the fastest girls junior team it was also the fastest girls team overall. Rebekah was also the fastest female competitor.
The following girls were selected for Otago volleyball age group teams: under-20, Maddison Campbell, Hannah King, Molly McCall, Hannah Moore, Poppy Schlaadt, Jenna Thorne, Taylor Thorne, Ella Rooney; under-17, Leimanu Hotesi, Storm Maole, Meg Schlaadt, Ella Sell, Talei Pelasiao, Tessa Buschl; under 17B, Madeline Gray, Olivia Earl, Jennifer Marsh, Tayla McEwan.
Tyla Adams and Sam Couper were in the Otago badminton team which attended the South Island tournament in April. Tyla was first in the under-15 grade and was selected for the South Island under-15 team. Sam was selected for the under-17 team.
The OGHS team of Renee Mullins, Maren Kronsbein, Cailyn McConnell, Kyle Gummong and Savannah Cumming won the Dunedin secondary schools summer orienteering league. Cailyn was the first junior girl in the series.
Becky Paterson has been selected for the Otago Goldrush women's basketball squad.
Rebecca Dean was fourth in the girls division (11-18yrs) at a national school shoot archery competition.
John McGlashan College
The McGlashan 1st and 2nd XVs warmed up for their season with a successful Australian tour. The 1st XV went through the tour unbeaten.
Bradley Leydon has been named in the New Zealand junior rowing squad.
Maarten De Ridder was selected in the New Zealand judo squad to compete in the Oceania Championships, Lachlan Ellis has been named in the New Zealand taekwondo team and Riley Hall in the national karate team.
Courtland Ellis was fifth in the 50m butterfly and eighth in the 200m freestyle at the men's national open swimming championships.
Leroy Ferguson is in the under -6 rugby league team.
Sailor Freddy Wright is the latest New Zealand representative in the Optimist class.
Lachlan Kenneally's steady rise in tennis was rewarded when he was named best overall junior in Otago.
The McGlashan golf team made history when it won the Otago Championships for the first time. Robbie Perry and Callum White were named in the Otago under-16 team and Kylie Clark reserve for the under-19 team.
At the Southern Region surf championships, Alex Thomson picked up six medals, including one gold.
At the national championships, Nathan Wolf was placed in the under-19 board relay and Max Wolf claimed bronze in the under 16 Ironman.
St Hilda's Collegiate
It has been a busy start to term two with more than 60 teams spread across netball, basketball, football, hockey, rugby, curling and badminton. The majority of teams have now having played two rounds in their respective competitions.
The junior futsal team finished second in the Otago champs on May 12.
Kate Heffernan has been selected into the Netball New Zealand Pathway to Podium Squad, the only one to be selected from Netball South
Sarah Langsbury received the overall best performance in the under-13 category at the New Zealand interprovincial athletics champs, the first time this has been won by an Otago athlete. She broke two Otago records and recorded three personal-bests
Jessica Scott has been selected for the New Zealand swimming team for the Australian state teams age-grade short-course championships in Canberra in September.
The senior one cross-country relay team was first at the Caversham Harriers relay race last Wednesday. Georgia Mitchell was a very fast second place at the individual road race at Logan Park on May 9. A group of 24 runners will be heading to the Otago-Southland cross-country relay champs.
Dunstan High School
The Dunstan High School kayaking team gained four firsts, two seconds and two thirds in the individual events and two firsts, two seconds and two thirds in the team category at the recent NZSS championships.
The school has six rugby teams competing in secondary schools competitions throughout Otago.
There are 11 netball teams competing in the Central Otago competition this season.
The school has entered eight senior basketball teams in this year's competition. In addition, there are strong numbers in the junior school which bodes well for the future.
The football season has started with Dunstan's pupils competing at club level. In addition, the school recently had a team compete at the OSS futsal Championships.
Dunstan has four hockey teams competing in various grades in the Central competition.
