These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian
Maniototo Area School
Maniototo Area School has pupils participate in some unique sports due to its location and temperature. This year they had two students travel to Italy and Austria to take part in a luge camp for six weeks. Sam Flanagan and Ben Voice have been competing in luge for two years.
They were chosen from a large group; this was a huge achievement. Rina Watt has continued her dominance in ice hockey, being picked again for the NZ under-18 women's side which travelled to Kuala Lumpur. Rina was named as assistant captain and the team placed second in the competition, narrowly losing to Chinese Taipei.
Curling is a major sport over winter in the Maniototo. The school has 16 pupils competing in competitions and the four teams will play in South Island Secondary Schools Competition in September.
In 2017 William Becker, Sam Flanagan, Ben Voice and Damian Carson finished second at the National Secondary Schools Championships in Auckland. This year in Dunedin they are hoping for the gold. Bayfield High School
It has been a very busy couple of months for sports at Bayfield. The senior A and junior A netball teams competed in the OSS netball tournament, earning some highly rewarding wins over the two days. The senior A team finished third in the senior B division.
The sports prefects were invited to attend the Otago volunteers evening at Forsyth Barr Stadium. They had the opportunity to meet some All Blacks and watched a special screening of the new All Blacks documentary.
The table tennis players have been having great success, with Isaac Hobbs and Alex Clarkson coming second in the inaugural Secondary Schools competition. Isaac won the under-15 singles and doubles at the Elisa Lee tournament in Christchurch.
Jess Ablett also had a fantastic result at the South Island Trampolining Championships, with a third placing. Piere Tapsell also finished third in the 50m backstroke at the Otago Secondary Schools Swimming Championships.
Well over 100 of Bayfield's pupils competed in the annual co-ed tournament and the school was one of only a couple of schools to enter teams in every sport. Bayfield finished second overall and were very proud of the curlers, girls football team and rugby 10s team, who were all recipients of the fair play awards for those sports.
Preparations are under way for the first ever exchange with Cromwell College. Pupils will participate in many different sports over two days, and hopeful of being the recipients of the first ever City-Country cup.
Blue Mountain College
At the Otago-Southland Secondary School cross-country relay in Milton, the Blue Mountain College senior mixed team consisting of Georgia Thomson, Owen Gardner, Olivia Reihana and Liam Criglington was third overall.
Congratulations to year 11 pupil Nikita Peterson-Solomon, who has been selected in the Southern under-18 hockey team which is made up of girls from the Waitaki region down to Invercargill, and Joe Robertson, who has been included in the Southland under-15 hockey team.
Well done to Paige McIvor and Megan Corbett for their selection in the Otago secondary schools country girls' rugby team.
Pupils Molly McKenzie, Mya Brocket and Lucy McHutchon also deserve congratulations on placing at the recent Southland Primary School Cross-country at Waimumu. Molly and Lucy placed first in their respective age groups at the Eastern event held the previous week.
Columba College
Back to back! The superstar sevens squad recently won the local secondary school competition for the second year running. Not only that but they have completed another consecutive year undefeated, which is an incredible achievement. We now move on to the rugby season where the girls will brave the conditions and face the mud at Logan Park on Wednesday afternoons. All the best.
Congratulations to Meg Sycamore and Maia Joseph who were selected in the under-17A netball team and will travel to Palmerston North for nationals in the holidays. Well done to Ashlee Turner, Abby Anderson, Madi Williams and Erin Chittock for making the under-17B team that will compete at various tournaments over the next couple of weeks.
Columba College held its annual Swimming Sports Day at Moana Pool on Friday 22 June. A great morning, full of house spirit, plenty of laughs, and tonnes of talent. They witnessed an amazing display of springboard diving from their very own year 7 NZ representative Sophie Derbyshire and of course the relays were a highlight, with the pupils beating the staff to claim a well-deserved victory. Individual winners were Ashlea Law (Junior), Grace Creighton (Intermediate), and Molly Law (Senior). Molly also broke two records in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle previous set by 2017 Sports Prefect Caitlin Deans. From chant offs, belly flops, synchronised swimming and jump jam, lots of enjoyment was had by all who participated.
Kavanagh College
Kavanagh College is once again the co-ed schools winter sports champion in 2018. Kavanagh College has been the champion since 2011.
Kavanagh College won the curling, girls football, badminton, senior boys and girls basketball, and the senior netball. The co-ed tournament gets better and better every year with its sponsorship and its coverage from the ODT, so well done to everyone involved and especially to OSSSA who are the overall tournament controllers.
The South Island Junior Netball Champs are being held in Christchurch during week one of the holidays and Kavanagh College is sending a mixed years 9/10 team, which is hoping to continue its development.
Kavanagh College was also very fortunate to have a visit from All Black Prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi during test week. This visit was organised by Pete Gallagher - All Black physio - and they were also fortunate to have All Black captain Sam Whitelock coach the senior boys basketball team on the Friday night before the test. Sam was a very good basketball player in his earlier years and still loves the sport.
Mount Aspiring College
Winter sports are well under way, with teams preparing for the secondary schools tournament in September.
The First XI boys football team has been named and started training. The team has practice games arranged against Dunstan, Cromwell, Gore and other Otago/ Southland teams. The build up to tournament week has been positive and will grow as the team progresses.
The MAC First National First XV rugby team recently made the top six of the Otago Premier schools championship after finishing off the first round with four wins from six games. The top six round robin brings a whole other level of rugby, which is exciting for MAC as the team attempts to better its 2017 finish of sixth.
MAC played its second fixture of the top six round robin against Waitaki Boys' High School and unfortunately lost 21-12.
The MAC A netball team has started the second round of home games, winning two out of four games so far. The Central-wide league tournament begins next week; the teams playing are school girls from Wakatipu, Cromwell and Alexandra. This will help improve their play and build them as a team before the tournament in September.
The MAC girls football and mixed hockey teams will be announced this week.
Queen's High School
Ice skaters Paige Symister and Asia Tapealava have recently competed in a variety of competitions. Paige placed second in the pre-elementary level at the Dunedin Ice Skating Club competition and finished first overall. Asia won the Junior Ladies section at the Corinne Gilkinson Trophy in Dunedin and also travelled to Sydney to compete in the Hollin Trophy.
The aerobics team has had a great start to its season. It has competed in the NZCAF open competition in Dunedin and the Gymnastics New Zealand Otago regional championships in Balclutha.
Amberly Orr, Kate Williment and Abby McMullen placed in the top three in their sections for both competitions and Emily Trevithick placed first and third in her events at the Otago Regionals. This team is lucky to have current and past students Annelise Lowther, Olivia Burgess, Emily White and Kristen Wingham coaching and supporting them at competitions.
Chloe Robertson, competing for the RASA School of Dance, placed third in the Junior Duo at the National Hip-hop Championships in Wellington.
Mereana Martin travelled with the Otago under-14 water polo team to Christchurch for a South Island Tri-Series. She also competed at the Otago Secondary Schools Swimming Championships and placed first in the 50m backstroke and third in the 50m freestyle.
The Learning Support Football team competed at the Otago Special Olympics Football Championships at the Edgar Centre and placed third in the A Grade section.
The Senior A, 10A and 9A netball teams competed with enthusiasm and sportsmanship at the Otago Secondary Schools netball tournament. The Senior A team was the runner-up in the B grade final.
Otago Boys' High School
The final race of the cross-country circuit was the OSS Championships at the Kaikorai Valley College course. In the under-14 race the OBHS top performances were from George Hamilton (fourth) and Ashton Booth (seventh). In the under-15 race OBHS finished third and the top three places were Joshua Potter (second), Winston Ward (sixth) and Louis Sabonadiere (14th). In the under-16 race, Shea Darwen was fifth and Walter Savage was 12th. In the under-19 race OBHS finished second, and the top three places were Nathan Hill (second), Flynn Steel (seventh) and Jack Divers (ninth).
The second half of the interschool with Christ's College was held in Dunedin on June 12. The rugby had been played in April. OBHS won the basketball 104-87, football firsts 9-2, squash 5-0, and debating by a half point, while the hockey First XI lost 3-1. Overall the score was 4-1 to OBHS.
Timaru Boys' High School hosted them on June 20, with OBHS having a convincing overall win 6-3 with one draw. The basketball juniors lost 71-70, basketball seniors won 103-44, chess won 14-2, trapshooting was won by Timaru, junior football won 3-1, football senior won 2-1, hockey seconds 9-0 to Timaru. The First XI hockey game was a 3-3 draw.
Eight OBHS pupils were selected in the Otago under-19 team, finishing ninth at the national tournament. Congratulations to Nathan Hana, Ben Reeves, George Bright, Harley Ruru, Mitchell Hughan, Taiaroa Flavell, Tyler Summers, and Xavier Herbert.
Congratulations to Rhys Dunbar, Joshua Marr, and Zishen Fu, who made Otago table tennis age-group teams. The South Island tournament was in Timaru.
South Otago High School
Congratulations to Jessie Hutton and Kace Shaw who were recently selected for the under-18 Highlanders secondary schools regional age-group camp, which runs in the July school holidays.
This camp will focus on designing an individual action plan for players that will assist with the future development of their game. The camp will also include instructional coaching from provincial coaches from within our region, culminating in a game on Wednesday. Personnel from NZR and NZ secondary school selectors will also be there.
Frank Hill, Jamie Beck and Jack Pringle were also selected for the Burnham live-in rugby coaching school. The camp is designed to extend players and provide them with a structured programme to help develop their skills.
