School Sport: Mount Maunganui College students successful in multiple sports

Mount Maunganui College

Shania Callender

Football:

Mount Maunganui College's girls' first XI football team kicked off the season with a tough game against Trident High School's girls' first XI.

The Whakatāne team made the top 16 secondary school teams in New Zealand last year so it was great to see the Mount side score first, with the goal made by Aneesha Shallcross.

Aneesha scored a second goal for Mount, but Trident managed three goals of their own and took the win 3-2.

The school's second XI girls' team had an incredible 3-1 win against Pāpāmoa.

This is the first time the college have fielded a second team so it was promising to see them play so well during the first game of the competition.

Mount Maunganui College's boys' first XI, playing in the Under-19 Baywide Youth Premier division, faced against Rotorua Boys' High School in Rotorua. Our team scored first but went on to unfortunately lose the game 5-1.
Mountain biking:

Year 11 student Hope Gibbard has travelled all over New Zealand and has also ventured to Australia to compete in her under-17 age division for mountain biking.

In February she won the Asia Pacific Enduro in Christchurch. She was also third in the National Downhill and in the Crankworx Downhill, which was held in Rotorua in March.

Hope then travelled to Melbourne in April to compete in the Oceania DH Championship were she was an impressive fourth.

Emma Lord has also competed in some of the competitions in the under-17 division.

She has performed impressively in these competitions, with her best results being a fourth at nationals and a win at the North Island Secondary Schools competition, which was held in Palmerston North.

Swimming

To qualify for the National Age Group Swimming Championships, swimmers need to be
exceptional.

Having multiple Mount College students attend is a massive achievement.

Kasha Stokes made three finals in the 14 years division in the 50, 100 and 200m backstroke races. Her outstanding result was fourth in the 50m backstroke.

Both Lily Cooney and Brooke Ross recorded personal bests in the 15 years division, with Lily's in the 100m Freestyle and Brooke's in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events.

Volleyball

Congratulations to the following Mount Maunganui College students who have been named in regional and national volleyball teams.

Fourteen students are competing at the VNZ Provincial Volleyball Championships in Wellington over Queen's Birthday weekend, the first weekend in June.

These students will be representing Bay of Plenty, competing against 12 other regions with teams covering four grades including U17, U19, U21 and Senior.

Our IPC Representatives are:

U19 A Boys: Ben Blackwell.
U19 Development Boys: Colby Brennan, Tommy Smith, Mitchell Grant, William Veale.
U19 Development Girls: Ella Raymond, Kendal Devlin.
U17 A Girls: Maia Horlock, Tasia Clarke.
U17 Development Girls: Riley Bartosh, Ella Rutten.
U17 Development Boys: Matt Larsen, Ollie O'Dea, Jahnu Rosemeyer.

Mount also has four students in national teams who will be travelling overseas to represent New Zealand later this year.

Ben Blackwell has been named in the New Zealand Junior Men's team and Maia Horlock in the New Zealand Junior Women's squad.

Both will be travelling with their teams to attend the US High Performance Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in July.

Year 11 students Matt Larsen (NZ Junior Men's Beach) and Ollie O'Dea (NZ Youth Men's Beach) will also travel to California to compete in various volleyball association tournaments.

NZ Representatives from Mount Maunganui College are:

New Zealand Junior Men's: Ben Blackwell.
New Zealand Junior Women's: Maia Horlock.
New Zealand Junior Men's Beach: Matt Larsen.
New Zealand Youth Men's Beach: Ollie O'Dea.

Synchornised Swimming:

Zyleika Pratt-Smith is a Mount Maunganui College student who recently attended a 16-day New Zealand training camp in Invercargill for synchronised swimming.

- Supplied content