These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association which is proudly sponsored by Perpetual Guardian.
Cromwell College
The whole of Cromwell College spent Valentine's Day in a slightly different way to most by sweating, cheering, and participating in a full school athletics day. Owain Harris, in the 100m, and Tia Clark and Kees Scott, both shot putters, all broke long-standing records from 1996, 1990 and 2000 respectively. This was a great achievement for all three of these athletes.
Rota Lafita came home from the junior swimming nationals with some great results, including third in the 100m breaststroke, fourth in the 50m breaststroke and sixth in the individual medley. Following closely behind was Owain Harris, who was sixth in the 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke.
The College senior mixed touch rugby team secured third in the OSS tournament in Dunedin. Its best performance was a 8-5 win over Tokomairiro before it ran out of steam.
Lana Deaker performed admirably to be the third individual senior girl home in the OSS triathlon in Cromwell last week. A junior mixed team also came first, and the junior boys team finished second. These teams are all looking forward to competing at the SISS triathlon event in Oamaru on March 5.
Jack King raced over the weekend at the NZSS mountain bike championships and came third in his age-group.
Columba College
The senior A touch team competed at the national championships in Auckland last December, finishing second, the highest placing Columba has achieved at this tournament. Maia Joseph and Meg Sycamore have been selected in the New Zealand under-15 team and Claudia Carruthers and McKayler Moore have earned spots in the New Zealand under-18 squad.
At the SISS rowing regatta, Columba crews performed extremely well, the under-19 four winning gold, the under-17 four silver and the under-19 eight bronze. This form continued with the under-18 four of Abby Anderson, Milly Nesbit, Callie Turner and Clora Quinlan-Thompson earning a silver at the national club rowing championships.
Columba pupils Caitlin Deans (swim), Alice Young (bike) and teacher Angela Bishop (run) placed third in the Wanaka Challenge half open women's team. Gabrielle Trotter (swim) also competed in this event and her team won.
At the Cromwell secondary schools triathlon, the senior team of Gabrielle Trotter (swim) Thirza Smith (bike) and Lilli Renner (run) came first in the team event, Sophe Gaudin came second in the senior individual event and Caitlin O'Brien came second in the junior individual event.
The tennis team of Annabelle Alloo, Laura Hamilton, Sennah Lee and Polly Marshall has qualified for the SISS competition next month.
Bayfield High School
The year has started with a hiss and a roar at Bayfield, with plenty to celebrate from pupils competing over summer, and two big tournaments coming up.
Year 9 pupil Piere Kawharu-Tapsell competed at the South Island Colgate Games in Invercargill recently, winning bronze in the 80m hurdles (grade 12) and coming fourth in the high jump (grade 12). He also competed at the South Island junior surf life-saving championships representing St Clair, and returned with three gold medals and a silver.
Year 11 pupil Ben Hayward competed in the Otago regional surf life-saving championships at the start of last month, winning two golds, three silvers, a bronze and gaining a fourth placing. Ben and Piere will compete in the national championships in late March.
Bayfield also has four regional futsal representative players heading to Wellington in March with the junior A boys team of Ashley Thorp, Connor Sweeney, Finn Cattaway and Andre Carrick to play at the NZSS boys futsal championships.
The senior A boys and girls volleyball teams are heading to the SISS Mainland championships in Christchurch soon.
South Otago High School
The SOHS first XI cricket team is competing well in the Dunedin competition and also played a Gillette Cup match at Lawrence last week. The girls are in the South Otago competition on Fridays nights.
The school has four teams competing in Monday night indoor hockey at the Cross Recreation Centre.
Five pupils from SOHS - Isla Pringle, Luc Thomson, Harri Decon, Tia Valli and Dylan Crawford (who was a referee at the tournament) - competed for Otago at the national touch championships in Auckland two weeks ago.
The school held its athletics last Wednesday. It was a very successful day in the scorching heat.
Queen's High School.
Summer sport at Queen's is well under way and teams are competing in touch, softball, tennis, volleyball, rowing and futsal competitions. Many of the teams are coached by senior pupils, teachers and members of the Queen's community. The school is part of the SportNZ-Sport in Education Project. The focus of this project is to engage pupils in their learning using sport as a context. Leadership skills and community involvement are key factors in this engagement.
The annual athletics sports day was on February 15 at the Caledonian Sports Ground. Championship winners were Lara Wall (over-16), Annika Ludlow (under-16), Mereani Taana (under-15) and Jody Hyatt (under-14). Mereani also broke Nicole Bradley's 10-year-old shot put record with a throw of 10.02m.
Erin Marshall has been selected for the New Zealand under-18 ice hockey team and will travel to Thailand to compete in the Challenge Cup of Asia.
Reana Shand, Terena Anderson-Ramsay, Heaven Samson-Loffley and Shavaughn Keelan all played for the Otago under-17 team at the softball nationals in Palmerston North in January.
At the Otago surfing championships at Blackhead, Shani Ayson won the under-18 girls division, Anika Ayson was second and Jaya Reardon was third. Shani also finished fifth in the boys under-18 division and third in the open women's class.
Kavanagh College
Term one has started with a bang at Kavanagh College. It had two teams and one individual entered in the secondary school triathlon in Cromwell recently and all participants really enjoyed the day and competed well. The first XI cricket team was also in action in the knockout rounds of the first XI cup. It played Blue Mountain and South Otago in two twenty20 games and managed two hard-fought wins. It now plays Taieri College.
Teams are entered in touch, water polo, tennis, futsal and volleyball competitions.
The athletics sports day was at the Caledonian recently. This was a successful day and the focus now switches to the OSS championships in early March.
Mount Aspiring
For many Mount Aspiring College pupils, the holidays meant travelling around the country competing in summer sports.
The sailing team competed at the BIC nationals in Dunedin, where Nicola Sanders finished third in the gold fleet.
At the South Island rowing champs, the school came away with two silvers and a bronze. Sam Pearce and Greer Porter both won silver in the under-16 single sculls, while Greer teamed up with Peta McKay, Maggie Stiven and Jordan Fox to get bronze in the under-16 quad. Sam, Greer and Peta have all been selected to compete at Maadi Cup.
Athletics is a growing sport at MAC, with particular strength in the year 9 girls track team. At the recent Colgate Games, Molly Barham, Georgie Bruce, Abby East and Ella Landreth all won gold medals, while Jack East won gold and was awarded a prestigious Nick Willis scholarship for his performance and sportsmanship. This year the school will be sending a record number of pupils to the OSS championships in Dunedin.
Triathletes have had success in several events, and Janus Staufenberg has been being selected for the national talent squad. The school had 25 pupils in the OSS triathlon championships held in perfect conditions in Cromwell last week. Category winners in the triathlon included Janus, Zoe Smith and Campbell Wright, and Red Simpson in multisport.
In what is probably a first, the mixed tennis team has qualified to compete at the SISS champs in Timaru next week. Good luck to the team of Michael Gealogo, Noah Holmes, Ines Stephani and Martha Toghill.
School sports days have been held, and results for swimming and athletics will be announced soon.
Otago Boys' High School
After a busy Christmas period for some pupils, the school was straight into its sports day at the Caledonian Ground.
The turnout and attitude of the boys who took part was very positive and competitive within the house system.
Notable achievements came from Cameron Moffitt who broke the under-14 shot put record and also Jackson Toms who broke the under-15 triple jump record.
In the OSS triathlon in Cromwell recently, the senior A team of Nicholas Pryde, Louis Harris and Nathan Hill led from start to finish. The B team finished third.
In the individual races, Jack Divers was second and Tyler Summers third.
The first interschool of the summer was against Timaru Boys' High School. OBHS won the golf, touch and both first and colts cricket in the limited overs version. Timaru was far too good in the tennis. This was because the top boys were in Dunedin qualifying for the SISS tournament. They had a very good win against John McGlashan 5-1.
They still have to play Christ's College, and Southland Boys in summer interschools.
Special congratulations go to the following pupils who have been selected for national honours in their sport: Hamish Walker (curling), Ben Lockrose, Hunter Kindley, Max Chu (under-18 cricket), Anton Schroder (athletics), Scott Tisdall (rodeo), Cameron Miller (decathlon champion).
Tokomairiro High School
Ethan Walker is the NZSS junior champion for javelin. Late last year, Ethan, a year 9 pupil, competed in the nationals in Auckland and had an outstanding performance throwing 51.80m on his first throw to secure the victory.
Ethan not only took the title, but he beat the second-placed competitor by 6m and broke the Otago under-15 record of 48.96m.
This is a great reward for Ethan who has been training very hard over the past eight months. The commitment by Ethan and his parents to get him to trainings and competitions in Dunedin several times a week has certainly paid off.
Ethan started his journey almost a year ago in March when he won the OSS title for under-14 boys with a throw of 34.82m.
