These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
South Otago High School
During the Easter school holidays, 54 pupils, teachers, coaches and supporters travelled to Queensland as part of the school's three-yearly rugby tour.
The boys spent many hours and months fundraising for the trip by selling cheese rolls, holding sausages sizzles, car washes, quiz evenings and cutting and delivering firewood.
This was a great team-building exercise for all the boys involved, the teacher in charge of rugby, Jason Palmer, said. The aim of the trip was for our boys to experience rugby culture in a different country.
The first XV and second XV both travelled. The first game against St Edmund's College in Ipswich ended with the first XV winning 43-0. The second XV encountered more of a battle before prevailing 17-12.
The second games were against Marist College in Ashgrove, Brisbane, where both teams went down in the Australian heat.
These games were a good build-up for the upcoming season when both teams hope to make the top four.
Palmer paid tribute to the South Otago community and local businesses for their sponsorship that helped make the trip possible.
Otago Boys' High School
Michael Ruske has been named in the New Zealand under-16 basketball team to play in the Medibank Classic in Melbourne on June 8-13.
Grason Veitch retained his 12-14 years 125cc title at the junior motocross championships in New Plymouth. He has now won this title three times.
In the orienteering competition, OBHS won the high school boys trophy with Moss Pelvin and Ollie Bixley coming in first and second in the junior boys division. Luke Geddes and Shea Pownell also won their divisions.
Zishen Fu, Joshua Marr, Rhys Dunbar and Max Milne represented Otago at table tennis.
Josh Kellett, the school's No1 badminton player, represented Otago at the South Island under-19 team event and was named in the South Island tournament team.
Kavanagh College
On April 9-10, more than 100 students travelled north to Oamaru to take part in the annual sports exchange with St Kevin's, Roncalli, St Peter's and Verdon.
Five different sports were being played: football, rugby, hockey, netball, and basketball. St Kevin's College was a great venue to host the tournament with its awesome facilities and fields. Kavanagh achieved some great results with the boys footballers winning all their games, the girls football team winning two out of three games, the girls basketball team three out of four games and the boys hockey team three out of four games. The first XV also managed a good win over St Kevin's and a narrow loss to Verdon.
Winter sport starts up this term and Kavanagh has teams entered in a variety of different codes including netball, basketball, rugby, football, hockey, curling, badminton and cross-country. Once again it has been a massive effort to find coaches and managers for all the teams and we thank all our volunteers who give up their time to help in any way at the college.
The school also has several students who compete in sports outside the college such as table tennis, swimming, dance, martial arts.
Columba College
Year 11 pupil Zara Galliven has been selected to represent New Zealand in gymsports while Hannah Cross has been picked for the New Zealand under-18 ice hockey team.
Meg Sycamore, Maia Joseph, McKayler Moore and Claudia Carruthers have been selected in their respective age-group New Zealand touch teams and Georgia Hamilton competed in Australia in water skiing.
The rowing crews achieved excellent results at the Maadi Cup regatta on Lake Karapiro. The under-18 lightweight coxed four of C Turner, M Nesbit, A Anderson, M Wright, and coxswain M Maslin secured a bonze, the under-16 coxed four of A Cunningham, A Anderson, E Foley, M Wright, and coxswain M Maslin claimed a silver and the under-17 coxed eight of M Nesbit, A Anderson, C Turner, E Foley, A Cunningham, N Horne, S Anderson, M Wright, and coxswain M Maslin also gained a bronze. Four rowers gained a South Island trial: Millie Wright, Callie Turner, Abby Anderson and Milly Nesbit. Callie and Abby then rowed for the South Island against the North Island. Clora Quinlan-Thompson captained the Columba rowers and was rewarded with a New Zealand trial. Megan Maslin was named coxswain of the entire regatta.
At the New Zealand age-group swimming championships, Caitlin Deans gained two gold, two silver and a bronze medal. Molly Law won three silver and Gabrielle Trotter grabbed a bronze. Caitlin has also been named as New Zealand swimming alumni swimmer of the year, and attended a New Zealand Swimming high altitude training camp in the United States over the holidays.
The Columba senior A touch team is South Island champion, winning the final after finishing undefeated at the South Island championships. It will now begin preparing for the nationals and an Australian trip later in the year.
The senior A water polo team gained third place at the recent South Island tournament in Invercargill. Kate Turnbull, a year 11 pupil, was selected in the tournament team.
At the South Island athletics championships, Jamie McAuslan was first in the senior high jump with a personal-best jump of 1.65m. Ellie Duncan came second in the 300m hurdles and third in the 200m and 400m for under-19 girls.
The senior 4x100m relay team of Meg Sycamore, Shannon Inch, Jorja Dinan and Ellie Duncan was third. Stephanie Smith also finished third in the under-16 girls hammer throw.
The sevens team was entered at the inaugural South Island event, with some of the players experiencing sevens for the first time. Under the coaching of teacher Joshua Walden the team was very competitive and exceeded all expectations in making the top four.
Mount Aspiring College
The unusually wet and muddy conditions did not deter the 85 competitors who took part in the MAC mountain bike champs at the end of term 1. There was some very close racing, particularly in the senior boys category. The overall winners were Ty Sargisson and Phoebe Young (senior). Phoebe went on to complete her season with a win in the under-20 girls at the NZSS champs in Rotorua.
Summer tournament week was a busy one for MAC students, with various events held all over the country.
At the NZSSs triathlon champs, Janus Staufenberg claimed the senior boys title, then teamed up with Gregor Findlay and Julius Staufenberg to come second in the team event. In the aquathon the next day, Janus and Gregor had a sprint finish for second and third respectively.
The sailing team of Luke Burke, Sean Dickey, Laura Erichsen, Ned Hudson, Kahu Nepia, Nicola Sanders and James Watt finished third in a fleet of 14 at the SISS teams event in Picton, a remarkable feat for a team which has no other teams to train with in the region.
A squad of four rowers competed in tricky conditions at the Maadi Cup. Top performances included Bella Cooke's eighth place in the B final of the under-18 single sculls and Peta McKay and Greer Porter's sixth place in the B final of under-16 doubles.
Despite the state of civil emergency in Bay of Plenty, three pupils competed in shortened events at the NZSS whitewater kayaking champs. Highlights were Madi Gainsford's fifth in the K1 intermediate women and James and Joel Suddaby's sixth place in the C2 intermediate men. The three paddlers joined Dunstan High School to claim silver in the C2 team event.
Four teams competed at the SISS adventure racing champs in Cromwell. The course was said to be one of the best so far and really tested students' navigation skills, teamwork and resilience. Top results included first for the mixed team of Sam Coupland, Fiona Murray), Jesse Robertson and Matthew Wilson and second for the boys team of Harrison Brown, Campbell Russell, Joseph Wilson and Luke Wright.
Meanwhile, the athletes continue to punch well above their weight with some outstanding results at the SISS championships. Three days after winning the triathlon champs, Janus Staufenberg broke the senior boys 1500m record by more than 3sec. Sammy Burke won the senior girls 3000m and Zoe Smith won the under-14 800m and 1500m.
Pupils are now getting ready for snow sports, winter team sports and the cross-country running season.
