These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Bayfield High School
Eva Hofmans has continued her rise in rowing. She competed in the Otago indoor rowing competition, finishing first in the under-19 2000m, second in the under-19 500m and second in the under-19 100m. This follows on from Eva's success at the school prizegiving at which she received the awards for best overall sportswoman and the Leighton Cup for best sporting performance.
The school had a very busy weekend with five teams entered in the Otago volleyball championships. The most successful was the girls yellow team which claimed first place. These five teams will be participating in the junior South Island tournament next week.
Young petanque player Jackson Gallagher has had further success in the sport, finishing second in the South Island singles tournament and third in the doubles.
Junior table tennis players Isaac Hobbs, Ruby Anderson and Alex Clarkson have all been named in the national under-15 cadet squads. Alex and Isaac both made quarterfinals at the nationals and Isaac also took home the award for most improved junior player.
The school is looking forward to junior sports week when year 9-10 pupils will be participating in cricket, volleyball, dodgeball, basketball and touch.
Columba College
The annual sports awards evening was held last month in the Marsh Sports Centre. A special thank you to guest speaker Silver Fern Gina Crampton and congratulations to all who received awards.
This year, the girls have excelled not only as athletes but have displayed talent both on and off the field as coaches and officials within their chosen codes. They are acknowledged for their dedication, commitment and leadership throughout 2018. Individual sporting success shown at both regional and national level was recognised.
This year, Columba designed special ties for students selected to represent New Zealand in their chosen field. It is a huge honour to wear the silver fern and Columba College is proud to have 11 pupils currently representing New Zealand. Wearing a prestigious tie will help identify these talented athletes and encourage younger students to aspire to such levels.
Some special awards on the evening were: team of the year, under-16 coxed four rowing (E. Foley, M. Maslin, J. Gibbons, & A. Cunningham); sports personality of the year, Ellie Duncan; Shona Harvey Inspire & Excel Cup, Ellie Duncan; English and Wood Commitment and Sportsmanship Trophy, Mikayla Gray.
Mount Aspiring College
The school fielded two teams in the Central Otago secondary schools junior touch tournament in Cromwell. The tournament, co-ordinated by the OSSSA, was well-supported with more than 12 teams making up A and B grades. The MAC year 9 team won the B grade, beating the year 10 team, which finished second.
Year 12 pupil Georgia Budd has been selected for the South Island under-18 rugby team. Georgia was one of about 30 pupils to receive a sporting blue at the Mount Aspiring College blues awards ceremony last month.
Several pupils have been selected by Snow Sports NZ to attend overseas development training camps. The camps aim to work with young athletes to move them towards high performance development selection. Congratulations to Lucia Georgalli, Oscar Georgalli, Fin Melville Ives, Cam Melville Ives, Gustav Legnavsky, Hugo Smith, Seth Carlton and Luca Harrington.
Best of luck to the year 10 Get 2 Go team. The competition is being held on Great Barrier Island at the end of term. The team has been working hard to train and raise funds for this week-long adventure challenge run by Hillary Outdoors.
Otago Boys' High School
Hunter Walker has been selected for the New Zealand under-21 curling team to compete in Finland in February.
Triathlete Jack Divers competed for New Zealand at the world age-group championships on the Gold Coast in September.
Nathan Hanna represented the Junior Tall Blacks which won silver at the Fiba Asia tournament.
Taylor Dale was picked for the NZ Maori secondary schools rugby team.
Cameron Moffitt was selected to compete for New Zealand at athletics.
At the school this year, pupils were involved in 33 sports and overall 73% of boys played sport. To achieve this there has been a very strong influence from teaching and support staff.
Thank you to passionate parents who support their boys by being managers, coaches or just mums and dads getting their boys to their sporting venues.
Jack Light is a name to look for in the future. Jack (13) won two golds and a bronze in a South Island archery event despite not having picked up a bow for eight weeks prior as he had had a broken arm. The same weekend, to be eligible to represent New Zealand, Jack had to go up a grade shooting against 16-20-year-olds.
He still was able to win two golds. He was then asked to represent NZ at the Oceania Games in New Caledonia. Again, Jack competed with distinction winning gold in the 1440 class, a gold for beating the highest men's score for the day and on day two won silver in the individual matchplay.
Kavanagh College
The school held its annual senior sports awards recently in the college's auditorium. The guest speaker was Paralympian Holly Robinson who was joined by Nicki Paterson and Nicole McLaren from the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association. The college celebrated all the sporting successes throughout the year with numerous individuals performing to very high levels.
The team of the year went to the national title-winning boys and girls curling teams, the student coach of the year went to a very deserving Savannah Laws, and Nick Parata scooped the two big awards for sportsman of the year and contribution.
Hena Fonohema has been selected in the Tongan women's football team which is competing in the OFC Nations Cup in New Caledonia.
Pippa Sherriff was recently selected in the 14-year-old age-group Southern tennis team to compete in the national team event in January.
As the year draws to a close, the school would like to take this opportunity to thank all the coaches, managers and staff who have contributed to sport in some way during 2018. You are very much appreciated.
Queen's High School
The annual sport and culture prize-giving was on October 24. Guest speaker was former pupil and national hammer throw titleholder Nicole Bradley. She shared her inspirational journey with the 118 award recipients. Best all-round senior sportswoman went to Zoe Thomas, an exceptional football, futsal and hockey player.
Zoe has recently been selected for the Aotearoa Maori women's football team for the transtasman clash of the Cultures in January in Australia. Jodie Hyatt won the best all-round junior sportswoman. The finalists for the Cameron Cup for outstanding individual sporting achiever were Zoe Thomas (football), Abby McMullan (aerobics), Lara Wall (football) and winner Erin Marshall (ice hockey).
Heaven Samson-Loffley (co-captain), Terena Ramsay and Darcy Hunt-Murphy have been named in the Otago senior women's softball team.
Aliyah Christos has been selected for the New Zealand under-18 ice hockey team to compete in the Asia Cup next year.
Two teams will compete in the South Island junior volleyball Championships in Dunedin next week. Coaches Terry Brewerton and Louise Nicolson are excited for teams to have this opportunity.
South Otago High School
Lily Pringle, Luana Valli, Gemma Johnson, Keely Hill and Maddie Deacon have recently returned from Timaru after representing Otago in the under-15 sevens team. Trials were held in October when the girls had to attend two training days to prove their skills.
A team of 12 was selected from these trials to travel to Timaru on November 10-11. The team first beat Canterbury Country 33-17 followed by Mid Canterbury 46-5. In its next game, Otago had a tough tussle before being edged 24-22 by South Canterbury. The girls then downed Canterbury Metro 20-15.
That win sent the team into the final against South Canterbury, which had beaten Otago the day before. The tables were turned and Otago took the South Island title 17-14. Having five girls in this team demonstrates the depth of rugby at South Otago High School. It also highlights the way in which women's rugby is growing in the district and nationally.
