These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association, which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Otago Girls' High School
The senior A netball team participated in the SISS netball tournament, ending up 17th and winning division two of A grade.
The senior A football team competed at the nationals in Taupo. The junior A basketball team won the SISS junior basketball tournament in Timaru. The senior A basketball team finished third at the national qualifying tournament in Invercargill to qualify for nationals. The senior A hockey team competed at the Audrey Timlin tournament in Invercargill.
The swim team recently competed at the NZSS championships. The OGHS team of year 10 students Madison Wills, Jemma Wilson, Charlotte Underwood-Nicol, Charlotte Hewson and year 12 student Esme Paterson (team captain) gained a third in the 15 & under 4x100m freestyle relay, fifth in the 4x50m medley relay, and fourth in the 4x50m freestyle relay Madison Wills was second in the 200m breaststroke and third in the 100m breaststroke, while Jemma Wilson was third in the 50m butterfly.
The year 10 netball team defeated St Hilda's in the final of the local competition and won the competition for the first time in 16 years.
The school held its sports awards evening and was delighted to have ex-girl Kelly Brazier as the guest speaker. Kelly is an inspirational Black Ferns and Black Ferns Sevens player. It was a great occasion and a wonderful opportunity to recognise and acknowledge players, coaches and referees.
Dunstan High School
The school's senior A netball team had a great tournament in finishing 13th overall in the SISS event. It is the first time the team has finished in the top 16 for 20 years.
The boys senior A basketball team placed third overall in their South Island tournament. The team was in good form going into the semifinal, but came up against strong opposition. However, it was able to bounce back and win the third-fourth playoff.
The girls football team had its best tournament in many years, finishing up third overall. . The boys sent a young team to its tournament at which it finished 17th.
The mixed hockey first XI finished second at its tournament. The girls team, made up mainly of juniors, also competed during tournament week.
The ice hockey was also a young team which performed well in its section.
The under-15 rugby team made it through to the semifinal of its division, but went down in a close game.
East Otago High School
Some very encouraging results and development has been happening over the past two terms. The senior B netball team finished as back-to-back winners in its grade. It played consistently over the winter and showed some great development.
The Koru Games is a South Island tournament for intermediate schools. It provides opportunities for players of all sports codes to develop and experience just what it takes to be involved in a tournament. The mixed rugby team won a gold medal - what won this team the medal was hard work and team-oriented players who bonded together not only on the field, but off it as well.
A senior mixed hockey team and senior netball team both attended tournament week. The sides consisted of young and developing players who will most certainly gain valuable skills and knowledge.
John McGlashan College
Tournament week has signalled an end to winter sport at the college. More teams attended tournament week than ever before. Three rugby and basketball teams competed at various venues. The under-15 rugby side entered the Hurricanes tournament for the first time and the under 16-side was successful at its Christchurch tournament. The school ran its own under-14 rugby tournament in Dunedin for the first time.
The hockey sides performed with success at tournament week this year. The senior side won promotion back into Rankin Cup. With only a few year 13 boys leaving this year, the team should perform well next season. The junior side finished second at nationals, so the future looks bright for hockey at the school.
Noah Coutts has returned from Russia where he represented New Zealand at the world championships, in equestrian. Noah performed well across several disciplines, his best placing being a third.
Tim Scott finished second in the foil at the under-17 South Island fencing championships, while Barend Jenkins was second in the South Island open epee. He then went on to finish sixth in the New Zealand men's open section in the same discipline.
Travis Muller is a South African cricketer, hoping to make the Volts this season. In the meantime he is helping coach all cricketers at the college. Training is well under way.
The college held its annual swimming carnival this week, with the senior relay record being broken by Gilray house.
Logan Park High School
The senior basketball, football and hockey teams enjoyed their tournament experiences and all improved their skills and performance.
Finn Lillis has been selected for the Otago Cricket wider squad. Finn is part of the cricket leadership team at Logan Park.
Viviane Dalphin (14) competed in the Dunedin Marathon 10k run in September and came third overall in the women's section and second in the senior women's under-20 category.
Sunny McCabe will travel to the nationals to represent the South Island table tennis team in the October school holidays.
Lucas Dubyk, Angus Mclean, Leo Lublow-Catty, Simon Schack and Leevi Hanson will compete at the NZSS curling championships on the September 28-30 in Dunedin.
Jonathan Dubyk, Liam Black and Bill Campbell will all compete in the South Island Mountain Biking Championships in the October school holidays.
In September, two Logan Park teams competed in the Hillary Outdoors Events Get-2-Go Challenge competing in orienteering, kayaking and mountain-biking in wet, cold conditions. The year 10 team came third.
The senior blues assembly was held in September and the following students received premier blues awards recognising national achievements: Joseph Araya, football; Jacinta Burney, marching; Ziggi Kaitai-Martin, parkour; Annie Kennedy-Atchison, surf life-saving; Ella Molteno, luge; Anna Walrond, sailing; Samuel Yeardley, football
The student sports council has organised an inter-house indoor rowing competition for the last week of this term which promises to be competitive and entertaining.
St Hilda's Collegiate
The girls faced some challenging opposition throughout the first two days of the SISS netball tournament. They overcame St Margaret's in a crucial knockout game to go on and win their playoff game for fifth in extra time against Columba. In doing so, the team secured the final spot for the nationals in the school holidays.
The first XI football team which was back at the national tournament for the first time in several years, faced a tough pool to begin the tournament. The girls then progressed through the week well, finishing in 20th and relishing the opportunity to be playing back in the top tournament.
After narrowly missing out on the top eight due to points differential, the senior A basketball team went on to go unbeaten for the remainder of the tournament and finish ninth at the SISS tournament in Invercargill.
An outstanding day of rugby was enjoyed by the school at the Highlanders Region under-15 tens tournament as St Hilda's went through unbeaten, downing Otago Girls 25-7 in the final.
After a mixture of wins and losses and a very convincing win on the final day, St Hilda's went on to finish ninth in the Audrey Timlin hockey tournament.
Olivia O'Neill has recently been selected for the Junior Tall Ferns basketball team to compete in the Fiba Asia under-18 championships.
Jaide Dixon and Danielle Ferguson have recently returned from Australia, where they were playing for the New Zealand under-16 touch team.
King's High School
The first XI football team finished 15th at the Lotto Premier Tournament in Christchurch. A 2-1 victory over St Paul's Collegiate of Hamilton, gave the school its best finish in 20 years.
The junior first XI football team were beaten in the final at NZSS Junior tournament in Tauranga, losing 1-2 against Scots College, Wellington. This completed a very successful season with this team.
The first XI hockey side finished sixth at the prestigious Rankin Cup and remains a representative for next year's Rankin Cup/India Shield competitions. It also capped off a fine season, winning the Otago schools competition for the third year running.
The ice hockey senior A side finished fourth at the SISS Tournament in Dunedin.
The junior A basketball finished a very creditable fifth in the junior SISS tournament in Nelson.
The senior A basketball finished 19th at the SISS tournament in Invercargill.
The under-15 rugby development team finished seventh at the SISS tournament in Nelson.
The under-15 Panthers attended the Hurricanes under-15 tournament in Wellington for the first time and performed very well, finishing in 5th despite losing only one game.
James Nicholson, Zeke Buschl and Finn Ward have been selected into a NZ under-18 development hockey camp in December.
Flynn Murdoch has been chosen in the men's junior athletics 4x100m relay wider training squad.
Golfer Luke Tuten finished sixth at the NZ Junior Open at Millbrook, Queenstown, last weekend.
Taieri College
Taieri College had two students make the incredibly tough qualifying times for the NZSS swimming championships. Laura Bungard (17) and Jordan Kelliher (16) represented Taieri College. Laura swam eight events with four-personal best times. Jordan also swam eight events with four personal-best times.
The under-15 rugby team headed to Queenstown to compete in the annual Rural Livestock tournament during tournament week alongside 26 other co-ed teams from around the South Island. A couple of costly errors in the first minutes of the second half and some great rugby by St Kevin's meant it moved on to the final. Finn McDonald-Page was named as part the tournament team.
The boys football team finished third in pool play in the Linwood Cup in Invercargill. The team then proceeded to win the remainder of its games to secure ninth.
The boys hockey team headed to Greymouth during tournament week to compete in the Coaches Cup. The competition was a step up for this young team from the school competition in Dunedin and it finished a creditable 14th.
The girls hockey team finished eighth in the Jenny McDonald Cup in Gore. This is a great sign for the future of hockey at Taieri College, as the average age of the team was 13.
