Ōtūmoetai College: Young athletes making mark on sporting codes

Ōtūmoetai College's Larissa Meads in action at the Secondary School Beach Volleyball Champs at Mount Maunganui. Photo / File

Ōtūmoetai College's Larissa Meads in action at the Secondary School Beach Volleyball Champs at Mount Maunganui. Photo / File A_010220gn14bop.JPG

Ōtūmoetai College School Sport

The year started with 58 students competing at the National Secondary Schools Beach Volleyball championship at Mount Maunganui in scorching 30 degree heat.

Within that group were 12 Ōtūmoetai College Year 9 students, who had not resumed school or played in a beach volleyball tournament before and all did well, with Emma Searle and Tiana Rae finishing third. The school's top Year 10 girls were Lucy Lloyd and Ella Douglas, finishing fourth in Division One.

The school's Year 9 boys' had to compete against the Year 10s as there were only three teams entered.

It wasn't easy but they did well. In the Year 11 B division, the top team of Nico Brown and Jacksyn Runga finished sixth overall. Jaylon Paki and Rhys Howard were the school's top senior boys team, finishing fifth in a talented Senior Boys' division, which had the most competitors.

The highlight of the weekend was the senior girls paring of Rose Akkerman and Larissa Meads, who were strong and played some very tidy volleyball over the two-day tournament.

The girls won both their quarter-final and semifinal 2-0 and in the final faced a strong-looking St Andrews College combination.

The girls looked to be in control from the start of the game, winning the first set 21-13, going down in the second 21-19but made minimal mistakes and outclassed their opposition 15-9 in the final set to become national champions.

Rose has also been named in the NZ U19 team.

Rowing:

Ōtūmoetai College rowers have been hard at work over the summer, training and competing in their club events.

Their last regatta was the North Island Club Champs where Tauranga Rowing Club had a record 20 crews collect medals.

The top results from our students were: Rhianna Loughnan and Emma Averill - silver Women's Club Coxed Eight; Rhianna Loughnan and Emma Averill - bronze Women's Club Coxed Four, Emma Averill - Bronze Women's U16 single scull; Chloe Wright, Jenna Brangywnne, Nina Turner, Sarah Laban-Ten Dam - Bronze Women's U15 Four; Mitchell McGrath - Gold Men's Intermediate Octuple Sculls.

Synchronised swimming:

Sophie Black and Chloe Boyt were part of the New Zealand Pikopiko Team (15 and under) that competed at the Asia Pacific Open in Malaysia in early December.

The synchronised swimming team, which included 11 athletes from around New Zealand including Sophie and Chloe, finished runners-up in both the 15 and under Team and Combination team events.

Last year was the first Chloe and Sophie had been part of the high performance team, and the Asia Pacific Open was the first time they represented New Zealand internationally in the sport.

Both girls have also been selected for the 2020 NZ Pikopiko Squad.

Tennis:

The following students have made Western Bay of Plenty tennis teams in their respective age groups: Angus Colquhoun, Macy Donaghy and Hannah Walpole.

These students play in an inter-regional competition and all three were selected for the tournament based on their current singles and doubles ranking.

- Supplied content