Busy time as school sporting year comes to a close

These articles are compiled by the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association (OSSSA) which is proudly sponsored by PERPETUAL GUARDIAN.

Dunstan High School

DUNSTAN sent a group of pupils to the South Island secondary schools mountain biking champs in Dunedin over the school holidays. The team had a successful event with a number of pupils winning or placing well in their categories.

The schools summer codes are starting their seasons. The local senior cricket competition has begun with the 1st XI winning its opening match, and the two junior teams’ seasons are under way. The school’s athletics squad have begun preparations for the nationals in December with the senior girls 4x100m relay team working hard to defend the national title it won last year. Likewise, the rowing team is well into its training and will be looking to replicate the successes it had in recent seasons.

Finally, Dunstan’s sports awards were held in the first week of term four. It was a fantastic occasion and a chance to acknowledge the students and their teams sporting achievements, along with the opportunity to thank the many volunteers who are so vital to the continued success of sport within the school.

East Otago High School

TERM four continues to be as busy as previous terms for sports at EOHS. The school has two touch teams and two volleyball teams competing in Dunedin competitions. The juniors have an exciting tournament week coming up and the school has started an afterschool dodge ball and lunchtime futsal competition.

EOHS held its annual sports awards on November 2 and pupils received certificates for most improved player and most valuable player and making representative sides of various teams including netball, hockey, volleyball, futsal, touch and rugby.

The school champions were as follows: cross country: year 7/8: Ben Carswell, Abigail Paton; junior: Sam Davies, Rylie Keach; senior: Oscar Weston, Kate McLelland.

Swimming: year 7/8: Kyle Meason, Deegan Croucher; junior: Luke Paton, Kari Croucher; senior: Kayle Harris, Lauren Keen; athletics: year 7/8: Kyle Meason, Abigail Paton; junior: Simon Harris, Rylie Keach; senior: Kayle Harris, Kate McLelland; Tracey Burgess Memorial Trophy for Basketball; Amy Turner; Hagan Netball Excellence Trophy; Gracie Woodhouse.

John McGlashan College

IT has been another successful year for sports at John McGlashan College, with boys having fun with their mates while playing a wide range of sports.

The high sports participation rate would not be possible without more than 60% of staff being actively involved in a sport. McGlashan’s Sports Council continues to drive the direction of sport, and focuses on providing quality coaching across all sporting codes.

Recent sporting highlights for John McGlashan include George Bell, Oscar Davenport and Jack Tourelle, who received awards at the recent ORFU prize giving. Billy Sheard and Padraig MacKenzie have been selected for the NZ under20 Ice Hockey team to play at the World Championships in Iceland in January.

Director of sport Tiny Carruthers, who has been in the role for the past five years, has recently moved to Wanaka, where he is continuing his passion for sport, working for Sport Otago. Tiny’s big smile and energy for all sports at McGlashan has been the driving force behind the increase in the number of boys playing sport, more tournaments and interschool exchanges on the sporting calendar, which the boys are enthusiastic about. All the best to Tiny in his new job and the school would like to extend thanks to him for his commitment and dedication to sport at John McGlashan.

Logan Park High School

ELLA Molteno has been selected to compete in the Luge Junior World Cup in February 2019. Ella is currently the No 1 women’s luge competitor in New Zealand and is aiming to qualify for the Youth Winter Olympics in 2020. She will depart New Zealand on December 10 and will train and compete in Austria, Germany and Switzerland for 10 weeks before returning in late February.

Ben Devereux and Sam Hulbe Pulver have been selected for the Southern United football team to play at the national age group football tournament next month.

Caitlin O’Brien represented Logan Park High School and Otago at the New Zealand schools aerobics national champs in Wellington in October.

Caitlin’s team came second in the fitness team section in the NZ finals.

Danielle Thomson competed in Australia in October with the under15 New Zealand softball team. Phoebe GuileHughes is an Otago representative in tennis. Earlier this year Phoebe was named most dedicated girl by Otago Tennis.

History teacher and super coach Paul Fielding has been awarded the prestigious Service to School Sport by the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council. It is great to see him recognised for over 30 years of service to cricket,football and badminton at logan park. He is a wonderful supporter of developing young people through sport.

At the senior prizegiving the Service to School Sports Awards went to Louis Freeman and Alise Allnatt for their tremendous contribution, leadership and service across many areas of sport this year.

King’s High School

THE King’s sporting year culminated with the annual sports awards evening, where Scott Weatherall was the guest speaker. During the evening the two top awards for sporting excellence were presented. The best individual year 13 sportsman receives the Salter Trophy and this year the recipient was outstanding hockey player Finn Ward. The team of the year award went to King’s First XI hockey team, whose outstanding season both locally and nationally had it win its third Otago secondary schools title and finish sixth at the prestigious Rankin Cup, losing to eventual winner St Kentigern College

11 in the quarterfinal.

The team also provided three players — Finn Ward, James Nicolson and Zeke Buschl — to the NZ under18 training squad.

With the year drawing to a close the school can reflect back on many wonderful individual and team performances across a wide variety of sports during the past 12 months. Good luck to the athletes and touch players for their upcoming NZSS events in early December in Dunedin and Auckland respectively.

All the best to the First XI cricketers as the OtagoSouthland representatives for the NZ Cup competition, also starting in early December in Lincoln.

Sincere thanks goes go to all those who make themselves available to support King’s High School sport. Parents, coaches, referees, managers, administrators and all who contribute time and energy to enable teams to take the field, the school sincerely appreciate your time and generosity.

Otago Girls’ High School

TWO curling teams competed in the national secondary schools curling championship which was held in Dunedin. The OGHS team of Anna Thomas, Jamie Ferguson, Anna Cho and Rebecca McKay received a silver medal and another OGHS team of Rachael Pitts, Ailie Muldrew, Ella Williams and Emma Campbell received a bronze medal.

Sarah Ford competed in the national schools road cycling championships and Lily Green competed in the South Island secondary schools mountain biking championships.

Tahlia Roome has been selected in the Southern women’s football team. The following pupils have been recently selected for Otago representative teams: Rawinia NgamokiMoana, Ella Gomez, Sydnee O’Leary, and Oceana Campbell were selected for the under15 sevens team; Olivia Shaw, Annalise MacDuff and Zillah Conder were selected for the under17 softball team; and Jade Whitson, Tayla Koni, and Andrea Dale were selected for the under15 softball team.

The senior A basketball team competed at the secondary school national tournament in Palmerston North. This was a great event for the team to be part of. The team was placed 20th out of 24 teams. The team gained some very valuable experience from this tournament.

The senior A girls volleyball team recently won the local boys volleyball competition beating Otago Boys’ High School in the final.

Roxburgh Area School

PUPILS have been busy as the weekly touch competition has started in Alexandra and in preparation for the Central Otago competition in Cromwell. The year 910 pupils are preparing for the junior tournament week in Dunedin in November and are looking forward to the country coaching visit.

Congratulations to Jessamy Wales who won the most points for ring 2 over four events at the Otago show jumping recently.

Taieri College

TAIERI College recently held its Blues function. It was privileged to have former pupil and Paralympian Holly Robinson as guest speaker. She offered the pupils some sound advice about working hard for your goals, being true to yourself and resilience.

The supreme sport awards recipients were sportsman of the year: Rory Findlay, sportswoman of the year: Rachel Beattie and team of the year: Taieri College year 9A netball team. The following pupils also did extremely well by gaining multiple blues: Shyah Beattie and Ella Mackenzie for basketball and athletics; Danni Thompson for netball and basketball, Gabby Kakahi for cross country, multisport and touch, and Trey Russell for tennis, rugby and touch.

Arana Kelly was selected and named vice captain of the under15 Otago softball team.

In the holidays, Emma and Rachel Cunningham competed in the South Island secondary schools mountain biking championships in Dunedin. Emma was first overall in the under17 category and Rachel was third overall in the under15 category.

Hayden Robertson was named in the Otago under19 golf team that competed over the holidays. He was ranked No 2 in the team and the team was placed second at nationals.

The Taieri Plains held junior touch rep trials recently and the following pupils made the teams to go on to Otago trials: Charlotte Williams, Eilish Fright, Ollie MacKenzie and Logan Kakahi.

The older students will trial for metro in the coming weeks.

St Hilda’s Collegiate

AFTER two cancellations throughout the year due to bad weather it was great to finally run the annual cross country event at Ross Creek during week one of the term. The senior and junior titles were run over a 4km course and came down to the final 200m to decide the winners. Cecilia Crooks won the senior race and Annabel Bilkey the junior race.

Stacey Sanders was selected in the South Island under18 girls rugby team following the South Island provincial tournament.

The Senior A netball team had an excellent week at the New Zealand secondary school netball tournament in Timaru. Going through pool play the girls had two wins and one loss, qualifying for the top eight.

The side eventually played off for seventh and eighth against Hamilton Girls’ High School, going down by seven goals to finish a very respectable eighth and the highest placed South Island team.

Lucie Holtz competed at the national figure skating championships during the holidays where she placed second in her grade, the intermediate novice ladies. She achieved a personal best and has been reselected for the NZ B team, along with making the NZ team to compete at the Australian Nationals.

Cecilia Crooks had a big two weeks of cycling over the holidays. Cecilia competed at the New Zealand secondary school cycling championships, placing 18th in the road race and fourth in the points race. She then competed in the Junior Tour of Southland and after six stages was the eventual women’s under19 champion.