Kavanagh's runners and teams have been competing with distinction during the cross-country season.
At the final event at Peter Johnstone Park, Sam Bremner won the senior boys event and Jessie Murphy the junior girls event. The following weekend, Sam and Jessie competed in the New Zealand secondary schools cross-country at Halswell, Christchurch.
Jessie finished 36th of the 100 junior girls while Sam gained an outstanding ninth in the senior boys race and was selected in the New Zealand secondary schools team to compete in Tasmania.
The Kavanagh No 1 boys badminton team has had a strong start to the season with a treble of wins against Dunedin boys schools teams. The first match resulted in a close win against Otago Boys - three sets all, six games all, 146 points to 145 points.
The team next downed Kings High 5-1 and then John McGlashan by the same score. Congratulations to team members Darcy Campbell, Greg Mansfield, Ship Jaijaroen and James Zhao.
The Catholic Schools year 7-10 tournament was held in Dunedin recently. Kavanagh, which hosted teams from St Kevin's, St Peter's and Verdon, came first-equal with Verdon College on 16 wins and so retain the Bishop Boyle Cup.
Bayfield High School
Sport has continued strongly at Bayfield High School throughout the term and teams have enjoyed several positive results.
The six-week cross-country series has come to an end and Bayfield competed well in the last two events. In the Milton Relay, both the senior and junior boys teams finished fourth in strong fields and the senior girls were a respectable fifth.
In the final event, the Otago cross-country, the under-14 girls team of Sophelia Hook, Hannah McGregor and Georgia Buxton finished third, a good sign for the future.
In other secondary school competitions, the boys hockey First XI has recorded two impressive victories in two games and the girls First XI has had four wins from five games to sit second.
The senior B netball side is undefeated in the local competition. Sport at the end of term wraps up with the annual exchange against Mountain View High School, held this year in Dunedin on July 11.
Winter sport at Queen's
On June 11, Queen's High School took 94 students down to Invercargill for their annual sports exchange against Southland Girls High School. This has been a longstanding tradition between these two schools and continues to be a highlight of the sporting year.
Teams involved were senior A, intermediate A and junior A netball teams, the senior A basketball team, the hockey 1st XI, football 1st XI, the rugby team, a junior and senior badminton team, a junior and senior debating team, and the aerobics team which competed in both pairs and individual routines.
Standout performances came from Emily White in the senior girls badminton, and from the hockey First XI which dominated Southland Girls High School to win its game 3-0.
Caitlin McKinlay has continued her excellent achievements in rhythmic gymnastics.
On June 15-16, Caitlin travelled north to compete in the Counties-Manukau championships for level 7 and came first in rope, first in hoop, first in clubs and third in ball, and won the overall gold medal for level 7. Caitlin will represent New Zealand at the Australian national championships in Sydney next month.
On the June 9-10, Queen's had three netball teams playing in the Otago secondary schools championships and two of the Queen's junior netballers gained representative honours - Aimee Bryan year 9, and Tyla Osborne in year 10.
Columba rep honours
Columba College netball has continued to produce several netball representatives this year. The following girls have made it into representative teams.-Under 14 A: Shannon Inch and Ella Wood.
Under 15 A: Anna Macdonald, Emma Turner and Jordyn Taylor.
Under 15 B: Jenna Chisholm, Lily Cunningham, Olivia Jones and Olivia Anderson.
Under 17 A: Olivia Wilson, Grace Carruthers, Annabel Angland, Tarryn Dickson, Analise Cowie (reserve).
Under 17 B: Georgia Nichol, Georgie Wood, Analise Cowie.
Otago Under 19: Zoey Flockton.
Columba teams competed at the recent Otago secondary schools championships. The year 9 team valued its experience and played many close games. The year 10 A team won all of its games in the lead-up to its final, but was beaten in the final.
The young senior A netball team dug deep and worked hard to find itself in the semifinal against eventual winner South Otago.
Despite its best efforts, it was beaten by four goals. However, the team had its playoff for third and fourth to come. The Columba team had a good game, beating Waitaki Girls in the playoffs.
The Columba College senior girls three-person cross-country team of of Charlotte Cahill, Hanna English and Sian English all ran superbly to win the gold medal at the New Zealand secondary schools in Christchurch recently - Columba's first medal at national cross-country level.
The six-person team, which also included Emma Winders, Phoebe Steele and Holly Barclay, all ran hard to finish fifth.
The year 9 team of Jade MacMillan, Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan and Indiana Williams gained valuable experience at their first national event, finishing 11th.
Hanna English has made the New Zealand secondary schools cross-country team, named after the championships on Saturday. Congratulations to Hanna, who has now been named in three New Zealand teams in three different sports. The team selected will compete in Tasmania.
Congratulations to Phoebe Steele, who was selected in both the Southern under-21 and under-18 hockey teams. Mackenzie Cassie and Emma Stackhouse were selected in the Southern under-18 B team.
In the weekly secondary schools competition, Columba has three teams. Both the First and Second XI teams have had strong starts in round one to remain unbeaten.
Roxburgh Area School
Emma Parker was named player of the tournament for the New Zealand area school netball team last week in Rotorua.
The New Zealand area school team was made up from students from throughout New Zealand who attend area schools and Emma was the only South of the South representative.
The team had several tough games to play against New Zealand secondary schools, Aotearoa Maori Netball, Pacific Rim, Pasifika and Fiji but managed to beat Samoa.
While Emma normally plays goal defence she was put into centre for this tournament.
The Southern Zone Area school tournament was held recently in Ranfurly.
Maniototo Area School, The Catlins Area School , Twizel Area School, Waiau Area School, Lawrence Area School and Roxburgh Area School played each other in variety of sports over the three days.
Roxburgh was successful in winning the netball, rugby, mixed netball, girls basketball and futsal and was first-equal in girls touch.
Emma Parker, Meghan Scanlan, Tahlia Moir, Ashlyn Reid, Amelia Pasco, Ashley Sim, Boaz Turner and Mathew Barnett have qualified for South of the South team to play in New Zealand Area school tournament in Whangarei in the July holidays.
South Otago High School
SOHS rugby had its day in the spotlight on June 15 when the First XV hosted Southland Boys' in Balclutha.
The match was televised live as part of the college rugby series and broadcast on the Rugby Channel. Months of planning went into the occasion.
Pre-filming was completed by Sky in the weeks leading up to the match and a crew of 19 was involved in the broadcast on the day.
Two large Sky trucks and a 6m scaffolding tower dominated the landscape.
While the result did not go their way, the experience will live long in the memories of the players who did their community proud. They were very grateful for the opportunity it provided.
Aside from the First XV, SOHS is also fielding a Second XV (Colts), under-15 and an under-14 team this year, as well as a girls First XV which plays in the Southland competition. The under-15s and girls are unbeaten to date and the Colts and under-14s have also recorded some solid victories.
Tokomairiro netball
On June 9-10, the Tokomairiro High School A team competed in the Otago secondary schools netball tournament. It was in high spirits after a good win at Saturday netball. On the first day, the team played Lawrence, East Otago and Otago Girls B, winning all three games.
The team then went on to beat Kaikorai Valley College on the Monday 24-2 and finished pool play by playing Roxburgh. This was the toughest competition for the team as it was the only other team that had also won all its games so far.
The team really stepped up its game against Roxburgh and played some of the best netball it has this season. Due to silly mistakes, it lost 28-25, but this was enough to qualify for the final which was again against Roxburgh. The team had not qualified for finals in five years.
It started strongly in the final but Roxburgh was too good on the day winning 24-17.
The girls were pleased with how far they have progressed and are feeling excited about South Island competition in September.
• These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA), which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Trust.
