Cricket
Perserverance paid off for the St Hildas Collegiate 1st XI cricket team, which qualified for the national finals.
Perseverance is one of the Thinking Strategies that the students and staff have focussed on in the "HOT SPOT thinking contract" over the past two years.
Coach Neil Rosenberg, who has coached the team since 1998, was delighted with the determination and perseverance displayed by the team.
Captain Phillippa Cashmere has been a member for five years and Brittney Haugh, the other Year 13 student in the team, a member for four years, Rosenberg said.
"The closest the team have got in recent years was in 2003 where they made it to the regional finals in Timaru. We invariably succumbed to Otago Girls High and although it was a pleasure to play against players of the calibre of Suzie Bates and Shannon King, we were always convincingly beaten,'' Rosenberg added.
St Hildas beat Kaikorai Valley College, Columba College and St Kevins College in Oamaru to win the Otago competition and the right to travel to Tapanui and play Blue Mountain College, the Southland regional winner, for a place at the nationals later in the year.
The weather was perfect for the 50-over final and St Hildas batted first having been inserted by Blue Mountain. St. Hilda's scored a creditable total of 176 with major contributions coming from Brittney Haugh 31 and Imogen Weir 30 not out.
In reply, tight bowling by St Hildas' bowlers restricted the scoring and wickets fell at regular intervals with Blue Mountain being 7 for 63 before a very good 8th wicket partnership between Letitica Miller (41) and Anna Venz (18 not out) took the score to 120.
Two smart catches wound up the innings in the 41st over with Blue Mountain College all out for 124.
Best of the St Hildas' bowlers was Amy Rapley with 3 for 21 off 8 overs and Imogen Weir and Philippa Cashmere who both chipped in with two wickets each..
St Hildas will now compete in the NZCT Secondary Schools finals to be held in Christchurch in term four.
Volleyball
Volleyball continues to be popular among secondary school students.
Sixty five teams competed in their respective grades this term on Monday and Friday nights, with the growing number of boys teams being encouraging. Friday nights at the Edgar Centre have run smoothly with some very close and competitive games.
Mini Volley is also popular on Monday nights with a record 17 teams entered, all games being played at the John McGlashan gym.
The Otago Secondary Schools tournament was held in mid March as a preliminary to the national Championships in Palmerston North. In the boys section Bayfield captured the title with a close fought 3-2 victory over John McGlashan, while in the girls section, OGHS A held on to the title for another year without dropping a set throughout the tournament. They defeated St Hildas in the final.
OGHS A, OGHS B and John McGlashan represented Otago at the Secondary Schools Nationals at the end of March. Although they were not able to bring home any silverware OGHS A finished a creditable 11th in division one.
In the boys section the youthful John McGlashan team managed ninth place in division three.
Volleyball starts again in the latter part of Term 3 with the Otago Junior Tournament, the South Island Junior Champs and Otago U15/U17 representative games, all taking place in the second half of the year.
Sevens
On Friday April 11, secondary schools from across the Highlanders franchise came together at Carisbrook to compete in a 7s tournament.
Waitaki Boys, St Kevins, Otago Boys, Kavanagh, Kings, South Otago, Dunstan and Verdon fought it out for the inaugural Highlanders 7s Championship Cup.
Kings were crowned winners of the Cup beating Otago Boys in the final after narrow wins against Verdon College and Dunstan High School.
All teams played at least two games and the close proximity of many of the results indicated that we can expect some hard fought victories throughout the season ahead.
The ORFU extends a hearty congratulations to the Kings side and looks forward to seeing still further North Otago, Otago and Southland Secondary Schools competing for this Cup in 2009.
The PGG Wrightson U18 grade begins this year on Saturday May 10, and it will feature the vast majority of Otago Secondary School First XVs, with the exception of Otago Boys who will contest the Metropolitan Division 2 Colts grade again this season.
