These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Tokomairiro High School
Several athletes broke school records at the school's annual athletics sports day last month. Year 9 pupil Millar McElrea broke his own record in the high jump with a leap of 1.65m. Millar also set an under-14 long jump record of 5.19m. Izaac Taylor set a discus record of 21.38m for under-12 boys. Ahurei Barclay broke a 1974 record in the under-12 boys shotput with a throw of 8.60m. Over the weekend, Millar achieved a new record at the Otago children's championships in the 13-year-old boys long jump with a jump of 5.83m.
Jared Hayes represented Otago in the under-18 men's touch junior nationals in Rotorua earlier in the year. Otago finished sixth out of 10 provinces.
Queen's High School
The heat of the competition matched the heat of the day in both the competitive and novelty events at last month's annual athletics day at the Caledonian Ground. Record numbers competed in the standard track and field events. Neve Darlington and Gracie Young shared the under-14 title, Amber Park won the under-16 title and Serena Evile the under-19 title. Jodie Hyatt was a standout performer, winning all five of her events to secure the under-16 title.
Noeline Burden competed in the Otago and South Island athletics championships.
Teacher Tash Civil, along with pupils Anika Ayson and Jaya Reardon, competed in the West Coast Surfing Classic and all placed in their age-groups.
Megan Ellis competed in the Absolute Wilderness Adventure Race.
Staff competed for the inaugural Pentanque Cup in February, Matt Sherbourne won this closely contested tournament hosted by the Dunedin City Petanque Club.
Teacher Jucinda Geddes will represent Otago at the National Masters Hockey Tournament.
Mereana Martin has been selected in the under-15 New Zealand water polo team and competed in the South Island Surf Life-saving Championships in seven events.
Brianna Reid and Aliyah Christos have been selected in the National under-18 ice hockey team to compete in Abu Dhabi in April.
Columba College
Columba College offers 17 different summer sport options to try, so there really is something for everyone. With teams ranging from competitive through to social, the school is huge on getting everyone involved and helping students find their passion.
Last month's annual athletic sports day involved 500 eager students from years 7 to 13 competing for their houses. One of the highlights was the staff versus prefects. The staff took an early 40m lead after lap one but, ultimately, the prefects proved too strong and won the final sprint.
Mount Aspiring College
Triathlon has grown over the past few years, in part thanks to the school TriClub which was set up to make the sport more accessible to all. More than 60 students took part in the Challenge Wanaka-Otago secondary schools triathlon in Wanaka. For many students, this was their first taste of triathlon, while for others, it was a chance to further refine their race tactics and already slick transitions. Leo Staufenberg and Laurie Watson finished first and third respectively in the under-16 boys race. About 20 students competed at the SISS triathlon in Oamaru.
The novice rowers impressed at the South Island championships, winning gold, silver and bronze. The girls novice coxed quad of Hayley Ambrose, Emily Findlay, Ruby Boyd, Pipi Horan and cox Patrick Hartley came first. Pipi and Ruby also finished second in the novice double.
In the novice octuple, the girls from the quad were joined by Aneka Rossiter, Samara Goodall, Amber Hewitt and Lyla Chamberlain to claim the bronze medal. With just a week to go to the South Island schools regatta, it is looking good for Wanaka which will be working on some last-minute race practice and hoping for more medals in the novice and age group races.
Otago Boys' High School
George Hamilton was in record-breaking form at last month's school athletics day. He won the under-14 1500m in 4min 36sec, beating the previous time of 4min 39.4sec set by F.M. Clark in 1999. Cameron Moffitt had a successful day, winning the under-16 boys 100m, 200m, long jump, discus and shot, smashing the school record of 12.77m set by R.J. Dryden in 1974. The new distance is 13.79m. Equally impressive was Jacob Waide who beat Cameron's under-14 shotput record of 12.84m by putting 13.73m and followed this by winning the long jump and 100m titles. The senior 100m title was won by Michael Manson in 11.56sec followed closely by George Vare and Tyler Diack.
The cricket First XI played its first traditional fixture of the year against the Old Boys XI. The First XI were dismissed for 154 as Old Boys won the match by 56 runs.
The school is well through its summer interschools against Timaru Boys' High School, Waitaki Boys' High School, Christ's College and is looking forward to hosting Southland Boys' High School in a couple of weeks.
The newly formed sports council has appointed Craig Cumming as sports director. This new position is an exciting development for sport at OBHS.
Kavanagh College
The new sporting year is off to a very busy start with all midweek and weekend competitions now well under way. Kavanagh College has four handball teams, two touch teams, six futsal teams, two water polo teams, three tennis teams and four volleyball teams, and the rowers are also hard at it preparing for the South Island champs. A cricket team is competing in the junior boys section on Saturday mornings. A girls team is competing in the Bates Cup for the first time also.
The school took three teams away to Wanaka for the Challenge Wanaka secondary schools triathlon. All the teams performed well and finished inside the top six of each category.
The senior girls tennis team of Annalise Wilson and Pippa Sherriff won the OSS tournament recently at Logan Park. Hannah Bryant and Shreenidhi Mahamuni also performed well. This team was all prepared to go to the South Island tournament in Timaru but had to withdraw due to a lack of entries.
Kavanagh also held its annual athletics sports in February which was a very successful day. Hena Fonohema threw a massive 32.59m in the over-16 girls discus to break the record by around 8m.
Cromwell College
Early morning alarms, dragging oneself out of bed, and surviving the morning elements on Lake Dunstan are but a few of the hurdles rowers have to navigate. Hard work, though, does pay off. It has been a hugely successful season for the group of rowers, many blitzing their personal-best during the season. The biggest results so far are those of Jack Spriggs, Mat King, and coxswain Willa Sonntag who combined with two Twizel rowers to claim a bronze medal at the nationals in the men's novice quad. Jordyn Robinson was seventh in the women's under-19 single scull and paired up with youngster Holly Dalzell to finish fifth in the women's under-19 double scull.
The under-16 mixed team of Lachlann MacTaggart, Kamryn Reddy and Eve Drinnan, and the under-15 girls team of Kate Spriggs, Olivia Piebenga and Amy Winters both finished second in their events at the SISS triathlon championships in Oamaru last weekend.
Blue Mountain College
Caleb Stuart was a standout at last month's school athletics championships, breaking the record in the under-16 boys javelin. The school has 24 students who have qualified for the OSS athletics in Dunedin.
Four records were broken in the swimming championships the following week. Madeleine Drummond set new marks in the 25m backstroke and 25m butterfly while Matt O'Meara did the same in the 100m medley and the 50m backstroke. Matt also competed in the New Zealand junior competition in Invercargill and the South Island Country and Town competition in Blenheim where he won the 11-12 year boys 200m freestyle in which he set a record. This is a great achievement for Matt as he has only been swimming competitively for six months.
The water ski team finished fourth in the Otago-Southland secondary schools championships. Greg Hamilton was second in the boys 16 years and under, James Richardson fourth in the novice boys 16 years and under, and Blake Dew seventh in the novice boys 14 years and under.
Nico Hellewell won two bronze medals and Jeeban Tamang one gold, two silver and one bronze at the West Otago multi-style martial arts tournament in Tapanui.
Kayaking has become very popular and 32 students are actively involved. Nine students are representing the school in the Southland Paddles Up Slalom Competition on March 9-10.
Bayfield High School
Bayfield has kicked off 2019 with a host of sporting achievements.
Eva Hofmans took a clean sweep at the New Zealand rowing championships at Lake Ruataniwha, finishing first in the A final for both senior women and women's club single sculls.
Kahu Kaan has continued his surfing success, gaining second in the under-14 grade and third in the under-16 grade at the Otago championships.
Ben Jones attended the national softball tournament as a member of the Otago under-18 team.
One of the new year 9 pupils, Lucy Houston, was a member of the winning girls cricket team, in the Dunedin primary schools competition.
Bayfield had great success in the Challenge Wanaka secondary schools triathlon. The under-19 boys team of Ben Caton, Austin Muir and Ramon Rhyner finished as did the under-19 mixed team of Tasman Charteris-Wright, Jahman Cochrane and Bennet Handtmann.
Many records were broken at the recent athletics day. Josh Stoddart, Izaak van Leeuwen, Mya Miller and Holly Watt triumphed in the shot put, Izaak van Leeuwen set a record in the high jump record as did Eliot Luna and Emily McLennan broke a 2-year-old record in discus.
