Queen's High School

Jorja Gibbons

Jorja Gibbons wants to compete with the fastest athletes in the world.

The 18-year-old runner has already set a national record as a part of the New Zealand under-20 relay team at the Sydney Track Classic this year.

She recently started racing in a senior grade and was stepping up to big competition against the likes of Olympian Zoe Hobbs.

She said it was scary going up against Hobbs but she loved racing people faster than her.

Athletics was in her blood - her father is Olympian pole vaulter Paul Gibbons and her mother is Otago hurdler Megan Gibbons.

Despite the strong family heritage in athletics, Jorja never felt a burden of expectations from her parents.

‘‘They don’t put a lot of pressure on me. I put a bit of pressure on myself to do well.’’

She said she wanted to prove she could be successful wherever she was from and it did not matter she was from Dunedin.

She was looking forward to competing in the New Zealand Track and Field Championships on home soil in Dunedin next year.

Her long-term goal was to go to the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.

Achievements

Sports prefect (2024); set New Zealand record with the U20 women’s relay team (2024); 3rd in the 100m New Zealand U20 Track and Field Championships (2024); senior athletics champion (2024); 1st in 100m sprint South Island Championships (2024); New Zealand team at Australian Athletics Championships (2023); New Zealand U18 100m sprint champion (2023); 1st in 100m sprint and long jump and 2nd 200m at South Island Championships (2023); runner-up Senior Girls 100m sprint at National Secondary Schools (2023); Otago U18 champion for 100m and 200m run long jump and set Otago records (2023); Queen’s senior athletics champion (2023); Sylvia Potts Cup for the highest achievement in athletics (2023); Cameron Cup for the most outstanding individual sporting achiever (2023); hockey 1st XI for the past five years; formal committee (2024); year 9 peer support leader (2024); Year 12 student leader at year 9 day (2023); volunteer child cancer appeal collector (2023).

Role models

Mother (who is also my coach, Megan Gibbons) and Dad.

Hopes for the future

To have made it to an Olympic Games and to help other people from Dunedin compete in athletics.

Elise Carline

Elise Carline is not one to back down from a challenge - ever.

When the young Southern Hoiho women’s basketball prospect with a trusty lay-up went up against China’s 2.2m-tall Zhang Ziyu at this year’s FIBA Asia Cup, she did not back down.

The 18-year-old was ready for it because she had grown up playing against competition much bigger than her - mainly boys a year ahead of her in primary school.

‘‘I’m not going to back down from the challenge,’’ she said.

She was disappointed to lose a game against Korea and miss out on qualifying for the World Championships.

However, she was grateful to have had an opportunity that not everyone gets.

‘‘I’m really proud of myself because you don’t expect to be able to do that. That’s such an honour.

‘‘Especially coming from Dunedin, we don’t get as much exposure as the North Island people and stuff like that.

‘‘It’s really, really cool to be able to represent my school, my community, my family on the world stage.’’

She said it was difficult to rise through the ranks in basketball when you live in the South.

Only two girls from the entire South Island had been selected for a national squad of 12 in the past.

But a few coaches from Canada had already reached out to her to play college basketball.

Her dream was to play at the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games.

She wanted to prove that ‘‘nothing was out of reach’’ with a bit of hard work and commitment.

Her mother Lee-ann and father Tony Carline had both played basketball, and she was born to play the game as well, Elise said.

‘‘There’s a photo of my mum pregnant, with me being compared to a basketball, so it was almost meant to be.’’

Achievements

U18 Junior Tall Fern tour to China for U18 Asia Cup (2024); Southern Hoiho players contract (2024); Andy Bay Falcons Women’s A team most valuable player (2024); Steven Adams Basketball Camp in Los Angeles (2024); school senior A basketball team (2024); Basketball Otago U20 women’s A team (2024); NZ U17 Junior Tall Fern (2023); school award for contribution to basketball (2023); school best senior player (2023); senior A volleyball (2023); Basketball Otago U17 A team and most valuable player (2023); Dunedin Cricket Women’s League division 1 (2023); year 10 peer support leader (2024); Pathways Associate (2024); year 12 student leader Year 9 Day (2023).