These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary chools Sports Association which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
King's High School
A squad of 30 athletes brought home 12 gold, six silver and five bronze medals when the athletics season finished last weekend with the SISS championships at the Caledonian Ground.
Some of the outstanding results were Alex Brown's gold in the 3000m race walk, Sam Gouverneur's under-19 800m gold and 400m bronze, Drew Cairney's under-16 3000m gold and 1500m silver, Flynn Murdoch's under-15 80m hurdles and 200m golds and 100m silver, and Duncan Trevithick's under-14 golds in the 100m, 200m and 400m. The under-15 team of Keanu Vanisi, Flynn Murdoch, Gregor Clarkson and Bradley McPate smashed the SISS record in gaining first in the 4x100m relay in 45.96sec.
The athletes are now looking forward to taking an exciting and accomplished team to the nationals in Hastings at the end of the year.
The King's sevens team qualified to represent Otago at the New Zealand Condor sevens in Auckland in December after winning its games on Sunday against Waitaki Boys' High School at Kettle Park.
King's represented Otago at the NZCT junior boys cricket nationals for the second time, after beating OBHS in the final at the University Oval last year. It played Auckland Grammar, New Plymouth Boys', Hamilton Boys', St Bedes and Wellington College and competed admirably against some pretty tough opposition. Although it did not win a game, the biggest losing margin was 30 runs and it was in the contest in every game.
The team was recognised by the umpires throughout the week for the way in which it played the game and was rewarded with the Spirit of Cricket award along with a bat signed by the 2016-17 Black Caps test team.
John McGlashan College
The summer sporting season closed with a host of fine results for the school.
The rowing squad achieved its best results at the Maadi Cup. Bradley Leydon led the charge with a gold in the under-18 single sculls before teaming up with Lochie Bain to claim bronze in the double. Will Turner and Will Edwards secured a silver in the under-15 double sculls then combined with Bailey Dowley, Angus Kenny and cox Cameron Leydon to pick up a bronze in the quadruple sculls. The fast-finishing Jack McLaughlan won a silver in the under-16 single. These results placed McGlashan as the fourth-best boys school in the country.
McGlashan athletes won six gold medals at the SISS athletics championships. Nico Bowering shone with golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x100 relay. Johnny Baker, Hamish Brown and Dom Morrison completed the relay team. Others to gain placings were Nathan Harrison, first high jump, third 1500m; Josh Hou first 3000m, second 1500m; Dom Morrison first 800m, third 400m; LeRoy Ferguson, second shot put.
At the South Island sunburst regatta Ollie Gilmour and Olivier Page won the spinnaker division while Henry and Jak South won the non-spinnaker division.
Logan Park High School
The athletics programme at school is paying off with some impressive results in the Otago-Southland athletics championships. Rebecca Dalphin was second in the under-14 3000m, Zack Hibbert second in the under-14 discus and Annelise Scharpf third in the under-14 high jump. These pupils, along with Leila East Giles (year 12) and Vivienne Dalphin (year 9), qualified for the SISS champs and enjoyed the strong competition.
Teams did well in the SISS sunburst regatta which ran for a week on Otago Harbour during summer tournament week. Miriam Barton (skipper) and Ella Molteno (crew) won the Allan Garbutt Trophy for best all-female crew and were also third overall in the silver fleet.
Handball continues to be popular and the mixed team played East Otago High School in the final. The mixed team has been unbeaten all season.
The senior boys futsal team travelled to Wellington for the NZSS futsal tournament. Unfortunately, fog meant the flight was diverted to Auckland and the team had to drive to Wellington, missing a day's competition and losing to the eventual winner of the competition. It will play in the Dunedin division one final tomorrow .
On the sports service front, 16 pupils assisted Dunedin North Intermediate with its school triathlon in March. Eight pupils helped with the Fundamental Fun Day, a primary school programme run by Sport Otago for children in years 0-3, aiming to develop the fundamental skills needed to successfully participate in activities and games.
The interhouse dodgeball competition was won by Omimi House in a close final against Aoraki House.
St Hilda's Collegiate
Twenty-four rowers have recently returned from the Maadi Cup where they had six days of racing including nail-biting finishes in heats, repechages, quarterfinals and semifinals resulting in nine crews making finals. SHCS ranked 42nd out of 126 for overall points and 29th out of 126 for sculling points. It was also the most A finals made at a Karapiro Maadi Cup for the school since 2003 and first medal won since 2012.
Highlights were the bronze medal from the under-15 octuple - Emma O'Meara, Emma Burnside, Emily Hurdle, Lola Verkerk, Molly Marsh, Molly Gow, Emma Christie, Briar Grounds and cox Tamara Mason; seventh, under-15 double - Emma Burnside, Emily Hurdle; seventh under-16 double - Alannah Hamilton, Ruby Grave.
Cecilia Crooks, Nicole Heaton, Natalie Hutchens and Jessica Scott qualified for the national age-group swimming championships in Wellington last week. There were nearly 700 swimmers aged 12-17. Special mention goes to Jessica who won the 200m butterfly and came second in the 50m and 100m butterfly and was a finalist in the 50m,100m and 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley.
Cecilia was second in the 800m freestyle and a finalist in the 400m IM and Nicol was a finalist in the 50m,100m and 200m backstroke and 400m IM.
The touch team recently competed at the SISS champs. The girls qualified top in their group and went through to the top four to qualify for the nationals in December.
Ultimately, it was a Dunedin final which was won by Columba by one point after the game went to drop off.
The senior A water polo team finished third at the 2017 South Island water polo competition. This was a great result for the girls and a wonderful final tournament for the six year 13s in the team.
Sarah Cochrane was named in the tournament team.
Otago Girls' High School
Otago Girls' High School has had great sporting successes over the past month, particularly during summer sports week.
The highlight was the senior A volleyball team which won division three at the NZSS championships in Palmerston North. This means it will compete in division one next year. The 11 A Volleyball team also competed at the Volleyball New Zealand satellite tournament in Christchurch during summer sports week. The team won all of its games against older and bigger opponents and won the final 3-1 after conceding the first set. Meg Schlaadt, Talei Pelasio, Ella Sell, and Tessa Buschl all made the tournament team and Meg was named most valuable player.
The senior A water polo team, which includes six juniors, finished top of its pool, at ninth of 12 teams, in the SISS tournament in Christchurch.
The sevens team participated in a two-day South Island tournament in Timaru winning three of its six games in finishing sixth.
The sailing team formed a combined team with four sailors from Mt Aspiring College and represented Otago at the South Island team racing regionals in Picton. It was the first time in more than 10 years that Dunedin sailors had competed at a team racing event. While they did not gain a placing, they are motivated to compete at the 2018 nationals.
The school collected 14 medals at the SISS athletic championships: Emma Mckay, first under-14 long jump, second under-14 discus and javelin, third under-14 100m; Jess Tyrell, second under-14 shot put; Caitlin O'Donnell, second under-15 800m, third under-15 400m; Rebecca Hill, third under-15 3000m; Charlotte Underwood, third under-14 high jump; Storm Maole, second under-16 hammer; Gemma Millar, third senior hammer; under-14 4x100m relay (Katie Wong, Mia Parsons, Jesika Sebelin, Charlotte Underwood) third; under-15 4x100m relay (Caitlin O'Donnell, Emily Hall, Sophie Miller, Hannah Matehaere) first; under-16 4x400m relay (Caitlin O'Donnell, Rebekah Hill, Sophie Miller, Hannah Matehaere) second.
Taieri College
It has been a busy couple of weeks with many students involved in summer sport action.
At the recent SISS athletics championships, Zharna Beattie won the under-15 girls discus event breaking the South Island record and finished third in the shot put. Hamish Mears won both the under-16 shot put and discus. Hamish also went to Australia to compete in the Australian championships and picked up a bronze medal in the under-17 boys shot put. Tara McNally was second in the under-15 girls hurdles and was part of the girls relay team, along with Hannah Ashton, Ciara Lawlor and Jordan Miller, which claimed second in the under-16 girls relay.
A small dedicated team of rowers competed at the SISS champs and Maadi Cup. The standout performance was from Haylee Budd who won a bronze medal at SI champs in the under-17 girls single sculls, a first rowing medal for Taieri College. She then qualified for the A final at Maadi and almost claimed a second medal, finishing 0.17sec off third place.
The mixed touch team qualified second in Otago and went to the SISS champs where it missed out on a trip to the nationals on countback.
The senior girls volleyball team made its first trip to the nationals in Palmerston North and finished fourth in its division.
Roxburgh Area School
Tiaan Mckinnel, Alex Darling, Brayden Whyte and Stacey Mckinnel represented the school in the SISS adventure race team event in Cromwell. The team was very successful in its first attempt at this event and finished eighth.
Danae Wales and Annalee Black competed in the triple jump at the Otago-Southland SS athletics champs in Invercargill and the SISS athletics championship in Dunedin. Annalee was second in the under-14 girls at the Otago-Southland and fourth in the SISS championships. Danae was third in the under-16 girls at the Otago-Southland championships and eighth at the SISS championships.
Mykayla Roberts has just returned from competing in the FMA New Zealand Black Gloves team selection for muaythai in Auckland. She has now been selected to represent New Zealand in the World Cup team event in Thailand in August.
Daniel Arnesen played in the age-group golf strokeplay championships at Balclutha last weekend. He heads to the Otago age-group championships in Cromwell during the school holidays.
Brooke Johnston was second in the pairs at the Canterbury Mounted Games.
The school was privileged to have White Ferns captain Suzie Bates speak to the school recently. It was great to hear how playing with her brothers in the backyard had inspired her to develop her skills. She also talked about the Olympic values which are very similar to the school's Ripper values and shared with the seniors some tips on mental skills training.
Dunstan High School
Some strong performances by the school's sports teams in recent weeks will leave the squads satisfied with their seasons.
The rowing team competed well at the SISS championships, making 11 A finals and finishing with three gold medals and one bronze. The team then performed well at the Maadi Cup. Four crews made A finals with the highlight being a gold medal to the under-15 girls coxed octuple sculls.
The athletics team has had a busy end to its season. The team competed at the Otago meet where it finished with eight firsts, four seconds and five third placings. The team then competed in the Otago-Southland meet and finished its season at the SISS championships where it gained three firsts, three seconds and four thirds. The team looks in good shape with some strong juniors coming through.
In the South Island adventure race earlier in the month, the senior team finished second and the two junior teams finishing in the top 10.
Looking ahead the kayaking team will soon be heading away to compete at the nationals where it has historically done very well.
