The week in secondary school sport

The St Hildas Collegiate School team goes into a huddle during the South Island secondary schools...
The St Hildas Collegiate School team goes into a huddle during the South Island secondary schools netball tournament in Dunedin this month. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Seventy-six teams, 91 umpires and an excellent indoor facility contributed to a very successful South Island secondary schools netball tournament in Dunedin in the first week of September.

Big wins in the first round of the A grade were early indicators of the strong competition to gain top eight status.

Tight finishes determined the top 16 after the first round robin, with St Hildas Collegiate School and St Kevins College (Oamaru) the only Otago teams making the cut.

Otago teams competing in A grade were Queens High School (28th, maintaining A grade status for 2009), Taieri College (22nd), Waitaki Girls High School (20th), Otago Girls High School (17th) and St Hildas (14th).

The top eight ended up being a good spread from around the South Island - Verdon College, Invercargill; St Peters College, Gore; St Kevins, Oamaru; Craighead Diocesan School, Timaru; Rangi Ruru Girls School, Villa Maria College and Marian College, Christchurch; and Motueka High School, from the top of the South Island.

Motueka reached the semifinal in its first year in the A grade, having finished runner-up in B grade in 2007.

Motueka beat St Peters 34-32 in the play-off for third and fourth.

St Kevins and Villa Maria reached the finals unbeaten, with excellent wins over the four days.

The Christchurch team won the final 39-28.

However, it was an excellent tournament for St Kevins, with all players in their final year at school.

St Kevins players Kim Filiga, Mairead Fox and Lydia Langley were selected in the talented players list.

B grade Otago schools also performed creditably over the four days - South Otago High School (14th), Wakatipu High School (12th), Dunstan High School (10th).

Bayfield High School, Columba College and Dunstan had a tight round robin in round two.

Mt Aspiring College beat Bayfield in play-offs for fifth and sixth, winning 28-16.

Columba fought strongly to beat Cashmere High School in their semifinal 43-33. The final was played between Gore and Columba, Columba pulling away in the second half to win 30-26.

Both move up to A grade for 2009.

The Catlins Area School had two good wins on the last day to maintain its place in B grade for 2009.

Selected in the talented players list were Nicola Blair (South Otago), Zoe Cadzow (Columba), Hannah Coutts and Anna Enright (Dunstan).

Competition was even in C grade, with all four finalists having lost a game in round-robin.

Tokomairiro High School stumbled against Kaikorai Valley College on day two and again in the semifinal against Tapawera Area School on day four.

Tokomairiro finished fourth, losing to Queen Charlotte College 35-22.

Kaikorai Valley had one loss in round-robin play against Tapawera, but won the final 36-20 - a strong finish to a successful tournament for Kaikorai Valley.

It has earned the right to move to B grade for 2009.

Selected in the talented players list was Jessica Harrex (Tokomairiro) and Alannah Johnston (Kaikorai Valley).

Football

Balclutha hosted the South Island secondary schoolgirls' satellite football tournament, with 15 teams from Christchurch to Invercargill converging on the town for four days of football.

South Otago turned on a week of warm, sunny weather and competition was close throughout the four pools.

Otago Girls and St Hildas from Dunedin contested the final, and Otago Girls won a fiercely contested and exciting game, 1-0.

St Andrews College, from Christchurch, and James Hargest College, of Invercargill, contested third and fourth place, with St Andrews winning 2-1.

At the conclusion, organisers acknowledged the long service and commitment to football in Otago of Arthur Bouman, who refereed the final.

The Fair Play Award was won by Central Southland College, Winton.

Indoor bowls

The Roxburgh Area School team of Sarah Davidson, Matthew Frame, Alex Pasco and Aleisha Davidson went to Wellington for the inaugural New Zealand secondary schools indoor bowls tournament.

In the pairs on Monday, Davidson and Frame beat eventual winner Avondale College in pool play.

Pasco and Davidson lost narrowly in the semifinals and finished third.

Other Otago pupils in the tournament were Tony Johnson (Blue Mountain) and Kelsey De Koning (Dunstan).

Cricket

A visit to Lord's, the London home of cricket, was a highlight of Kavanagh College year-13 pupil Michael Bracewell's trip to England with the New Zealand under-19 cricket team.

Bracewell (17), who opened the batting, returned as the team's leading run-scorer in the one-day internationals, with 160 runs in his four innings at an average of 40.

New Zealand drew the one-day series 1-1 with one game tied, and an innings of 61 by Bracewell in the last game helped set up a six-wicket win.

Kavanagh College also produced Otago's other representative in the team - Nick Beard (18), who left school last year.

He claimed seven wickets in the tests, including a five-wicket bag in the second test.

He also featured strongly in the one-dayers, with best figures of 4 for 35 in the tied game, which he followed up with 23 runs off 22 balls as New Zealand all but snatched victory.

Otago's leading secondary school cricketers will get an early taste of action this season when they compete in an inaugural South Island secondary schools 20/20 tournament in Christchurch on September 20 and 21.

Otago Boys first XI will use the tournament to build up to the Gillette Cup finals in December, while Otago Cricket has also entered a combined Otago secondary school team.

 

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