Strong representation in South Island touch

Shanna Verhoef and Emma Rodgers-Bromley, from Bayfield High School,  sail  their Sunburst yacht...
Shanna Verhoef and Emma Rodgers-Bromley, from Bayfield High School, sail their Sunburst yacht in the South Island secondary schools regatta on Otago Harbour last week. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
South Island touch
At the South Island secondary schools championships, Otago was represented by six teams and nine referees. Teams registering top-four placings in the championship qualify for the New Zealand championships to be held in Hamilton in December.

In the mixed grade, South Otago High School was crowned champion after beating St Andrew's (Christchurch) in the final.

Thirteen members of the South Otago team have played for Otago representative teams in the last two seasons. Mikayla Latta was named in the New Zealand under-15 mixed team to travel to Sydney in October.

St Hilda's Collegiate finished second in the South Island secondary schools championships, Christchurch Girls' proving too classy in the final. St Hilda's has two New Zealand representatives this year, Laura McKenzie in the New Zealand under-19 women's team and coach Grant Milne in the New Zealand men's 30s team.

King's High School finished fourth in the South Island schoolboys championships, and Mackenzie Haugh was named in the New Zealand under-17 mixed team to travel to Sydney in October.

Kaikorai Valley College pupil Jayde Peat has been rewarded for his hard work with selection in the New Zealand under-15 mixed team, while teacher and coach Damian Burden has been appointed New Zealand under-15 mixed coach.

Otago Boys' High School had two referees in Jayden Hollander and Tyler Glover attend the championships. Jayden refereed the New Zealand under-15 girls final.

OBHS success
Hundreds of hours of training have paid off for three Otago Boys' High School cricketers, with their selection for a Willows youth team to travel to Kuala Lumpur and Sri Lanka this month.

First XI players Tom Griffin, Marcus Frost and Jack Hunter will join players from six other secondary schools in a nine-match tour of the subcontinent. All three players were also part of the Otago under-18 team which finished second in the national tournament in January.

The Willows Cricket Club was established in 1994, with the aim of promoting secondary school cricket by providing games against Willows selection teams made up of leading representative cricketers, past and present. All games are played at the Willows' picturesque ground in Loburn, North Canterbury.

This is the fourth overseas tour undertaken by the Willows. Tom Latham, who made his debut for the Black Caps this summer, and former OBHS players Tom Rutherford and Ciaran McMeeken were part of the first tour (to India, Oman and Dubai) in 2008.

Since then, Blair Soper (2009) and Michael Collins (2010) have been the only players from Otago selected to tour Sri Lanka.

Tom, Marcus and Jack are all in their second year as members of the OBHS First XI. Tom captains the side and opens the batting. A natural strokemaker, Tom often sets an aggressive tone for the batsmen to follow.

Otago Boys' had a convincing win at the finals of the South Island secondary schools water polo championships held in Invercargill. Otago Boys' secured a place at the national premier schools event in Wellington with a 16-2 win against James Hargest College in the finals. This is the second year that OBHS has topped this tournament.

Captain and OBHS head boy Thomas Wardhaugh received the award for most valuable player of the tournament. Angus McKenzie and Cameron MacMahon were top scorers, working as centres, with Jesse Smith and Arthur Ibbotson shooting from the outside to finish much of the set play.

Michael Gray and Benjamin Wardhaugh were impressive hooking in goals from the wings.

The team has played together for five years and has dominated local competition. Practising for up to 20 hours per week, the boys have had the national event in their sights for some time.

New Zealand coach Tim Chambers, who works with the boys, is confident they will do well at the national tournament in Wellington this Easter.

The New Zealand under-18 ice hockey team has just had success in the International Ice Hockey Federation tournament.

Bradley Apps showed particular flair in a game against South Africa's under-18 side, which New Zealand won 18-0. Bradley has come quite a long way in the last few years. Originally from Christchurch, Bradley now attends Otago Boys' High School. Last year he was named the top forward in a national ice hockey competition.

Now he has had first-hand experience at international level, he is looking to improve his performance back home. Bradley got to know under-18 players from all over New Zealand, many of them living in Auckland.

Kavanagh College
Kavanagh rowers recently competed in the South Island secondary schools regatta. Zoe McBride carried on her winning ways, winning gold in the under-17 single sculls. Zoe and Hannah Duggan then won gold in the under-18 girls lightweight double sculls and the under-17 girls double sculls in a photo finish.

Jack O'Leary was second in the under-16 boys singles and third in the under-17 boys singles.

Among other pupils who performed well were Polly McMullan and Anna O'Leary, who won the under-18 novice double sculls.

In surf life-saving, Eilis Doyle won a silver medal in the girls under-16 surf teams race. Carina Doyle carried on from the New Zealand age groups, where she collected four medals, and collected a gold and two silvers at the New Zealand championships. Carina was also selected for the under-20 surf development squad. Members of this team will represent New Zealand at the world surf life-saving competition to be held in Australia at the end of the year. Carina is the first South Island athlete to be selected in this squad for more than six years.

Kavanagh's Johnny Thorn has been selected for the Otago under-21 hockey team at the age of 16.

Columba College
Laura Saville won a bronze medal at the New Zealand track and field championships in Auckland in the under-17 300m hurdles.

Four records were achieved at the Otago secondary schools athletic championship by Columba athletes.

The senior girls relay ran a smart time of 50.86sec to break the record set by the 2011 team. Team members were Christie Wood, Zoey Flockton, Samara Dalziel and Laura Saville. The under-15 relay team also broke its age group record, setting a time of 52.45sec.

Members were Kate Guildford, Maddy Spence, Analise Cowie and Phoebe Pegg.

Individual records went to Hanna English in the under-15 3000m - Hanna also won the 1500m - and Maddy Spence in the under-15 80m hurdles. Maddy also won the 200m and was second in the long jump.

Notable performances came from Laura Saville, who won the under-16 100m, 80m hurdles and 300m hurdles.

Sian English ran an excellent 3000m to win the senior girls title, while Charlotte Cahill ran strongly to claim two middle distance titles in the under-16 1500m and 3000m.

More than 30 athletes progressed the following week to the Otago-Southland athletics championships in Invercargill. Strong performances came from Laura Saville, Maddy Spence, Hanna English, Sian English and Charlotte Cahill and the three 4x 100m relay teams (senior, under-15 and under-14). A strong team will be competing in Nelson for the South Island event.

Bayfield High School
Bayfield has some great success in athletics, multisport and mountain biking this term.

One of the largest teams of athletes in recent years attended the Otago secondary schools athletics championships in Dunedin. Following on from the success of many athletes, a team of 14 went to Invercargill and competed in the Otago-Southland championships.

The under-16 girls relay team of Britta Hamill, Tori Clearwater, Danielle Galdeman and Kara Helm did exceptionally well to break a record at the Otago championships and placed first in the Otago-Southland event. They are strong favourites to claim the South Island title and will compete for the national title at the end of the year.

Kara is certainly one to watch.

Athletics is in her blood. Her mother Deidre was a New Zealand secondary schools champion and is a life member of Athletics Otago, and her father Graham is a former Otago sprint champion. Kara was first in the under-14 100m and second in the 200m at the Otago championships. These results were reversed at the Otago-Southland meeting.

The multisport group continues to gain excellent results. Two teams competed at the South Island secondary schools duathlon and triathlon championships early last month. The team of Kieran Duncan and Shannon Hope won the mixed teams intermediate race and the team of Sam Hope and Matt Sheridan won the senior mixed teams race.

The Hope sisters carried their good form into mountain bike races. Sam finished second in the Oceania under-19 championships held in Rotorua and Shannon finished third in the under-17 championships.

Recently, Samantha and Shannon competed in the South Island mountain bike championships in Christchurch. Samantha won the under-19 cross-country and was second in the downhill section. Shannon was second the under-17 cross-country and first in the downhill.

Another pupil to achieve a good result was Raphael Kammlein-Cutler (year 13), who placed first in the downhill under-19 category of the South Island secondary schools mountain bike championships.

Bowls finals
Otago pupils were involved in the zone 6 finals where the standard of bowls was very high. The standard of play at the Taieri green augurs well for the future of the game in the province.

The winners who will compete in the national tournament in Hamilton in December are: girls singles, Nicole Duncan (St Kevin's College) and Tala Kelcher (Kaikorai Valley College); boys pairs, Jacobi Kahu-Morris and Callum Horwell (Logan Park High School), Daimen Kitto and Samuel Wilson (Waitaki Boys' High School); girls pairs, Emma Griffin and Grace Swain (Columba College), Tayla Hohaia and Sarah Wilson (Logan Park High School). The Logan Park boys won a gold medal at last year's national championships.


Calendar
April 5:
Term 1 ends
April 11-13:
South Island under-19 golf, Timaru
April 15-18:
Netball development camp, Alexandra

These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA) which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual.
Contact Des Smith, Otago Regional Sports Director, PO Box 6303, Dunedin. Email: des@osssa.org.nz


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