Weather no setback for many codes

Despite the recent weather, weekly competitions in touch, cricket, volleyball, tennis and softball are under way for the year. The orienteering series has also started and race four is this evening at Waldronville.

The touch competition at Bishopscourt on Tuesday afternoons is going well, and nearly 40 teams are participating. It is a busy schedule and most schools are doing well with refereeing. Teams from Kings High, Queens High, Otago Boys, Otago Girls, Logan Park, Kaikorai Valley College, St Hildas Collegiate, Columba College and John McGlashan College play across several sections.

Water polo is also well contested and, after a week of grading games, the first two rounds of competition have been played. The junior grade has top six and bottom four sections, and the open grade has a top five and bottom four. Teams from St Hildas Collegiate, Columba College, John McGlashan College, Taieri College, Kavanagh College, Kings High, Queens High, Otago Boys and Otago Girls make up the competition. There is a great rivalry among all schools. This is a great spectator sport, and results for this and other competitions can be found on the OSSSA website (www.osssa.org.nz).

St Hildas and Columba represented Otago at the South Island secondary schools water polo tournament in Christchurch last weekend. A report on their efforts will follow.

Special Olympics swimming
This popular annual meeting is on again today, and brings a great deal of fun and enjoyment to all those who take part. About 60 pupils from around Otago will swim.

Schools police triathlon
Forty-seven teams and 37 individuals contested the Otago and Southland secondary schools police triathlon in Cromwell last week, numbers slightly up on last year. The 300m swim in Lake Dunstan, followed by a 20km bike ride on the Wanaka Highway and a 6km run around the lakeshore proved to be a testing course for the competitors.

Athletes from Waitaki Girls, Taieri College, St Hildas Collegiate, John McGlashan College, Dunstan High, Wakatipu High, Mt Aspiring College, Tokomairiro High, St Kevins College, Otago Girls, Central Southland College, Bayfield High, Cromwell College, Blue Mountain College, Kavanagh College, Gore High and Columba College enjoyed a great day out. A mild day and very light breeze made for ideal conditions.

Results. -Yr 9 & 10 team mixed: Cromwell 1:50:07. Yr 9 & 10 team male: John McGlashan 3 1:18:58. Yr 9 & 10 team female: Waitaki Girls Gold 1:22:31, Mt Aspiring 9 1:28:36. Yr 9 & 10 male: Troy McAlister (Central Southland College) 1:02:27, Tom Vessey (Dunstan) 1:08:03, Ben Platfoot (Central Southland) 1:34:51. Yr 9 & 10 female: Jaime Kruijer (Wakatipu) 1:19:57, Mary Gray (Otago Girls) 1:34:55, Amy Holland (St Kevins) 1:39:12. Yr 11-13 male: Alex Dodds (John McGlashan) 1:02:30, Constantain Vogt (Mt Aspiring) 1:05:58, Sam Lee (Mt Aspiring) 1:08:20. Yr 11-13 female: Reubyn Bisschops (St Kevins) 1:06:04, Amelia Kinnaird (St Hildas) 1:06:51, Joyce Andrew (Central Southland) 1:18:25. Yr 11-13 team male: Bayfield 1 1:03:04, Kavanagh Boys 1:05:12, John McGlashan 2 1:06:48. Yr 11-13 female: SFL Team (St Hildas) 1:06:30, Nicole/Alice Team (Columba) 1:19:32, Waitaki Girls Black 1:19:38. Yr 11-13 mixed: Taieri College Mixed 2 1:10:24, Taieri College Mixed 1 1:14:20, Central Southland mixed team 1:21:34.

Orienteering achiever
Ryan Cambridge, a year 13 pupil at Kings High School, achieved outstanding results when he competed in the Oceania orienteering championships in January.

In the men's under-18 section, Ryan was first in the sprint event (Lincoln University), first in the long-distance (Craigieburn) and second in the middle-distance (Duntroon).

Ryan comes from a family that has excelled at this sport for some time. When Ryan arrived at Kings, he followed brothers Tane and Riki and father Owen, all Kings old boys. Both Tane and Riki were New Zealand orienteering representatives. Twin brother Joel decided to stick to rugby and cricket, soon making top teams in both sports.

Like his brothers, Ryan enjoys the mental challenge of cunning running, as it is sometimes dubbed. As well as hurtling through bush and scrub, up hills and across tricky slopes, competitors must possess good map-reading skills and be quick thinkers.

Ryan hopes to do well at the national secondary schools championships in Palmerston North in July and be selected for the New Zealand schools team to compete against Australia.

Cricket
An outstanding game of cricket was played between the Logan Park High School first XI and the John McGlashan College second XI recently.

John McGlashan won the toss and elected to bat. After 20 overs, John McGlashan was 98 for two and, after some late-order big hitting, finished on 275, usually a winning score.

The topic of conversation at the change of innings was how Logan Park had not scored over 200 runs in any innings last season. After a solid start from Alec Dawson and Adam Harris, Jens Moller came to the crease. Once established, he started scoring freely and, after 20 overs, Logan Park was slightly ahead of the required run rate. Ben Abraham joined Moller and runs started to come quickly.

At the 35-over stage only 36 runs were needed. Abraham was eventually out for 63.

Braden Griffiths, a year 10 player, supported Moller well and they left themselves two runs to win off the last over. Moller achieved this with a lofted cover drive off the third ball. This meant an excellent win to a somewhat stunned Logan Park team. Moller finished on 116 not out, his third century for the school.

Beach volleyball tournament
Dunedin high school teams recently competed in the secondary schools three-a-side beach volleyball tournament at St Clair beach. Despite the cool Saturday morning, more than 40 athletes competed from Kings, John McGlashan, Bayfield and St Hildas Collegiate.

In the boys final, the team from Kings (Lima Manu, Paul Tupai, and Reece Vaitupu) narrowly defeated the John McGlashan team (James Skeggs, Ben De la Rouche, Tom Marning, and Tim Glednill). In the timed 20-minute game, the Kings team won 30-29.

Bayfield (Toby Brash, Sean McIntee, Olly Smith, and Tom Richardson) defeated another John McGlashan team (Andrew McCorkindale, Zaid Dohan, and Hasmat Lafrare) for third.

The only girls team, the St Hildas team of Emma Spratt, Hanna McKenzie and Laura Pedofsky, showed skill and enthusiasm, pushing some of the boys teams close.

The volleyball was of a high standard, parents and friends watched, the weather heated up, and everyone seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and games.

Pupils excel
Anna-Lisa Uttley (Bayfield) has shown she is a dedicated and talented track, cross-country and road race athlete. In 2008, she gained victories and places in both provincial and national events. These included winning the South Island schools under-15 3000m and the New Zealand schools under-16 road race. In winning the 4km road race, Anna-Lisa broke the New Zealand under-16 and under-19 records. There is no doubt Anna-Lisa has the talent and potential to compete at the highest level.

Chris Hood (Otago Boys), who was selected in the New Zealand under-18 basketball team, recently returned from the Commonwealth Youth Games a bronze medallist after New Zealand beat Japan in overtime.

Touch
After a recent training camp in Christchurch, the following players were selected in the Southern Lynx (South Island) age-group touch teams: under-15 boys, Tyrone Pelasio, Jaron Fitiao (both Kaikorai Valley College) and Jayden Dovey (Kings); under-17 boys, Caleb Gray (Kings); under-17 girls, Leyhana Van Vugt (South Otago) and Dayna Turnbull (Otago Girls).


• Calendar of Events

Today: Orienteering 4, Island Park, Waldronville; Special Olympics swimming, Moana Pool.
March 6: Eagles intercollegiate golf, Balmacewen.
March 8: South Island triathlon and duathlon, Oamaru.
March 11: Orienteering 5, Chingford Park.
March 13-14: Otago athletics, Caledonian Ground.
March 15: Kayaking, Paddles Up, Hawea River.

 

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